OPTICOM OPERA SOFTWARE SUITE - V3.0 Manual

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registered trademarks of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2001 by OPTICOM GmbH · www.opticom.de
Technical Specification
for the OPERA™ Software Suite V3.0
OPR-000-XXX-S

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION FOR THE OPERA™ SOFTWARE SUITE V3.0
1
Feature Overview
Voice Quality Measurement
•PESQ, perceptual evaluation of speech quality according to ITU-T rec. P.862 [2001]. Combines
PSQM with PAMS, optimized for VoIP and hybrid end-to-end applications
•PSQM, perceptual speech quality measure according to ITU-T rec. P.861 [1996]
•PSQM+, advanced perceptual speech quality measure according to ITU-T COM 12-20 [1998]
•PSQM/IP, perceptual speech quality measure according to ITU-T rec. P.861 [1996], incl.
advanced delay compensation for end-to-end measurements, developed by OPTICOM
•Echo measurement based on real speech, Echo Return Loss ERLmom, ERLpeak, ERL vs. delay
•One way delay measurement, with PESQ also delay jitter vs.time
•Front-end clipping FEC measurement1(PESQ)
•Hold-over time HOT measurement1(PESQ)
•Background noise measurement1(PESQ)
•Utterances detection1(PESQ)
•Delay histogram1(PESQ)
•Signal-to-noise SNR measurement of speech and silence portions of a test signal
•Official ITU voice samples for testing and conformance verification
Audio Quality Measurement
•PEAQ, perceptual evaluation of audio quality according to ITU-R rec. BS.1387 [1999], Basic and
Advanced Model
•Result logging functionality, including user definable log intervals and quality score threshold
•Official ITU audio samples for testing and conformance verification
Common Functionality
•Advanced delay compensation for end-to-end measurements, suitable for constant and variable
delays (VoIP), developed by OPTICOM
•Delay measurement with real speech/music. Results in samples as well as ms
•Attenuation measured in dB
•File-based analysis capability
•Comprehensive scripting interface
•Trigger functionality for targeted analysis long duration test signals (PEAQ and PSQM)
•Graphical user interface
•Extensive scripting and command line options for automated testing
•Printing and graph exporting functionality
1Available Q4/2001

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION FOR THE OPERA™ SOFTWARE SUITE V3.0
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Graphical Displays
•Time signal displays, zoomable
•FFT Spectra displays, zoomable
•Excitation and various psychoacoustic parameters, like NMR, Masked Threshold and Loudness
•Audible distortion measurement
•Result summary display with MOV, PSQM MOS, PESQ MOS and PEAQ ODG numerical scores
and bar graphs
•Delay Jitter vs. Time min/max scores and graph (PESQ)
•Echo Return Loss vs. Delay
Feature Description
PESQ Measurement
Description: Perceptual measurement of speech quality according to ITU-T
rec. P.862. Indicates call clarity. Results can be directly
compared to subjective listening tests. Capable of handling
varying delays and severe distortions as they occure in VoIP
applications.
Algorithm standard: Based on standard ITU-T rec. P.862
Sample rates: 8 kHz and 16 kHz
Sound file formats: WAVE-files containing A-law, mu-law, linear PCM (8 or 16
bit)
Max. duration of measurement signals: As defined by WAVE-format
Gain Compensation: Maximum gain difference = ±60 dB
Automated operation: Supported
Available Measurement Results: Timesignal,
Delay vs. Time,
PESQ MOS,
Jitter,
Minimum, maximum and average delay,
Front-end clipping FEC1,
Hold-over time HOT1,
Attenuation1,
Background noise1,
Signal-to-noise (SNR) measurement,
MOS of silent and speech portions,
Detailed analysis of silent and speech portions,
Utterances detection1,
Delay histogram1
1Available Q4/2001

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION FOR THE OPERA™ SOFTWARE SUITE V3.0
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Additional Features: File-based measurements,
Printing and graph exporting functionality,
Includes official ITU voice samples for testing,
Includes PESQ conformance test samples,
Includes PSQM conformance test samples
PSQM Measurement
Description: Perceptual measurement of speech quality according to ITU-T
rec. P.861. Indicates call clarity. Includes highly optimized
proprietary mapping from raw PSQM values to P.800 Mean
Opinion Score (MOS) scale. Results can be directly compared
to subjective listening tests.
Algorithm standard: Based on standard ITU-T rec. P.861
Sample rates: 8 kHz and 16 kHz
Sound file formats: WAVE-files containing A-law, mu-law, linear PCM (8 or 16
bit)
Max. duration of measurement signals: As defined by WAVE-format
Gain Compensation: Maximum gain difference = ±60 dB
Automatic Delay Compensation: ±1000 ms
Static Delay: Automatic Delay Compensation ±10 s
Automated operation: Supported
Available Measurement Results: Timesignal,
Spectrum,
Excitation,
Percentage of silent intervals during measurement (Silence),
Percentage of time clipped frames during measurement (Time
Clipped),
Percentage of severely distorted frames during measurement
(Sev. Distorted),
PSQM according to P.861, silence weight = 0.0 (PSQM-W0),
PSQM according to P.861, silence weight = 0.2 (PSQM-W2),
PSQM according to P.861, silence weight = 0.4 (PSQM-W4),
PSQM value of the silent intervals (PSQM-Silence),
Mean Opinion Score (MOS), silence weight = 0.0 (OMOS-
W0),
Mean Opinion Score (MOS), silence weight = 0.2 (OMOS-
W2),
Mean Opinion Score (MOS), silence weight = 0.4 (OMOS-
W4),
Mean Opinion Score (MOS) vs. Time,
Delay between the Reference Signal and the output signal of
the device under test,
Attenuation of the test signal compared to the reference signal
Additional Features: File-based measurements,
Trigger functionality,
Printing and graph exporting functionality,

