A distributed mobile database implementation on Pocket PC mobile devices communicating over Bluetooth

This paper describes a distributed database system implementation built on top of stand-alone mobile databases found on mobile devices. At the heart of the architecture are elected devices that take on the role of data directories which collect the schema of the databases and become the contact points for all nodes that wish to submit queries against the distributed database. The system is implemented on Pocket PCs that run the Microsoft WinCE operating system and communicate using Bluetooth, thus limiting the architecture to eight devices, which is a restriction imposed by piconets. Sample databases were configured on the devices that ran the SQL Server CE database engine, and a list of 170 sample queries of varying complexities were designed to conduct performance evaluation. This evaluation involved measurement of query response time, generated traffic, and device energy consumption. The obtained results indicated the feasibility of the system and its potential for providing mobile users with a framework for aggregating disparate data that are stored in mobile databases in the wireless ad hoc network.