Edinburgh Napier University

  The concept of offering pervasive telecommunication services, i.e., services that are available anytime, anywhere and from any terminal, is very appealing. Providing pervasive services to users has been the ultimate goal of telecommunication systems for many years. We introduce pervasive systems and services from the telecommunication perspective. We also look at the enabling technologies and different pervasive services that are currently being provided to users. In view of this, we emphasize on why quality of experience (QoE) in telecommunication systems is important. Next, we elaborate on the different requirements needed to provide pervasive services from the user’s perspective. A case study is presented, illustrating how the sensitivity of different network parameters (such as bandwidth, packet loss and delay) for a pervasive service can affect QoE. The chapter then concludes with what the current status is, and the shortcomings in providing QoE in a truly pervasive service.