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION FOR THE OPERA™ SOFTWARE SUITE V3.0
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Includes official ITU voice samples for testing,
Includes PESQ conformance test samples,
Includes PSQM conformance test samples
PSQM+ Measurement
Description: Perceptual measurement of speech quality according to ITU-T
rec. P.861. Indicates call clarity. Includes highly optimized
proprietary mapping from raw PSQM values to P.800 Mean
Opinion Score (MOS) scale. Results can be directly compared
to subjective listening tests. PSQM+ is optimzed for severe
distortions, such as packet loss and time clipping.
Algorithm standard: Based on standard ITU-T rec. P.861
Sample rates: 8 kHz and 16 kHz
Sound file formats: WAVE-files containing A-law, mu-law, linear PCM (8 or 16
bit)
Max. duration of measurement signals: As defined by WAVE-format
Gain Compensation: Maximum gain difference = ±60 dB
Automatic Delay Compensation: ±1000 ms
Static Delay: Automatic Delay Compensation ±10 s
Automated operation: Supported
Available Measurement Results: Timesignal,
Spectrum,
Excitation,
Percentage of silent intervals during measurement (Silence),
Percentage of time clipped frames during measurement (Time
Clipped),
Percentage of severely distorted frames during measurement
(Sev. Distorted),
PSQM according to P.861, silence weight = 0.0 (PSQM-W0),
PSQM according to P.861, silence weight = 0.2 (PSQM-W2),
PSQM according to P.861, silence weight = 0.4 (PSQM-W4),
PSQM value of the silent intervals (PSQM-Silence),
Mean Opinion Score (MOS), silence weight = 0.0 (OMOS-
W0),
Mean Opinion Score (MOS), silence weight = 0.2 (OMOS-
W2),
Mean Opinion Score (MOS), silence weight = 0.4 (OMOS-
W4),
Mean Opinion Score (MOS) according to PSQM+
(OMOS+),
Mean Opinion Score (MOS) vs. Time,
Delay between the Reference Signal and the output signal of
the device under test,
Attenuation of the test signal compared to the reference signal
Additional Features: File-based measurements,
Trigger functionality,

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION FOR THE OPERA™ SOFTWARE SUITE V3.0
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Printing and graph exporting functionality,
Includes official ITU voice samples for testing,
Includes PESQ conformance test samples,
Includes PSQM conformance test samples
PSQM/IP Measurement
Description: Same as PSQM and PSQM+. Includes advanced time
alignment algorithm to cope with static and variable latencies,
developed by OPTICOM (Delay Tracking functionality).
Algorithm standard: Based on standard ITU-T rec. P.861
Sample rates: 8 kHz and 16 kHz
Sound file formats: WAVE-files containing A-law, mu-law, linear PCM (8 or 16
bit)
Max. duration of measurement signals: As defined by WAVE-format
Gain Compensation: Maximum gain difference = ±60 dB
Automatic Delay Compensation: ±1000 ms
Static Delay: Automatic Delay Compensation ±10 s
Delay Tracking: ±512 samples
Automated operation: Supported
Available Measurement Results: Timesignal,
Spectrum,
Excitation,
Percentage of silent intervals during measurement (Silence),
Percentage of time clipped frames during measurement (Time
Clipped),
Percentage of severely distorted frames during measurement
(Sev. Distorted),
PSQM according to P.861, silence weight = 0.0 (PSQM-W0),
PSQM according to P.861, silence weight = 0.2 (PSQM-W2),
PSQM according to P.861, silence weight = 0.4 (PSQM-W4),
PSQM value of the silent intervals (PSQM-Silence),
Mean Opinion Score (MOS), silence weight = 0.0 (OMOS-
W0),
Mean Opinion Score (MOS), silence weight = 0.2 (OMOS-
W2),
Mean Opinion Score (MOS), silence weight = 0.4 (OMOS-
W4),
Mean Opinion Score (MOS) according to PSQM+
(OMOS+),
Mean Opinion Score (MOS) vs. Time,
Delay between the Reference Signal and the output signal of
the device under test,
Attenuation of the test signal compared to the reference signal
Additional Features: File-based measurements,
Trigger functionality,

