scope:

The scope of the present document is to provide a parametric non-intrusive evaluation of Cloud Gaming Services based on RTP/UDP streaming through the assessment of the QoS of Cloud Gaming users obtained passively by monitoring the network traffic generated using active test devices or by subscribers. Such evaluation also includes service and user detection together with other indicators to assess the ability of the network to deliver the cloud gaming service.

The present document leverages the existing Recommendations ITU-T P.1201 [i.1], G.1072 [i.4] and ETSI TR 103 702 [i.6] to provide QoS parameters for users who experience Cloud Gaming Services over RTP/UDP streaming. In particular, it extends Recommendation ITU-T G.1072 [i.4] model, which predicts the expected QoS/MOS for given network conditions and is mainly focused to network design and optimization activities, to user analysis based on non-intrusive passive monitoring, feeding such model with measured or estimated end-user packet loss, round-trip time, inter-arrival jitter, video bitrate, framerate, and further information derived from the game platform capabilities and streaming data. Moreover, the present document, in addition to Recommendation ITU-T H.264 [i.8] characterization provided by Recommendation ITU-T G.1072 [i.4], addresses Recommendation ITU-T H.265 [i.9] (and VP9) video codecs and audio chat.

The Recommendation ITU-T G.1072 [i.4]-derived model has been applied to three gaming platforms under several network conditions: Blacknut^®, Nvidia GeForce Now^®, and Google Stadia^®. They delivered objective results in line with the user's subjective. However, the applicability needs to avoid the periods when games are paused or when gamers select game options. In such a situation, the scenes are mostly static, and encoders output a low video bit rate that does not represent the one used to stream the game while in action.

The identified QoS parameters refer to the following categories with the aim also of addressing a practical Root Cause Analysis:

 • Service-Centric (Subscriber IP address, Cloud gaming Platform Name).

 • Cloud Gaming Session (Platform Start Time, Game Start Time, Streaming Start Time, Play Start Time, Streaming End Time, Streaming Duration).

 • Media (MOS, Audio/Video Bitrate, Video Framerate, Audio/Video Packets, Audio/Video Downlink/Uplink bytes).

 • Transport (Network Round Trip Time, Packet Loss Rate, Packet retransmission, Server addresses, Server ports, SSRC).