Data-Driven Construction of User Utility Functions from Radio Connection Traces in LTE

In recent years, the number of services in mobile networks has increased exponentially. This increase has forced operators to change their network management processes to ensure an adequate Quality of Experience (QoE). A key component in QoE management is the availability of a precise QoE model for every service that reflects the impact of network performance variations on the end-user experience. In this work, an automatic method is presented for deriving Quality-of-Service (QoS) thresholds in analytical QoE models of several services from radio connection traces collected in an Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. Such QoS thresholds reflect the minimum connection performance below which a user gives up its connection. The proposed method relies on the fact that user experience influences the traffic volume requested by users. Method assessment is performed with real connection traces taken from live LTE networks. Results confirm that packet delay or user throughput are critical factors for user experience in the analyzed services.