TinyG: Accurate IP Geolocation Using a Tiny Number of Probers

IP geolocation is essential for various applications. However, the reliability of IP geolocation databases has been proven to be inadequate. In recent years, the growing number of public probers has offered the potential for more accurate geolocation results through active measurement. The conventional practice is to probe the target IP address using all available probers and feed the measurement results to the active geolocation method. However, this practice is cost-inefficient and may trigger the anti-flood mechanism. Moreover, public probers typically impose user-level limits on the frequency and quantity of measurements. Therefore, it is important to reduce the average number of probers (ANP) selected for successfully probing each target. Researchers have discovered that geolocation accuracy primarily depends on the minimum delay between probers and the target. Inspired by that, we propose TinyG, a prober selection algorithm designed to reduce the ANP needed to find probers within a sufficiently small delay from the target. TinyG divides the probing process into multiple rounds and leverages previous measurement results to guide the selection of probers for subsequent rounds. Experimental results show that when the associated minimum delay is within 2 ms, various active geolocation methods can provide credible geolocation results. TinyG outperforms other algorithms in reducing the ANP needed to obtain credible results. Compared to using more than 1,300 probers, TinyG can achieve an ANP of 6.7 with only a 6% coverage loss of credible results.