As the video world is moving to IP and telecommunication and broadcast industries are converging, operators need a system to monitor their video systems in order maintain a good signal. This type of monitoring should be done in a technical manner in order to analyze streams at down level, monitoring the problems which may occur in the streams. But it is also highly important to monitor the signal from the customer’s point of view in order to know if the end-customer is satisfied with the service or if something needs to be changed.

For these reasons, a full monitoring system which does not only measure the Quality of Service (QoS), but also the Quality of Experience (QoE) should be implemented.

The QoS measures and analyzes the trasmission stream parameters in order to determine if there are problems in the network or if a wrong traffic schema or protocol policy is being applied. Therefore, it consists of objective parameter measurements.

If the QoS is mainly a technical way of determining the TV services quality, the QoE is all about the end-user expectationand monitoring the real-time signal. As interactive services become more complex, the STB becomes a key element in the network and in the user experience, and therefore mandatory to include in a global monitoring service. Furthermore, it is only way to monitor the actual video picture in encrypted TV services.

If QoS is mainly based on an objective analysis, QoE constitutes the subjective part of this full monitoring system.

Independently of your network type, it is a key issue to be able to monitor the different points of network where direct access is not always easy to get. This monitoring feedback should be from both QoS and QoE point of view and is normally a costly implementation.

All of this is completely possible using two powerful monitoring tools combined, the BridgeTech and TraceBox probes and monitoring system which allow the operator to have a full monitoring point in a 1U rack chassis.

The following diagram shows how the system is implemented in all types of video networks. Notice that the system can monitor IP, ASI, COFDM, QPSK and QAM input signals, making it suitable for any kind of system.

BridgeTech probes have been designed not only to satisfy the engineer, but also the operators. It provides an wide range of possible measurements in the stream as well as a completely intuitive visual system to identify, filter, and report alarms.

What can we analyze with BridgeTech probes?

The probes provide a complete stream analysis including services, PSI/SI tables, bit-rates, and ETR 290 alarms for up to 180 services per probe in the top-of-the-line probe, the VB220. It also provides a simple way to see all the information in an intuitive windowed system, allowing to view ETR 290 alarms of several channels in the same window, with the micro ETR technology, and making operations easier and less confusing for the operator.

One of the most important problems in video over IP networks is the jitter. Buffer overflow and delays turn into annoying video artifacts for the viewer. Consequently, BridgeTech probes include a powerful Media Delivery Index (MDI) measurement system which consists of a Delay Factor (DF) measurement and a Media Loss Rate (MLR) measurement. This system also provides Inter Arrival Time (IAT) measurement and includes the possibility of showing all these data in an simple windowed mode, called MDI Window.

All measurements made by the probe can be carried out in different intervals of time; hours, days, or weeks in order to determine the video network (Micro Time Line technology) reliability.

BridgeTech probes can also make analysises to ensure the middleware quality with the new technology Full Service Monitoring (FSM).

The Return Data Path technology gives the possibility of returning a monitored service to the network operation center or the head-end.

Future updates in BridgeTech probes will include Transport Stream recording, triggered manually or automatically.

In which DVB systems can we include the probes?

The probes cards are provided with Giga Ethernet and ASI inputs and they can be upgraded with QPSK, COFDM and QAM cards in order to measure the streams in all types of environments.

We can divide the BridgeTech probes into three main series:

The VB1 series, which consist of the portable VB12 probe and the rack mounted VB120 probe, which can analyze up to 10 streams. The incoming VB22 have new features, such an Ethernet loop-through interface.

The VB2 series, which consist of the portable VB20 probe and the rack mounted VB220 probe, which can analyze up to 180 streams. When installing three VB220 in the same 1U rack chassis it is possible to analyze up to 540 streams at the same time.

The VB250 and VB260 are modules with other input interfaces (COFDM, QPSK, QAM) to make the probes work in different environments. It should be associated with the VB220 or the VB120 probe. For example, with a VB120 and a VB260, you can analyze up to 10 streams in Ethernet input, ASI input and QAM input simultaneously.

Is it easy to manage BridgeTech probes?

Yes! BridgeTech probes can be managed via a web browser, individually and from all remote sites of the network. Furthermore, a central server, the Video Bridge Controller (VBC), also based in web browser, can be installed in a central control site to manage all probes from the same server. Reporting and XML exports can be done from the server.

If the BridgeTech probes are the perfect tools for QoS measurement, the Trace Box is designed to measure the QoE. An operator needs not only to view, analyze, and report the alarms in the streams, but also to monitor, from a central control site, the actual user-experience. This is highly important as the STB is a key element on the QoE as it uses interactive applications intensively. In addition, video and audio streams are encrypted and only the STB is able to decrypt them. The TraceBox monitoring system allows for decoding a stream in a remote site, encoding the output of the STB and streaming it to the control site, which allows the operator to actual user experience.

QoE is a key parameter to control in terms of customer expectation, satisfaction, and churn reduction. The TraceBox provides a tool for TV service layer monitoring: live TV channels availability, zapping times, VoD, EPG load time, portal access, etc.

Do you have customers complaining about signal failure? Now you can find the problem remotely by connecting to the TraceBox installed the DSLAM.

The operator can push any button of a virtual remote control and the STB, remotely located, will receive the command. The selected channel or stream will be sent from the monitoring point to the central site and presented to the operator. This can also perform a remote STB power cycling if it stops responding.

Additionally, it is possible to generate a mosaic screen with the streams of several monitoring points. The system can be managed from the TraceBox Central Server, or individually via a web browser from all points in the network.

The TraceBox management system also has the possibility of creating automatic macros to perform different operations in the STB. In addition, it detects alarms in the video signal such as black frame or freezing. It is important to notice that, in an encrypted system with Conditional Access, this is the only way to detect such alarms.

BridgeTech and TraceBox are two powerful, useful, and easy-to-use tools for monitoring video networks. Together they constitute the perfect, complete monitoring solution. The operator can install a BridgeTech probe, a TraceBox, and another extra card (QAM, COFDM or QPSK input cards, for example) in a single 1U rack chassis, and in addition STB.

The operator only needs to install the monitoring points in each point of the network where you want to monitor the streams (Head-end, PoP, DSLAM) and the two central servers in the Network Operation Center. Furthermore, operators can access the monitoring points via a web browser from all points in the network. Authentication and profiles are provided to give access only to the allowed operators in each site. Furthermore, the TraceBox and BridgeTech probes can send traps SNMP. Therefore, they can be integrated in any existing management system.

With TraceBox and BridgeTech you can manage a full monitoring system for both QoS and QoE analysises with a remarkably competitive price.