A Standard-compliant Assessment of Beyond-eMBB QoS/QoE in 5G Networks

5th Generation (5G) mobile systems are being deployed to address the Quality of Service and Experience (QoS/QoE) requirements of several use cases, including enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC). While eMBB performance testing inherits well-established methodologies and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), beyond-eMBB services (i.e., URLLC and eMBBURLLC real-time applications) are often tested by adopting simplistic or in-house methodologies, which do not help towards accurate assessment and comparison. In this paper, we fill this gap by providing a detailed analysis of a methodology, recently standardized by the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), that targets systematic performance evaluations of beyond-eMBB services. The methodology relies on the definition of a QoE KPI, i.e., the interactivity score (i-score), on top of three QoS KPIs measuring service latency, stability, and continuity. To this aim, we perform a multi-service measurement campaign on two 5G networks across two cities in Sweden, during which we run a large number of tests compliant with the ITU-T methodology, and analyze the collected data. Our results empirically validate the methodology, showcasing its ability of capturing heterogeneous service characteristics and requirements, as well as the interdependencies between i-score and QoS KPIs, and the impact of different factors on QoS/QoE performance, including user mobility, connection capability, and server location.