Spirent First to Enable Enhanced Voice Services (EVS) Codec Testing for Improved Audio Quality in VoLTE Wireless Services

– Spirent Communications, the leading provider of verification, assessment, analytics, and device intelligence solutions, today announced the first test & measurement solution that supports EVS, a full HD voice codec recently developed for Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services by 3GPP.  The EVS codec offers improved audio quality performance at reduced bit rates, with additional features to improve the user experience while reducing costs for wireless service providers.  Spirent’s Elevate™ Test Framework and Prolab™ Test Suite have been expanded to support EVS for both functional and performance QoE requirements. This unique and comprehensive test coverage enables both device manufacturers and operators to move ahead with commercial EVS deployments worldwide to deliver the best audio quality in the market for both voice and music while also optimizing bandwidth.

By utilizing the entire audible frequency range, EVS is able to deliver voice quality that is more clear and realistic sounding than initial VoLTE codec implementations. In addition, EVS offers a wider range of bitrates to improve system efficiency and utilizes unique jitter buffer management and packet loss concealment techniques to minimize the degradation of voice quality caused by adverse conditions in the transmission channel. EVS testing and measurement is complex because there are many codec configurations, features, parameters, and audio quality measurements to take into consideration. Spirent’s Elevate Test Framework with Prolab is a robust test platform that can configure the numerous network parameters to fully emulate real world scenarios and evaluate the EVS codec under dozens of scenarios including adversarial conditions.

“Our EVS offering is the latest in our portfolio of solutions focused on helping the ecosystem develop and deploy new services that enhance the mobile user experience,” said Rob VanBrunt, General Manager, Wireless at Spirent Communications.  “We have been working side by side with R&D teams in the world’s leading chipset design labs to validate the functional performance of EVS’ differentiating features.  In parallel, we are collaborating with service providers using our leading audio quality performance methodology to further analyze this codec’s enhanced user experience both in the lab and on the live network.  Spirent’s breadth of expertise and solutions enables the mobile ecosystem to deliver a faster and more economical rollout.”

Spirent is an industry-recognized leader in audio and video quality test & measurement both in the field and lab enabling early interactive design support for R&D teams and comprehensive and fully automated performance evaluation solutions for operator device acceptance requirements worldwide.  Spirent is able to test the full EVS codec and support a wide range of tests, including functional testing, quality measurement, and user experience performance and analysis.  For more information on the EVS solution, please go to http://www.spirent.com/Products/IMS_VoLTE_and_RCS_solution.

Please visit us at the Spirent stand (hall 6, stand 6J37) at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona Spain to learn more about the Spirent’s Audio Quality Solution for EVS.