MAWI Working Group

MAWI Working Group
Name	MAWI Working Group
Formation	2002
Headquarters	Tokyo
Fields	Internet measurement, network traffic analysis

MAWI Working Group

The MAWI Working Group is a long-standing research initiative focused on Internet network traffic measurement and analysis originating from Japan. It coordinates longitudinal packet capture, protocol characterization, and dataset curation involving researchers from institutions such as WIDE Project, Keio University, University of Tokyo, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, and international partners including RIPE NCC, APNIC, IETF, IMC (conference), and SIGCOMM. The group’s outputs inform operational practice at organizations like JPNIC, NTT Communications, KDDI, Cisco Systems, and Juniper Networks.

Overview

The group operates a backbone monitoring platform at an Internet exchange point in Tokyo, producing anonymized traces, daily reports, and periodic analyses addressing topics such as IPv4/IPv6 transition, DNS behavior, TCP/IP performance, and traffic anomalies. Contributors include academics from Osaka University, Hiroshima University, Kyoto University, and engineers from Mozilla Foundation, Google, Facebook, and Akamai Technologies. Outputs are presented at venues including USENIX, ACM SIGCOMM, IEEE INFOCOM, ACM Internet Measurement Conference, and APNIC Conference.

History and Development

Founded in the early 2000s amid efforts by the WIDE Project and Japanese research networks to build empirical Internet knowledge, the group expanded through collaborations with projects like CAIDA, MAAW, and regional initiatives involving PCH and JGN. Early milestones include the deployment of long-term packet capture in 2002, studies on the 2003 Slammer worm effects, and IPv6 measurement campaigns during the World IPv6 Launch and IPv6 Internet Draft era. The group’s chronology intersects with standards and organizations such as IETF Working Group, ETSI, ITU, APNIC Training, and policy forums like OECD and ITU-T workshops.

Research and Activities

MAWI produces technical analyses of protocol deployment and emergent phenomena, including TCP congestion patterns, DNSSEC adoption, BGP route dynamics, and botnet traffic signatures. Researchers publish alongside authors affiliated with Nagoya University, Tohoku University, Hosei University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and corporate labs at NEC Corporation and Fujitsu. The group conducts measurement campaigns timed with events like Olympic Games, Golden Week (Japan), and major software releases from Microsoft, Apple Inc., and Google Chrome to study performance and resiliency. Results inform network operators such as SoftBank, IIJ, and content providers like Netflix.

Data Sets and Methodology

The group curates anonymized packet header archives, flow summaries, and DNS query logs using preservation-aware practices influenced by initiatives from ODI, PLOS, DataCite, and Zenodo principles. Methodologies employ tools and frameworks developed in collaboration with Bro (now Zeek), tcpdump, Wireshark, tcptrace, and analysis libraries used by researchers at ETH Zurich, University of California, San Diego, Princeton University, and Carnegie Mellon University. Datasets are released under conditions balancing privacy and reproducibility and are cited in studies from Columbia University, Cornell University, Imperial College London, and University College London.

Collaborations and Impact

Collaborative projects link MAWI contributors to international measurement consortia such as CAIDA, RIPE NCC Measurement Working Group, APNIC Research, and events like IMC, SIGCOMM Workshop on Internet Economics, and USENIX Security Symposium. Impact includes informing operational best practices at IXPs, contributing evidence to IETF standards discussions on TCP and IPv6, and aiding national cyber incident response coordination among bodies like METI (Japan), NISC (Japan), and regional CERT teams. Academic impact is evidenced by citations in work from Stanford University, MIT, UC Berkeley, ETH Zurich, and EPFL.

Governance and Membership

The group is coordinated by a steering committee drawn from principal investigators at institutions including WIDE Project, Keio University, University of Tokyo, and representatives from industry partners such as NTT, KDDI, and NTT Communications. Membership comprises researchers, graduate students, and network engineers from universities and companies across Asia, Europe, and North America, collaborating through workshops, mailing lists, and events like the MAWI Workshop, APNIC Meeting, and IETF Interim. Funding and support have come from grants and agencies such as JSPS, JST, and corporate sponsorships from major telecommunications and infrastructure firms.

Category:Internet measurement