On-demand Query Processing in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are designed for "a special purpose\´\´, usually supporting some special functions, such as sensing environments, providing services. However, the traditional model of service accessing, such as the server/client model, can not be directly applied to MANETs, as the node, running the server, providing services, may be multi-hop distant, even mobile and thus unreachable from the client. This paper proposes a novel approach, by which a node can query other nodes by using the standard set of SQL (Structured Query Language) functions, which is the foundation of mobile databases. Analysis and simulation demonstrate that there is a tradeoff between the communication overhead and the query accuracy, which should be carefully weighed in the real network environment.