TY - JOUR

T1 - On Improving the Accuracy of Internet Infrastructure Mapping

AU - McCherry, Paul

AU - Giotsas, Vasileios

AU - Hutchison, David

PY - 2023/6/22

Y1 - 2023/6/22

N2 - This study identifies a method to create fine-grained multilayer maps of the Internet’s structure, which are currently lacking. We begin with an investigation of current techniques for geolocating hosts using passive, active, and hybrid methods. This is followed by a survey of the fundamental problems that IP geolocation techniques must address. The survey points to the obvious difficulties in using Delay-Distance models and suggests that the use of Return Trip Times can lead to highly misleading results. We therefore develop a new procedure that combines state-of-the-art methods to avoid many of the fundamental problems in Internet topology mapping, whilst creating finer-grained internet maps than those currently available. This procedure is tested on the UK infrastructure by conducting a series of tests using distributed measurement points provided by the RIPE Atlas platform. Our results show that we can accurately geolocate routers between two endpoints to create a fine-grained map of the internet infrastructure involved in our measurements. Researchers have long recognized the scarcity of ground truth datasets where IP geolocation is a concern. As a byproduct of our new method reported in this paper, we create a validation dataset that maps hundreds of IP addresses to geo-coordinate landmarks or vantage points, which is highly desirable for IP geolocation research. Finally, we discuss some limitations of this method, and we summarise the next steps toward accurate and complete Internet infrastructure maps.

AB - This study identifies a method to create fine-grained multilayer maps of the Internet’s structure, which are currently lacking. We begin with an investigation of current techniques for geolocating hosts using passive, active, and hybrid methods. This is followed by a survey of the fundamental problems that IP geolocation techniques must address. The survey points to the obvious difficulties in using Delay-Distance models and suggests that the use of Return Trip Times can lead to highly misleading results. We therefore develop a new procedure that combines state-of-the-art methods to avoid many of the fundamental problems in Internet topology mapping, whilst creating finer-grained internet maps than those currently available. This procedure is tested on the UK infrastructure by conducting a series of tests using distributed measurement points provided by the RIPE Atlas platform. Our results show that we can accurately geolocate routers between two endpoints to create a fine-grained map of the internet infrastructure involved in our measurements. Researchers have long recognized the scarcity of ground truth datasets where IP geolocation is a concern. As a byproduct of our new method reported in this paper, we create a validation dataset that maps hundreds of IP addresses to geo-coordinate landmarks or vantage points, which is highly desirable for IP geolocation research. Finally, we discuss some limitations of this method, and we summarise the next steps toward accurate and complete Internet infrastructure maps.

KW - General Engineering

KW - General Materials Science

KW - General Computer Science

KW - Electrical and Electronic Engineering

U2 - 10.1109/access.2023.3281333

DO - 10.1109/access.2023.3281333

M3 - Journal article

VL - 11

SP - 59935

EP - 59953

JO - IEEE Access

JF - IEEE Access

SN - 2169-3536

ER -