Building Block for the Internet Digital Twin: Scalable and Automated Internetwork Emulator

Joshua Levett; Vasileios Vasilakis; Poonam Yadav

Building Block for the Internet Digital Twin: Scalable and Automated Internetwork Emulator

Joshua Levett, Vasileios Vasilakis, Poonam Yadav

Computer Science

Research output: Contribution to conference › Poster › peer-review

Abstract

Even minor changes to Internet routing protocols or their configurations can result in severe disruptions to the stability and security of global Internet routing. However, current
test environments remain limited in scope and fail to reflect the true complexity and scale of the Internet. This highlights the urgent need for a high-fidelity Internet Digital Twin - a
large-scale, emulated environment that can safely replicate and experiment with real-world Internet conditions. In this extended abstract, we present our approach to building such an Internetscale digital twin for internetwork routing protocols. By capturing the current state of Internet topology, we generate a virtual
testbed using a container orchestration framework, with each container simulating an ISP-level network. This infrastructure enables rigorous testing and enhancement of Internet routing protocols under realistic conditions. Looking ahead, our vision is to scale these emulations further to encompass the entire
observable Internet, establishing the digital twin as a critical tool for future Internet resilience and innovation.

Original language	English
Number of pages	4
Publication status	Published - 12 Jun 2025

Access to Document

https://tma.ifip.org/2025/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2025/06/tma2025_poster12.pdfLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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abstract = "Even minor changes to Internet routing protocols or their configurations can result in severe disruptions to the stability and security of global Internet routing. However, currenttest environments remain limited in scope and fail to reflect the true complexity and scale of the Internet. This highlights the urgent need for a high-fidelity Internet Digital Twin - alarge-scale, emulated environment that can safely replicate and experiment with real-world Internet conditions. In this extended abstract, we present our approach to building such an Internetscale digital twin for internetwork routing protocols. By capturing the current state of Internet topology, we generate a virtualtestbed using a container orchestration framework, with each container simulating an ISP-level network. This infrastructure enables rigorous testing and enhancement of Internet routing protocols under realistic conditions. Looking ahead, our vision is to scale these emulations further to encompass the entireobservable Internet, establishing the digital twin as a critical tool for future Internet resilience and innovation.",

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AB - Even minor changes to Internet routing protocols or their configurations can result in severe disruptions to the stability and security of global Internet routing. However, currenttest environments remain limited in scope and fail to reflect the true complexity and scale of the Internet. This highlights the urgent need for a high-fidelity Internet Digital Twin - alarge-scale, emulated environment that can safely replicate and experiment with real-world Internet conditions. In this extended abstract, we present our approach to building such an Internetscale digital twin for internetwork routing protocols. By capturing the current state of Internet topology, we generate a virtualtestbed using a container orchestration framework, with each container simulating an ISP-level network. This infrastructure enables rigorous testing and enhancement of Internet routing protocols under realistic conditions. Looking ahead, our vision is to scale these emulations further to encompass the entireobservable Internet, establishing the digital twin as a critical tool for future Internet resilience and innovation.

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