Characterizing and modeling the Internet Router-level topology – The hierarchical features and HIR model

Abstract

In this paper, we seek to understand the properties related with the hierarchical structure of the Internet Router-level topology. We first analyzed the hierarchical features of the Internet Router-level topology with the actual topology measuring data authorized by CAIDA (The Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis) Skitter project. Then we analyzed the distribution of the nodes in each shell, the distribution of the edges within the shell and to the higher shells and induced the computing functions. We proposed a new framework for modeling the Internet Router-level topology with the conclusion we have drawn and we implemented the model, HIR model. HIR model was based on the k-core decomposition in order to reveal the hierarchical of the network. The analysis shows that HIR model can reproduce Internet on most properties and has got the hierarchies of network close to that of Internet. The experiments show that HIR model can fully reflect the hierarchy characteristics of the Internet Router-level topology while preserving the power-law distribution on degree.