A Framework for Analyzing Mobile Transaction Models

Currently, mobile technology is undergoing a high growth stage, allowing an increasing plethora of mobile devices (handheld PCs, handsets, etc.) to daily access to distributed resources and information. This availability entails the requirement for transactional capabilities adapted to the specific characteristics of the mobile environment without losing the consistency and reliability guarantees of traditional OLTP systems. This paper surveys the definition and extension of transactional models to a mobile environment, starting with an explanation of this environment and a review of transactional systems applied to mobile computing. Afterwards, a framework for analyzing competing mobile models is defined. This framework allows for different constraints to be imposed to the most general "motion independence" requirement. Finally, existing mobile transaction proposals are assessed against the framework and classified, highlighting their relative strengths and weaknesses in different situations.