This document provides an agenda for an end-to-end quality of experience workshop taking place on January 29, 2009 at IMEC in Heverlee. The agenda includes demonstrations on scalable video coding over error-prone networks, wireless thin clients, cross-layer control of reconfigurable radios, unobservable VOIP communications, and protecting applications from buffer overflows. Presentations will also be given on network neutrality in the context of electronic communications reform and situating network neutrality in the broader context of content distribution. Additionally, there will be a discussion on evaluating quality of experience and bridging the gap between technical parameters and human experience factors.

1. End-to-end Quality of Experience
Final workshop
Thursday 29 January 2009
@ IMEC, Heverlee
Programma
13:00 Welcome & sandwich
13:30 Opening speech
13:40 General presentation
14:00 Demo slot 1 – Multimedia
Error-resilient scalable video coding and streaming over error-prone packet networks
(IBBT – ETRO - VUB)
The demo illustrates real-time video data encoding based on the Scalable Video Coding
extension of H.264, followed by FEC-based error protection and data streaming over an IP
based network. The video coding system demonstrates the adaptation of the data rate and
protection levels depending on the available bandwidth and packet loss rate on the channel.
Scalable video codec: implementation, adaptation and cross-layer control (IBBT – IMEC
-NES and IBBT – MMLAB - UGent)
This demo shows an end-to-end video delivery chain for scalable H.264/AVC video (SVC) and
highlights a number of important components: transparent on-the-fly bitstream adaptation,
bitstream optimization based on external QoS/QoE information, and real-time SVC video
decoding. As the limited battery capacity of the portable devices becomes a main challenge
in wireless video communication, this demo also shows how to minimize the total energy
consumption by a cross-layer controller steering at run-time the configuration of the major
energy consumers in a handheld device: both the SVC encoder and the wireless transmitter.
14:35 Demo slot 2 – Wireless and Thin Clients
Wireless Thin Client hybrid protocol, switching between streams of different quality
(IBBT - IBCN – UGent and IBBT – PATS - UA)
Cloud computing, client resource virtualisation, netwerk centric computing are important
evolutions in the current internet. One of the key technologies to support these trends is
the development of efficient protocols that support the interaction between the client and
the remote server. In this demo we will concentrate on a novel hybrid wireless thin client
protocol showing clearly the benefits over the traditional thin client protocols, especially for
multimedia content access where the quality of experience is very important. The demo will
also illustrate a novel adaptation framework based on the service oriented architectures
paradigm: media adaptations will beenacted depending on the current value of the systems
resources.

2. Energy-aware cross-layer control of a reconfigurable radio implementation (IBBT –
IMEC -NES)
Considering a real reconfigurable radio transceiver, this demo shows cross-layer (XL) control
techniques for data transmission over a WLAN network. The goal is to offer the required
wireless performance (i.e., data throughput) at minimum energy consumption. This is
achieved by adapting the configuration of the wireless transmitter to the channel
fluctuations through appropriate XL radio control, leveraging on the available scalability in
the radio system.
15:10 Demo slot 3 – Pervasive security
Unobservable VOIP (IBBT – COSIC – KU Leuven)
Although encryption protects the content of communications, it still leaves associated
traffic data open to collection and data mining. These data concerning who is talking to
whom and for how long are a valuable source of intelligence and a serious threat to
privacy. Often the gathering of such data is the first step towards target selection for
attack. We demonstrate why present day VoIP communications are not privacy-friendly.
To do this we use the most popular VoIP technology today – Skype. Using our demo
system UV next we demonstrate how some of the pointed privacy issues of Skype may
be solved. UV is a two-node system for unobservable voice communication on the
Internet. UV provides unobservability of communication by hiding the fact that there is
a conversation taking place. To achieve this, the system uses techniques such as
encryption, constant traffic generation, equal packet sizes, and a fixed packet sending
schedule. With the described demo we show how all this works in practice.
Protecting applications from buffer overflows (IBBT - DistriNet KU Leuven and IBBT –
COSIC – KU Leuven)
Buffer overflows constitute an important threat to applications written in C. In this
demo we show how such a vulnerability in the UVOIP application can allow an attacker
to execute arbitrary code on the computer running this client. To protect against this
attack we demonstrate a novel countermeasure that prevents the attacker from being
able to use the buffer overflow to execute injected code. This countermeasure works by
separating control data from regular data in applications. It has a negligible overhead
on performance for the application and is broadly applicable.
15:40 Coffee break
16:00 The European Response to Network Neutrality in the Context of the Electronic
Communications Reform
Liyang Hou, IBBT – ICRI – KU Leuven
Network neutrality in principle involves preventing network operators from
discriminating against particular Internet content providers with a purpose to exclude
the latter from the market. It is one of the key subjects in the context of reforming the
Regulatory Framework for electronic communications. This presentation reports the
major findings of ICRI’s last deliverable, with a focus on the following three issues: (1)
the specific problems in relation to network neutrality; (2) the latest legislative
development concerning network neutrality; and (3) a legal assessment with regard to
these proposals.

3. 16:40 Situating Net Neutrality in a broader context. Towards an analytical framework for the
distribution of content on the Internet.
Leo Van Audenhove, IBBT SMIT – VUB
Luciano Morganti, IBBT – SMIT – VUB
Net neutrality often refers to the use of technology—network management techniques—
in the distribution of content on the Internet. Net neutrality in effect is a negative term
objecting any interference in the flow of content over networks and more particularly in
the last mile. Within the E2E Quality of Experience project we have developed an
analytical framework which differentiates the use of technologies within the network
according to their objectives and possible impacts. The use of technologies to shape the
flow of content within networks is related to the struggle for the distribution of
content. It should therefore be understood as an element in the control over the value
chains of online products and services and be analyzed in a much broader framework. In
our framework we look at the control over the time, space, quality, speed, access and
attention dimensions of distribution. We furthermore make the link between
technologies in the network, business models and government regulation.
17:00 “Evaluating Quality of Experience: bridging the gap between technical parameters and
human experience factors”
Katrien De Moor, IBBT – MICT – UGent
Lieven De Marez, IBBT – MICT - UGent
In this talk, two important challenges linked to the Quality of Experience-concept that
were addressed within the scope of this project, are discussed. The first challenge deals
with the definition of QoE and its relation to concepts such as Quality of Service and
User Experience. Although it was found that QoE is an important research topic in
various fields, a holistic approach to QoE was still lacking. Therefore, a conceptual model
of QoE was developed.
In addition, we also focus on the evaluation and measurement of QoE. Whereas
measurement approaches based on the well-established QoS tradition mainly focus on
‘what’ is happening on the network by investigating parameters such as bandwidth,
packet loss, jitter, .. they fail to provide accurate insight in the ‘why’-dimension: e.g. why
is the user behaving in a certain way? Why does the user feel unhappy or frustrated? We
therefore aim to propose a user-centric framework for QoE-measurement, which enables
us to link true user-centric measures to relevant technical parameters.
17:00 Q&A
17:15 Drink