Virtual, 20 March 2025
In special episode of PING, podcast by APNIC, Anand Raje, Chief Technology Officer of AIORI and a prominent figure from the India Internet Foundation, delivered an insightful presentation on India’s rapidly evolving indigenous Internet measurement platform: the Advanced Internet Operations Research in India – Internet Measurement Network (AIORI-IMN).
The special PING episode features five short interviews from the Pulse Internet Measurement Forum (PIMF) at APRICOT 2025:
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Amreesh Phokeer (Internet Society) – Discusses organizing the forum to bridge measurement and policy communities.
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Christoff Visser (IIJ Labs) – Shares research on Valve’s Steam platform, using public APIs to analyze CDN-based source selection and link quality.
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Anand Raje (IIFON) – Presents India’s indigenous Internet measurement system using IoT orchestration and containerized probes.
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Andrei Robachevsky (GCA) – Talks about the MANRS initiative’s growth and integration into GCA’s routing security efforts.
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Champika Wijayatunga (ICANN) – Introduces KINDNS, a DNS best practices initiative inspired by MANRS with 2,000+ participants.
A Community-Driven Vision for Internet Measurement
Mr. Anand began by highlighting the bottom-up, community-led genesis of the project. Originating from active engagement with the Internet Society’s Kolkata chapter and broader community collaborations, AIORI-IMN is rooted in the need for localized, accurate, and flexible measurement of India’s internet infrastructure.
The platform’s architecture is designed around distributed computing, leveraging general-purpose devices like Raspberry Pi running Docker containers. These devices are orchestrated using an open IoT framework, enabling the deployment of multiple simultaneous measurement services through isolated containerized environments.
Cutting-Edge Design with Open Standards
Unlike conventional platforms like RIPE Atlas that rely on closed, dedicated probes, AIORI-IMN is built on open standards and container-based orchestration. It uses a publish-subscribe (Pub/Sub) model for communication and is capable of running a diverse set of active measurements including ping, traceroute, DNS, and notably, IPv6 extension header analysis.
“We are also working on custom servers and clients that handle IPv6 extension headers” Anand explained. This positions AIORI-IMN alongside international efforts, such as those by researcher Nalini Elkins, in the exploration of IPv6 behavior and dispersion of traffic using extension headers.
National Deployment and Global Potential
The project currently boasts 100 active anchors distributed across India, with plans to expand to 1,500 anchors and up to 20 anycast instances in its next phase. These nodes aren’t limited to passive data collection—they’re capable of providing real-time services and can be deployed at Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) and with transit providers, creating a rich and responsive measurement fabric.
Open, Scalable, and Replicable
AIORI-IMN is developed as an open-source platform, with support from the Indian government and academic institutions. Its modular design ensures that the system is scalable beyond India, making it adaptable for deployment across the Asia-Pacific region and potentially globally.
As Anand emphasized, “It may be the first thing that we have started to understand our country’s perspective… but if it could be replicated in other places, that’s really good.”
This visionary work by Anand Raje and the AIORI team reflects India’s rising leadership in the field of Internet measurement and infrastructure research. The project not only enables deeper national insights but also offers a flexible and standardized testing platform that can shape the future of global Internet operations research.
Listen to the full episode of the PING Podcast:
Podcast: Pulse Internet Measurement Forum at APRICOT 2025 – Part 1