The challenge of QoS for digital television services

Quality of Service (QoS) in digital television broadcasting has been the subject of many studies during the last decade. This has led to the establishment of various standards and recommendations by organisations such as ETSI and the ITU. More than twenty relevant parameters and associated measurement methods have been specified by ETSI for DVB but their interpretation, usage and exploitation are often considered “difficult” – in that they require a high level of expertise. This article describes how three “synthetic” parameters (SAE, SDE and SIE) have been developed to make assessment of QoS considerably easier. They could represent the keystone of QoS in digital TV services.