IJSRA-2023-0648
IJSRA-2023-0648
IJSRA-2023-0648
Department of Electronic and telecommunications engineering, Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT), Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania.
Publication history: Received on 03 March 2023; revised on 14 July 2023; accepted on 17 August 2023
Abstract
Voice over the internet can be used with existing Local Area Network infrastructure within an organisation such as DIT
to cut down the communication costs within the campus premises. This paper presents how can VoIP intercom be set
and the requirements of the system. Voice is very important method of communication and hence is important to make
it cheap and easily available. In this work, a VLAN was created in the DIT LAN then an appliance IP-PBX was installed,
the phones were connected to a nearest by backbone switch. With gateway of the phones being the IP-PBX and VLAN
tagging of the respective connected switch ports, the phones were able to connect to the PBX. The analysis of the system
during busy hour shows that the system reliable and suitable to be used if the concurrent calls do not exceed the
maximum capacity of the PBX. It is on this basis that this paper tends to critically review this new technology VoIP, x-
raying the different types. It further more discusses in detail the VoIP system, VoIP protocols, and a comparison of
different VoIP protocols. The compression algorithm used to save network bandwidth in VoIP, advantages of VoIP and
problems associated with VoIP implementation were also critically examined. It equally discussed the trend in VoIP
security and Quality of Service challenges. It concludes by reiterating the need for a cheap, reliable and affordable means
of communication that would not only maximize cost but keep abreast with the global technological change.
Keywords: Voice over Internet Protocol; Internet Protocol phones; Session Initiation Protocol; Private Branch
Exchange
1. Introduction
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a technology that makes it possible for users to make telephone calls over the
internet or intranet networks. The technology does not use the traditional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN);
instead calls are made over an internet protocol data network. VoIP has great benefits of increased saving, high quality
voice and video streaming and several other added value services. Examples of VoIP software are: Skype, Google talks
and windows live messenger [1], [2].
2. Overview of VoIP
VoIP stand for Voice over Internet Protocol. VoIP enables us to compress and convert voice signal to digital signal and
transmit it through Internet Protocol (IP)-enabled network like Internet, Ethernet and Wireless LAN [3]. VoIP uses
Internet protocol to manage voice packet over Internet protocol (IP) network.
There are different types of VoIP based on the infrastructures employed by the owner of the network. Listed are some
popular services used in VoIP.
Computer to Computer
Computer to Computer service provides Internet telephony free using the same softphone software such as Skype,
Instant Messaging, AOL etc. It is a software-based VoIP service and both the caller and the receiver must be using their
computer in order to place calls. The following requirement must be met to use computer to computer VoIP service:
softphone software, a sound card and good Internet service. With computer to computer VoIP service, the user may not
be able to call either landline or mobile phones, and also the recipient must be online in order to call him/her.
This is a software-based and hardware-based service. Softphone software is used to route the call to an Internet protocol
and hands off to a conventional telephone network [3]. To use the service, one needs to subscribe and be charged at a
low rate. Examples include Skype, MSN and Google Talk that provides the service to enable their customers to call
landline from their computer. Computer to phone requirements are
Internet-enabled phone and computer, VoIP service subscription, modem and Analog Terminal Adapter to convert the
call signal to digital signal and also back to analog signal. Computer to phone does not allow emergency call users and
needs to have a computer connected to the internet.
Phone to Phone
This is a hardware-based service that allows the caller and receiver to call each other using the Internet. Many telephone
companies use this to handle long distance calls. VoIP convert the audio sound into data packets and transfer these
packets over the Internet. It allows emergence calls and does not need PSTN for initiation and termination of calls.
Call processor is software running on end user equipment operating system that helps in call set up, call monitoring,
user authorization, signal coordination and bandwidth control. It translates a phone number to IP address. Figure 1
shows the components of VoIP system.
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The server enables the establishment of call and support for other features in the system. The Session initiation server
allows the user to forward calls to different location in the VoIP network.
Another important component of H.323 protocol is the multipoint control unit (MCU). It acts as a bridge that enables
two or more terminals and Gateway to participate in a multipoint conferencing. MCU is made up of Multipoint controller
(MC) and Multipoint processor. Multipoint controller determines the capabilities of the network terminal using H.245
protocol stack but does not perform multiplexing of audio, video and data. Multipoint processor is responsible for
multiplexing of media stream. H.323 consists of a number of protocol suites. The protocol suites and functions are listed:
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H.245 provides capabilities for channel usage, advertisement, establishment and conference control.
