An integrated model of traffic, geography and economy in the Internet

TL;DR

This paper introduces an integrated agent-based model that simultaneously captures Internet topology, traffic, geography, and economic factors, providing a comprehensive tool for understanding and predicting Internet growth.

Contribution

It presents a novel discrete, agent-based model that combines multiple aspects of Internet development, unlike previous models focusing on only one or a few characteristics.

Findings

Model generates Internet-like network topologies

Reproduces realistic traffic flow patterns

Simulates spatial distributions similar to actual Internet geography

Abstract

Modeling Internet growth is important both for understanding the current network and to predict and improve its future. To date, Internet models have typically attempted to explain a subset of the following characteristics: network structure, traffic flow, geography, and economy. In this paper we present a discrete, agent-based model, that integrates all of them. We show that the model generates networks with topologies, dynamics, and (more speculatively) spatial distributions that are similar to the Internet.