Traceroute-like exploration of unknown networks: a statistical analysis

LUCA DALL'ASTA, IGNACIO ALVAREZ-HAMELIN, ALAIN BARRAT, ALEXEI VAZQUEZ, ALESSANDRO VESPIGNANI

Alberta, Canada

Workshop; CAAN'04: Workshop on Combinatorial and Algorithmic Aspects of Networking; 2004

Banff International Research Station (BIRS)

Mapping the Internet generally consists in sampling the network from a limited set of sources by using traceroute-like probes. This methodology has been argued to introduce uncontrolled sampling biases that might produce statistical properties of the sampled graph which sharply differ from the original ones. Here we explore these biases and provide a statistical analysis of their origin. We derive a mean-field analytical approximation for the probability of edge and vertex detection that allows us to relate the global topological properties of the underlying network with the statistical accuracy of the sampled graph. In particular we show that shortest path routed sampling allows a clear characterization of underlying graphs with scale-free topology. We complement the analytical discussion with a throughout numerical investigation of simulated mapping strategies in different network models.