Managing ConstantlyEvolving Environments

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Managing Constantly-Evolving Environments

• Reynold Cheng
• Assistant Professor
• Department of Computing, HKPU
• csckcheng_at_comp.polyu.edu.hk

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Facts

• Wal-Mart requires RFID tags be installed in all
  cases shipped to retailers
• The popularity and functionalities of mobile
  devices are ever increasing
• Sensor networks are being developed for weather
  monitoring, scientific studies, and
  air-conditioning

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Location-Based Services

• Emergency call
• Find me a taxi
• Road instructions
• etc

Service Provider
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Sensor Networks

• Used in hostile environments military fields or
  volcanic areas

Slide courtesy of Ossama Younis
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Issue 1 Scalability

• Data can arrive at a very high rate
• Limited Resources Sensor processor, battery
  power, and wireless bandwidth
• New database and networking techniques required
  for scalability durability
• Interesting topic update-adaptive data indexing

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Issue 2 Uncertainty

• Due to limited network bandwidth and battery
  power of sensors, readings are often sampled only
• The data being monitored (e.g., temperature,
  location) is changing
• Most of the time old values are stored
• Database Query results can be incorrect!

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Example Uncertainty Queries
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Managing Data Uncertainty

• A comprehensive database system for handling
  uncertainty
• Provide SQL support
• Implemented on PostgreSQL 8.0 (an open-source
  database)
• DB Theory Statistics Implementation

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Issue 3 Privacy

• The vast-scale deployment of sensors and location
  devices can cause privacy problems
• Location privacy I dont want my location to be
  known
• Location-based service requires your location to
  be known!
• Creative solutions for privacy-preserving
  location-based service!

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My Research Areas

• Querying Uncertain Data
• Indexing Uncertain Data
• Location Privacy
• Communication in Data Streams Sensor Networks
• Real-time Databases
• Data Mining

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Reynold Chengs Contact

• Office PQ706
• Email csckcheng_at_comp.polyu.edu.hk
• http//www.comp.polyu.edu.hk/csckcheng
• Thank you!

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Sensor Databases
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Solutions for Data Uncertainty

• A model for capturing data uncertainty
• Probabilistic queries for augmenting query
  answers with quality guarantees
• Indexing data uncertainty for fast retrieval
• Development of a database system for handling
  uncertainty
• CS statistical expertise required!

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Why Study Constantly-Evolving Environment?

• Lack of database support
• Privacy and security are important but not well
  explored
• Sensor networks (e.g., RFID) are coming

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Cloaking Agent System Design