KQI Assessment of VR Services: A Case Study on 360-Video Over 4G and 5G

Extended Reality (XR) arises as one of the current cutting-edge educational and entertainment emergent technologies. This service differs from traditional video streaming approaches due to its immersive experience, which allows the user to enjoy omnidirectional multimedia. However, the service experience must be guaranteed to avoid side effects such as cybersickness or disorientation. This work presents a framework to assess 360-video service streaming performance over mobile networks through Key Quality Indicators (KQIs) using VR (Virtual Reality) HMD (Head Mounted Device). The testbed is composed of a 360-video client for DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP), which playbacks multimedia content from a video server located in the cloud while KQI measuring tasks are performed in the user as on the network sides. Various metrics are collected such as resolution, frame rate, initial playback time, throughput, stall events, and round trip time (RTT), among various others. Finally, a performance comparison between LTE and 5G technologies is provided. Results from the KQI measurement highlight the potential of the new generation of mobile networks in the provision of service with high-quality levels of experience.