Prepared by : Eng./Ahmed Zaki Eng.

/ Mohammed AbdElRazik

What is the PESQ ?

Perceptual evaluation of speech quality (PESQ) is a recognized method of accurately testing the level of quality that will be perceived by the user of a VoIP network. Successful measurement requires a WAV file to be generated by two parties connected at different network nodes, the files received at each end are recorded and compared with a reference file in order to determine any loss of quality en-route. The PESQ Algorithm is designed to predict subjective opinion scores of a degraded audio sample. PESQ provides a score in the range of 1 to 5 where 1 is unacceptable & 5 is excellent. A typical range for VoIP is 3.5 to 4.2. PESQ is designed to analyze specific parameters of audio, including time warping, variable delays, transcoding, and noise. It is primarily intended for applications in codec evaluation and network testing. The idea of PESQ is very appealing because it would seem that it could provide a set of automated "golden ears" to evaluate any type of audio system and give a useful indication of the "quality" of the system. Make no mistake PESQ works very well when used as intended but some big surprises await those who attempt to replace traditional telephone evaluation methods with PESQ.

Typical PESQ Application

Make several PESQ measurements during one long duration call in order to test speech quality over time as network demands fluctuate. Provide P.862 ITU PESQ test results to equipment vendors, network operators & end users. Test the effect when using different codec types. Test and evaluate network equipment & services. Ensure Quality of Service (Q.O.S).

How is a PESQ measurement made ?

There are three modes provided for this measurement: Uplink Audio, Downlink Audio and Both.

Uplink Audio: The test set acts as an audio generator, generates the original signal and sends it to the front-panel AUDIO OUT port which is connected to the mobile station's audio in port. The mobile station encodes the signals into speech frames of the uplink traffic channel. The test set then decodes the received speech frames, compares the original signal with the received signal and makes the PESQ measurement.

Typical Signal Flow with Uplink Audio Mode

Downlink Audio: The test set acts as an audio generator, generates the original signal and encodes it into speech frames of the downlink traffic channel. The mobile decodes the received speech frames and outputs it to its audio out port which is connected to test set' s AUDIO IN port. The test set then compares the original signal with the received signal and makes the PESQ measurement.

Typical Signal Flow with Downlink Audio Mode

Both: The test set performs the Uplink Audio measurement and Downlink Audio measurement simultaneously.

PESQ test tools

K 800i

Z750

Power source

How to connect the PESQ ?

K 800i

Z750

Car Power source

How to use TEMS Investigation to make PESQ test ?

The number of the PESQ server

After we run the command sequence the MS dials the PESQ server .the PESQ must be synchronized with the PESQ server (Event: AQM Synchronized) . Now , it appears in the GSM speech Quality window the evaluated PESQ score .

Here it synchronized

Here the PESQ isnt synchronized with server No PESQ score

How to score ?
PESQ uses Mean Opinion Score (MOS) to evaluate the speech quality. The MOS is expressed as a single number in the range of 1 to 5, where 1 is the lowest score, and 5 is the highest one. It is the arithmetic mean of all individual scores. Generally, if the MOS is higher than 4.0, the users will feel satisfied.

PESQ Score 4 TO 5 3 TO 4 2 TO 3 1 TO 2

Color indicator Blue Green Yellow Red

An example for a Downlink PESQ score distribution over a cluster

The mean value for PESQ Downlink score over a cluster using TEMS Report generator

An example for a Uplink PESQ score distribution over a cluster

The mean value for PESQ Uplink score over a cluster using TEMS Report generator