Automated, Cross-Layer Root Cause Analysis of 5G Video-Conferencing Quality Degradation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a cross-layer analysis of 5G networks affecting video conferencing, identifying root causes of performance issues and developing an automated tool for diagnosis.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed measurement-based root cause analysis of 5G video quality degradation and introduces Domino, an automated, extensible diagnostic tool.

Findings

Identified 24 new causal event chains affecting 5G video quality.

Correlated physical, link, network, and application layer events with performance issues.

Developed Domino, a tool for automated root cause analysis in 5G networks.

Abstract

5G wireless networks are complex, leveraging layers of scheduling, retransmission, and adaptation mechanisms to maximize their efficiency. But these mechanisms interact to produce significant fluctuations in uplink and downlink capacity and latency. This markedly impacts the performance of real-time applications, such as video-conferencing, which are particularly sensitive to such fluctuations, resulting in lag, stuttering, distorted audio, and low video quality. This paper presents a cross-layer view of 5G networks and their impact on and interaction with video-conferencing applications. We conduct novel, detailed measurements of both Private CBRS and commercial carrier cellular network dynamics, capturing physical- and link-layer events and correlating them with their effects at the network and transport layers, and the video-conferencing application itself. Our two datasets comprise days of low-rate campus-wide Zoom telemetry data, and hours of high-rate, correlated WebRTC-network-5G telemetry data. Based on these data, we trace performance anomalies back to root causes, identifying 24 previously unknown causal event chains that degrade 5G video conferencing. Armed with this knowledge, we build Domino, a tool that automates this process and is user-extensible to future wireless networks and interactive applications.