H.255 for call control
Q.931 for all signalling, call control and setup.
Registration Admission status (RAS) is used for communicating with H.323, endpoint and gatekeeper. It
provides interaction between H.323 and the gatekeeper.
The table 1 lists the use of protocol stacks in audio, video and data packet, and their transport protocols.
The problems of H.323 protocol are lack of flexibility, high connection setup latencies implementation difficulties. Figure
2 and 3 shows the architecture of H.323 and the connection procedures.
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proxy server receives the request forward it to the next hop while redirect server on receiving request, determines the
next hop and returns the address of the next hop server to the client instead of forwarding the request.
Figure 4 and 5 shows the architecture of SIP standard and call flow in VoIP systems.
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SIP H.323
Simple to implement Very complex protocol
Use binary representation for its message Use textual representation
Not very modular Very modular
Not scalable Highly scalable
Need full backward compatibility Does not need backward compatibility
Use complex signalling Use simple signalling
Has a lot of elements Has only 37 elements
Loop detection is difficult Loop detection is easy
Large share of market Backed by IETF
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G.711: approved in 1965 and is the simplest way of digitizing analog signal. The algorithm uses Pulse Code Modulation
with less than 1% acceptable packet loss factor. The encoded audio stream of G.711 is 64kbit/s, so is worst in terms of
bandwidth but the best in quality among the entire scheme.
G. 722 was approved in 1988 and provides higher quality digital coding at 7 KHz of audio spectrum at only 48, 56, or
64bits. It is mainly used for all professional conversation voice application such as video conference and IP phone
applications is a wideband coder designed by Picturetel, which operate at 24bit/s or 32bit/s. It encodes a frames of
20ms with workload of 20ms, 16kbit/s version of G.722.1 supports windows messenger.
G.723.1 was approved in 1995 for use in H.323 communication and UMTS 99 video cell phones. It uses frame length of
30ms and needs a workload of 7.5ms in 64kbt/s or 5.3kbit/s operation modes. The algorithm is not designed for music
and it’s difficult to be used in a fax and modem signal transmission. The International Telecommunication Union and
Telephony recommends it for use in narrow band video conferencing and 3G wireless multimedia devices.
G.726 was approved in 1990 and uses Adaptive Differential Code modulation (ADPCM) techniques to encode G.711-bit
stream in words of 2, 3, or 4 bits resulting in bit rate of 16, 24, 32 or 64kbits/s.
G.728 uses low delay, codec executed linear prediction (LD CELP) coding techniques with a mean opinion score (MOS)
similar to G.726. The algorithm is used for Fax and modem transmission, and also for H.323 video conference.
G.729 is conjugate-structure, Algebraic Code Excited Linear Prediction (CS-ACELP) speech compression algorithm
approved by ITU-T for use in voice over frame relay application. It produces 80-bits frame encoding 10ms of speech at
a bit rate of 8kbit/s. The scheme is not designed for music and does not support Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF)
signalling tones reliably. Listed in table 3 are properties of common voice codec schemes.
Codec Bit Rate Payload Packets per Seconds Quality bandwidth Sample algorithm
(pps) period
G.711 64kbit/s 160bytes 50pps Excellent 95.2kbps 20ms PCM
G.729 8kbit/s 20bytes 50pps Good 39.2kbps 10ms CS-ACELP
G.723.1 6.3kbit/s 24bytes 34pps Good 27.2kbps 30ms MPC-MLQ
G.723.1 5.3kbit/s 20bytes 34pps Good 26.1kbps 30ms ACEP
To save cost: VoIP system is mostly deployed in existing network thereby reducing the cost of buying network
equipment and wiring. IP network equipment are very cheap, interoperable and can be sourced from multiple
vendors compare to traditional PSTN landline equipment. Another significant reason for deploying VoIP is
because it can reduce the cost of making long distance calls. Software such as Skype, Windows live messenger
etc. allow free PC to PC calls. Calls to mobile and landline are at reduced price.
Advanced Multimedia application: VoIP network enables multimedia applications, voice and data such as
voice/video conferencing, white boarding, file transfer to increase productivity and creates a more flexible
communication system learning environment.
