Modular and deep QoE/QoS mapping for multimedia services over satellite networks

Satellite networks are promising alternatives to deal with the increasing traffic volume and provide universal access for end users. Quality of experience (QoE) as an aggregate of user perception and network quality will be a critical success factor for multimedia service delivery over satellite networks. Quality of experience prediction based on quality of service (QoS) has received much attention recently, but it has been little investigated in satellite networks. In this paper, on the basis of the modular neural network and deep belief networks (DBNs), we design a QoE/QoS mapping method for multimedia services over satellite networks to translate QoS parameters into user QoE. The task of QoE/QoS mapping for multimedia services is decomposed into several different subtasks by using traffic classification. Heterogeneous DBNs are used to learn the mapping relationships between QoE and QoS for different types of services (ie, subtask) simultaneously. An integrative approach based on relative distance is exploited to select subneural network(s) to predict resulting QoE collaboratively. To determine the weight parameters of the QoE/QoS correlation model, the dataset composed of QoS parameters and subjective opinion scores is built on the basis of satellite network simulator and subjective test. Finally, the effectiveness of our QoE/QoS mapping method is validated, and the relationship between adoption rating and opinion scores is analyzed.