A Distributed Database Framework from Mobile Databases in MANETs

This paper describes a distributed database framework for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) for the goal of allowing mobile device users to tap into the disparate data that may be present on the devices. The system comprises data directory nodes (DDs) that will store the schemas of the databases on the devices and serve to tell whether a submitted query by a user is answerable fully or partially from the participating mobile database nodes (DBNs). The joining mobile databases will be required to execute query fragments that are sent to them and then combine the individual results in accordance with a schedule that is generate by the DD that received the query before returning the result. A simple protocol is developed to allow the various elements of the architecture (requesting nodes (RNs), DDs, and DBNs) to exchange messages for the purpose of executing the submitting query against the distributed mobile database and then returning the results. Experimental performance evaluation was carried out to study the characteristics of the framework and its cost, in terms of bandwidth consumption and response time.