Voice over NR Audio Quality Measurement with POLQA

Test Solutions Based on R&S®CMX500 Platform

The evolution of mobile communication enters 5G New Radio (NR) era with pivotal features. Voice call service is however still considered as an indispensable element for mobile devices and worldwide network operators continue to maintain the voice service for their subscribers. In comparison to other Over-the-Top (OTT) voice services, such as WhatsApp©, Teams© etc., Voice over NR (VoNR) and Voice over LTE (VoLTE) maintain QoS, support well established handover mechanism and emergency call, and do not require to pre-install OTT app on the phone.

In order to provide premium voice service and enhance the superb user experience, audio tests on mobile devices are essential before the product launch. Different audio test aspects among which acoustic, functional, performance and field tests need to be considered.

This application note describes the performance test with focus on VoNR audio quality measurement via electrical interface of the mobile device. The test solution is based on R&S®CMX500 with its integrated POLQA algorithm.