Jitter

Jitter is the variation in arrival time of packets that should have arrived at uniform intervals, measured as the standard deviation of inter-arrival times or as packet delay variation. High jitter degrades real-time services such as voice and video, which compensate with playout buffers. Low jitter is a key requirement of VoLTE/VoNR and 5G URLLC.

Categories: Radio Access NetworkProtocols and StandardsEncryption and Cryptography

Jitter in context

The radio access network is the layer where mobile devices attach to the operator's infrastructure. Attacks in this layer include IMSI catching, rogue base stations, downgrade attacks and jamming, and defenses hinge on mutual authentication, integrity-protected signaling and Open RAN supply-chain hygiene.

Telecom security is written into standards from 3GPP, GSMA, ETSI, IETF and ITU-T. Understanding which body owns which specification, and how the specs interlock (for example 3GPP TS 33.501 with GSMA FS.34 for 5G SBA security), is essential for both design and audit work.

To place Jitter in the wider telecom-security picture, review ETSI ISG MEC, Zigbee, QCI, ADSL, CSFB and SRTP.

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