Advanced Communication Quality Analysis System (ACQUA)

ACQUA Standard Version

For companies involved in the field of communications, who need to evaluate and improve the speech and audio quality of their products, ACQUA is an essential development tool. ACQUA is the heart of a telecommunications test system that performs the functions of: measurement system control, calibration, signal generation, recording, analysis, and data archival.

The measurement and analysis concept

Single measurement descriptors (SMDs) define measurement and analysis parameters and signal paths for simple measurements including `loudness rating or echo measurements to more complex measurements such as TOSQA or PESQ (ITU-T P.862). For existing national standards, HEAD acoustics creates SMDs for all relevant measurements and assembles them together to form multiple measurement descriptors (MMDs) that automate the testing of complete standards. Results are automatically archived to hard disk and documented in Microsoft Word.

Results from existing measurement standards such as ETSI TBR10 OR TIA-470C may not provide you with enough information to adequately understand your product. For demanding situations such as hands-free telephones, echo cancellers, or IP telephony, HEAD acoustics has developed internal test programs which include test signals and methodologies to provide you with a more comprehensive analysis of speech quality, background noise transmission quality, echo, switching, and other attributes which affect communications signals.

In-house test standards are easily created by editing the SMDs' parameters ­ or creating entirely new SMDıs - and assembling the selected SMDs to form a new MMDıs.

Project oriented work - advanced analysis

Standards testing is often only the beginning. For troubleshooting problems and refining products, advanced analysis capabilities are required. ACQUA's project-oriented analysis options go well beyond today's commonly used telecom test methods. From psychoacoustics, to post-processing of signals in the time or frequency domain, to statistical analysis, to preparation of sequences for subjective speech quality assessment, ACQUA provides all the tools.

ACQUA incorporates the latest software technology to enable you to develop computer programs that use ACQUA components. You will be pleased with how easy it is to create custom measurement routines using the COM-Interfaces in combination with software such as Visual Basic.

Key Features:

• automated measurements to national and international telecommunications standards
• integrated "workplace concept" that provides access to standards test results and measurement data from any computer on a network
• database management of measurement objects, measurement results, and measurement standards
• integration with HEAD acoustics Measurement Frontends (MFE), Head and Torso Simulators (HMS), and Playback Systems (HPS) for testing a wide range of products
• unique standards from HEAD acoustics and custom standards defined by the user
• extensive suite of analysis tools: signal generator/editor, real-time interactive filters, spectral analysis, psychoacoustics, and advanced time-frequency methods
• "hear what you see" - improved objective assessment of data using the simultaneous listen-analyze-filter feature
• native Microsoft Windows XP application provides familiar Windows environment and Microsoft Word based report generator

Measurement standards for ACQUA include:

HEAD Quality Standards:

Widespread use of digital signal processors in telephony results in numerous non-linear characteristics, such as switching, echo cancellation, VAD, AGC, and others.

Extensive subjective evaluations performed by HEAD acoustics for the ITU-T have identified the parameters judged to be most important for the voice quality of time-variant devices. Based on these assessments, objective tests have been devised to measure those parameters for the following situations:

For a data sheet, please select the "downloads" area from the HEAD acoustics GmbH site www.head-acoustics.de

ACQUA EA Electroacoustics Test System

ACQUA EA is a complete measurement system for the analysis of electroacoustical parameters of microphones, loudspeakers and other acoustic transducers as well as hearing aids in the time and frequency domain. In combination with the calibrated measurement frontend MFE VI the automated measurement sequences of ACQUA EA allow fast and easy acquisition, analysis and documentation of measurement data. It is thus ideally suited as electroacoustical analysis system for production and conformance testing as well as for research and development tasks. While ACQUA EA is a cost-effective stand alone solution for electroacoustical measurement tasks, it also interacts seamlessly with the ACQUA standard version, which is also available as an upgrade option.

ACQUA EA comes with predefined measurement sequences or measurement descriptors, which determine how the measurement data are captured and analyzed in the time and frequency domain. The user can view the settings of the measurement descriptors in a clearly structured and comprehensible form. Important parameters can be modified by the user. A fully editable Microsoft Word report can be generated from measurement and analysis results. The integrated database allows the automatic archiving of all measurement sequences, results and reports. The high degree of automation and the ease of use of ACQUA EA allow rapid completion of complex test sequences with minimal user interaction.

Key Features:

• Calibration of measurement system in dBV, dBm, dBSPL, dBPa and dBm0
• Analysis in the time domain, determination of level
• Analysis in the frequency domain, determination of transfer function, distortion factor, rub & buzz, noise, correlation, impulse response, loudness rating
• Modification of essential measurement parameters is possible
• Creation and automatic checking of tolerance schemes
• Automated measurement sequences
• Integrity and reproducibility of data due to archiving of measurement sequences and results in a database
• Individually definable default settings
• Import of measurement descriptors from ACQUA standard version
• Linearization of any kind of acoustical source (e.g. loudspeakers) at a given point in space
• "Relative Approach" for clear representation of time and spectrum structures (optional)

For a data sheet, please select the "downloads" area from the HEAD acoustics GmbH site www.head-acoustics.de

ACQUA IP Compact IP Telephone Test System

ACQUA IP Compact is a dual-channel analyzer designed to meet the requirements of measurement engineering standards according to ITU-T, ETSI, IEEE, and TIA. ACQUA IP Compact takes account of the special measuring and evaluation requirements made necessary by the development of modern IP-based components in the field of communications.

ACQUA IP Compact has the following primary areas of application:

• Automated data acquisition and analysis of IP-Configurations: terminals, gateways and network configurations with bandwidths up to 20 kHz
• Analysis of transmission systems with non-linear, time-variant transfer characteristics
• Experimental development and optimization of (IP)-configurations including terminals with subjective evaluation of speech intelligibility and transmission quality

For a data sheet, please select the "downloads" area from the HEAD acoustics GmbH site www.head-acoustics.de

ACQUA HFT Compact Hands-free Telephone Test System

ACQUA HFT Compact is a dual-channel analyzer designed to meet the requirements of measurement engineering standards according to ITU-T, ETSI, IEEE, and TIA. ACQUA HFT Compact takes account of the special measuring and evaluation requirements made necessary by the development of modern hands-free terminals.

ACQUA HFT Compact has the following primary areas of application:

• Automated data acquisition and analysis of hands-free terminals with bandwidths up to 20 kHz, especially for use in offices, mobile situations as well as in vehicles.
• Analysis of transmission systems with non-linear, time variant, transfer characteristics.
• Experimental development and optimization of hands-free terminals and configurations as well as subjective evaluation of speech intelligibility and transmission quality.

For a data sheet, please select the "downloads" area from the HEAD acoustics GmbH site www.head-acoustics.de