VoIP network integrates voice and data: VoIP integrate both Voice, video and data together to save management
and operational manpower and effective use of communication links between network sites.
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Widespread availability of Internet protocol (IP): IP network is readily available all over the world, with people
having access to PC linked to internet. Furthermore, availability of gateways to/from PSTN allows calls to use
VoIP for voice and video calls [12].
Reduce the cost of Ownership: VoIP integrates data and voice communication traffic into a single network
thereby reducing the cost of infrastructural ownership and maintenance redundancies. It brings different
network elements together such as call server, application server and client server [13].
Efficient utilization of network resource: VoIP network improves the network bandwidth efficiency and quality
of service by eliminating silence during conversation, reduce repetitive pattern in human speech and increases
inefficient data throughput.
Greater operational flexibility: IP-based network is made up of different layers of separate components that can
be integrated to form a whole system. This allows the system, application, and services to be dynamically
managed resulting in a customized, flexible and extensible system.
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Delay: delay is the amount of time it takes to transmit data packet from source to destination. It is the end to end delay
or time delay incurred in speech by VoIP system. To ensure high quality, delay should be controlled so that
communication delay should be less than 150ms [15], [16]. Delay is caused by three major factors such as codec
algorithm, queue algorithm of communicating equipment and variable delay caused by network condition at the time
of transmission. It is important to minimise delay to an acceptable level of 150ms to ensure better quality of service.
Codec (compression-decompression) introduces three kinds of delay:
Processing or algorithmic delay which is the time required for codec to encode one voice frame.
Look ahead delay, the time required for a codec to examine part of the frame
Frame delay is the time required for sending system to transmit a single frame.
Compression algorithm affects delay, the higher the level of compression the higher the delay the system.
Packet Loss: Packet Loss is caused by hybrid circuits where it changes from 4-wire to 2-wire. It occurs when there is
packet drop in the network leading to loss. And VoIP packet is very sensitive, packet loss can greatly affect the Quality
of Service (QoS) of VoIP system. The acceptable packet loss in VoIP system is below 1%, and anything beyond this limit
is unacceptable. The major causes of packet drop are congestion in the network and buffer size, every effort should be
made to ensure the network is design to counter network congestion.
Jitter: Jitter is the variation in inter-packet arrival rate which introduce variable transmission delay over the network.
Because VoIP use User Datagram Protocol (UDP), IP network cannot guarantee the delivery time to the packets leading
to inconsistent rate of arrival. Jitter can be removed using jitter buffer, allowing an equal stream to collect a packet and
store them long enough to permit slowest arrival in correct sequence. Jitter buffer adds to the overall delay. To support
VoIP traffic reliability, the network should guarantee the following:
Packet-forwarding latency that should be within maximum tolerable for VoIP conversation.
Packet forwarding jitters within tolerable level to sustain a VoIP session.
And guarantee bandwidth and capacity for VoIP session in case of network congestion.
The network should provide low latency and jitter to maintain high quality. We need to control all the mentioned
parameters to ensure high quality of VoIP service for students and staff. Sometimes we also need to prioritised network
application and limited shared network resources.
Softphone software installed on the endpoint may have vulnerabilities in the operating system (OS) it is running on. The
operating system should be installed with an anti-virus software, virus detection host-based firewall or host-based
intrusion detection [16]. The PSTN media gateway is also vulnerable to attacks; IPSec can be used to prevent
interference with user call and to prevent unauthorised call from being set up.
Many security requirements are needed to secure VoIP service and application. There include
Protection of network servers and endpoints from well-known threat and man in the middle attacks.
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3. Conclusion
This paper provides a critical summary on the technological view, system architecture and requirement on deploying
VoIP network as an alternative to other voice technologies. It adds knowledge to the available literature on the VoIP
system, its requirements, protocols and system requirements. VoIP however is presented as a sure alternative over the
Public Service Telephone Network (PSTN) and other mobile phone standards such as GSM and CDMA for Voice.
Therefore, as to keep abreast with the global technological change and maximizing cost, a reliable and cheap means of
communication is inevitable, VoIP stands as the best alternative for any campus community such as that of Dar es
Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT) communication.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Eng. Isaack Adidas Kamanga of DIT for his guidance in accomplishing this work. The authors
also thank Dr Mbazigwa Mkiramweni of DIT for his encouragement toward research and publication.
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