Exploring scale-free networks: Survey on autonomous system dynamics and connectivity analysis

Abstract

The global Internet is continuously developing; however, it is becoming more complex with time owing to the introduction of new nodes and links among autonomous systems (ASes). The network links among ASes appear and disappear, especially when the shortest path is required or a low-cost upstream Internet service provider (ISP) is a prerequisite. Understanding the Internet dynamics is critical for improving Internet characteristic analysis. In this work, we reviewed the existing studies from the last two decades on AS network topology as well as relations and routing among ASes. Similarly, we measured the link value differences within Russia and Central Asian ASes using the Barabasi–Albert (BA) model. Our analysis results show that in the last two years, the number of newly added links among 5377 ASes is 65,782. Further, the results show that the ASes with a high network degree in terms of high connectivity or preferential attachment approach are those used by the largest telecom companies in Russia and Central Asian regions. This survey paper aimed to determine whether the Internet AS graphs in these regions adhere to scale-free network properties, and we further examined the growth patterns of node connectivity within these regions.