Modelling user quality of experience from objective and subjective data sets using fuzzy logic

Abstract

One of the paramount research questions in the scientific community today is how to remotely assess user quality of experience (QoE) for a specific service. To this end, various user QoE assessment models have been developed; however, they are mostly based on the data gathered from controlled environment experimentation. The aim of this research was to model user QoE for the User Datagram Protocol-based video streaming service from the results of uncontrolled subjective tests. Specifically, using fuzzy logic, we have correlated the values of three objective network parameters (the packet loss rate and the number and duration of packet loss occurrences in one streaming session) with test subjects’ subjective perception about perceived quality distortions. The dependencies between different values of the parameters and the subjects’ perception of video quality were used to develop a no reference objective video quality assessment model for assessing user QoE. The key distinguishing feature of the developed model lays in the process of subjective evaluation, which was conducted with a panel of 602 test subjects who evaluated the quality of 1-h video in home environments. For this purpose, 72 different test sequences were prepared for rating. We showed that a strong positive linear relationship exists between the assessed QoE of the model and the Mean Opinion Scores of the subjects (a Pearson correlation coefficient equal to 0.8841).