How Nautilus Works
Nautilus uses a sophisticated multi-stage processing pipeline to map IP links to submarine cables, combining multiple data sources with advanced validation techniques.
Data Sources
Multiple comprehensive data sources power our submarine cable mapping system
Traceroute Data
Network path measurements showing IP links between routers across the Internet. Raw traceroute output provides the foundation for link analysis.
1 192.168.1.1
2 10.0.0.1
3 203.0.113.1
4 198.51.100.1
Cable Infrastructure
TeleGeography submarine cable database with landing points, cable routes, and ownership information for comprehensive infrastructure mapping.
Landing Points:
- New York, USA
- London, UK
Status: Active
Geolocation Services
11 different IP geolocation providers to determine router locations with high accuracy and redundancy for validation.
MaxMind: London, UK
IPInfo: London, UK
GeoLite: London, UK
Ownership Mapping
4 different AS mapping services to determine infrastructure ownership and enhance cable predictions through organizational alignment.
Cymru: AS15169
bdrmapIT: AS15169
AS15169: Google LLC
Processing Pipeline
Advanced algorithms process and validate data through multiple stages
Link Classification
Analyzes IP links to determine if they traverse submarine cables using multiple validation techniques:
- Geographic analysis of endpoints
- Country-level neighbor detection
- Land-locked country identification
- Speed-of-light validation
Cable Mapping
Maps identified submarine links to specific cables through proximity analysis:
- Finding nearest cable landing points
- Calculating proximity scores
- Recursive radius search (up to 1000km)
- Handling multiple cable predictions
Owner-based Mapping
Enhances cable predictions using ownership data and organizational relationships:
- AS organization name matching
- Cable owner to IP mapping
- Calculating ownership match scores
- Cross-referencing with known operators
Final Mapping & Confidence Scoring
Selects cables and assigns prediction confidence based on multiple factors:
- Geolocation accuracy consensus
- Distance to landing points
- AS ownership alignment with cable owners
- Historical validation data
Validation Techniques
Multiple validation methods ensure accuracy and reliability of our predictions
Cable Failure Analysis
Links mapped to failed cables disappear during outages and return when repaired, providing real-world validation of predictions.
Targeted Traceroutes
Measurements between cable landing points validate predicted mappings and confirm infrastructure relationships.
Operator Maps
Comparison with Tata Communications and Vodafone network maps provides industry-standard validation benchmarks.
Validation Results
Our system achieves high accuracy through rigorous validation processes
Top Prediction Accuracy
Exact matches
Secondary Match
Alternative predictions
No Match
Missed predictions
Technical Implementation
Data Processing
- Multi-source data aggregation and normalization
- Geographic coordinate validation and optimization
- Real-time traceroute parsing and analysis
- Confidence scoring algorithms (0.0-1.0 scale)
Reliability & Privacy
- Client inputs processed server-side; no third-party sharing
- Results include confidence scores for each inference
- All endpoints validate input and limit payload sizes
- Open source framework with transparent methodology