On the use of RTP for monitoring and fault isolation in IPTV

Since the first operational IPTV networks have been deployed, service providers and operators have struggled to make their subscribers happy and satisfied with their services. To keep them as customers in the long term, they have been looking for ways to identify impairments to the perceived quality of experience. It is now well understood that this can only be achieved if the service providers have virtual eyes throughout their networks. In this article we provide an overview of the Real-Time Transport Protocol and its application to IPTV. We describe the monitoring and reporting features offered by RTP, and emphasize how they can be used to enhance subscriber QoE.