Effective Location Based Services with Dynamic Data Management in Mobile Environments

With the proliferation of mobile computing technologies, location based services have been identified as one of the most promising target application. We classify mobile information service domains based on feature characteristics of the information sources and different patterns of mobile information access. By carefully examining the service requirements, we identify the dynamic data management problem that must be addressed for effective location based services in mobile environments. We then devise a general architecture and cost model for servicing both location independent and location dependent data. Based on the architecture and cost model, we propose a set of dynamic data management strategies that employs judicious caching, proactive server pushing and neighborhood replication to reduce service cost and improve response time under changing user mobility and access patterns. Detail behavior analysis helps us in precisely capturing when and how to apply these strategies. Simulation results suggest that different strategies are effective for different types of data in response to different patterns of movement and information access. Shiow-yang Wu is an associate professor of the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering at National Dong Hwa University, Hualien, Taiwan, R.O.C. He received the BS and MS degrees in computer engineering from National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, ROC, and the PhD degree in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin in 1984, 1986, and 1995, respectively. His research interests include data/knowledge bases, mobile computing, distributed processing, intelligence information systems, and electronic commerce. Kun-Ta Wu was born in Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C., in 1976. He received the B.S. degree in computer science from Soochow University, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C., in 1999 and the M.S. degree in computer science and information engineering from National Dong Hwa University, Hualien, Taiwan, R.O.C., in 2001. Currently, he is an Assistant Researcher in the Domestic Division at Science and Technology Information Center, National Science Council, R.O.C., as a member of Information Gathering and Analysis Group of National Information and Communication Security Taskforce. His research interests include mobile computing, wireless network and information security.