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION FOR THE OPERA™ SOFTWARE SUITE V3.0
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Printing and graph exporting functionality,
Includes official ITU voice samples for testing,
Includes PESQ conformance test samples,
Includes PSQM conformance test samples
Echo Algorithm
Description: Algorithm using real speech as stimulus for calculating echo.
Measures the Echo return Loss (ERL) in terms of attenuation
and delay values. Includes graphical representation of the ERL
vs. Delay.
Sample rates: 8 kHz and 16 kHz
Sound file formats: WAVE-files containing A-law, mu-law, linear PCM (8 or 16
bit)
Max. duration of measurement signals: As defined by WAVE-format
Gain Compensation: Maximum gain difference = ±60 dB
Maximum echo delay: 1000 ms
Frame size: 16 ms at 8 kHz
Averaging window size: 800 ms at 8 kHz
Automated operation: Supported
Available Measurement Results: Timesignal,
Echo Return Loss (ERL) vs. Delay,
Momentary attenuation of the highest echo peak (ERLmom),
Momentary delay of the highest echo peak (ERLmom Delay),
Attenuation of the highest echo peak during the whole
measurement period (ERLpeak),
Delay of the highest echo peak during the whole
measurement period (ERLpeak Delay)
Additional Features: File-based measurements,
Printing and graph exporting functionality,
Includes official ITU voice samples for testing,
Includes PESQ conformance test samples,
Includes PSQM conformance test samples
PEAQ Algorithm
Description: Perceptual measurement of wide band audio according to
ITU-R rec. BS.1387. Includes the basic version of PEAQ,
defined for computational efficiency and the advanced
version yielding for highest possible accuracy. Detailed
analysis of test signals through BS.1387 model output
variables (MOVs).
Algorithm: Based on standard ITU-R rec. BS.1387
Sample rates: 48 kHz (according to recommendation ITU-R BS.1387),
44.1 kHz

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION FOR THE OPERA™ SOFTWARE SUITE V3.0
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Sound file formats: WAVE-files containing A-law, mu-law, linear PCM (8 or 16
bit)
Max. duration of measurement signals: As defined by WAVE-format
Gain Compensation: Maximum gain difference = ±60 dB
Automatic Delay Compensation: ±1000 ms (File-based measurements),
±500 ms (On-line measurements)
Static Delay: Automatic Delay Compensation ±10 s
Delay Tracking: ±512 samples
Automated operation: Supported
Available Measurement Results: Timesignal,
Spectrum,
Excitation,
Noise-to-Mask Ratio (NMR), averaged,
Noise-to-Mask Ratio (NMR) vs. Time,
Masked Threshold,
Loudness,
Objective Difference Grade (ODG), averaged (Advanced and
Basic Version),
Objective Difference Grade (ODG) vs. Time,
Distortion Index (DI), for the Advanced and the Basic Version,
Delay between the Reference Signal and the output signal of
the device under test,
Attenuation of the test signal compared to the reference
signal,
Modulation of the reference and test signal
BS.1387 intermediate results (MOVs): Average Bandwidth of the Reference Signal (AvgBwRef),
Average Bandwidth of the output signal of the device under
test (AvgBwTst),
Total Noise-to-Mask Ratio (NMRtotB),
Relative fraction of frames for which at last one frequency
band contains a significant noise component (RDF),
Average Distorted Block (=Frame), taken as the logarithm of
the ratio of the total distortion to the total number of severely
distorted frames (ADB),
Maximum of the Probability of Detection after low pass
filtering (MFPD),
Harmonic structure of the error over time (EHS),
Windowed averaged difference in modulation (envelopes)
between Reference Signal and Signal Under Test
(WinModDif1B),
Averaged modulation difference (AModDif1B),
Averaged modulation difference with emphasis on introduced
modulations and modulation changes where the reference
contains little or no modulations (AmodDif2B, RModDifA),
RMS value of the averaged noise loudness with emphasis on
introduced components (NloudB, NLA),
Averaged Linear Distortions (ALD)

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION FOR THE OPERA™ SOFTWARE SUITE V3.0
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Additional Features: File-based measurements,
Trigger functionality,
Result logging option, including user definable log intervals
and ODG threshold,
Printing and graph exporting functionality,
Includes official ITU audio samples for testing,
Includes PEAQ conformance test samples
System Requirements
Processor: Intel Pentium III, 500 MHz or above
RAM: ≥128 MB, 256 MB are recommended
Screen resolution: 1024*768,
≥64k colours
Graphics adapter: NVIDIA TNT2 ASUS AGP – V7100 SDRAM V5.33,
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX,
Matrox G400,
ATI 3D Rage IIC (GT-B3U1)
Various cards from ELSA (Erazor III Pro, Gladiac 511/MX),
Various cards from Diamond
Graphics memory: ≥8 MB
Operating system: Microsoft Windows NT4.0 SP4,
Microsoft Windows NT4.0 SP5,
Microsoft Windows 2000