2010 5th International Symposium on Telecommunications (IST'2010)

Location Privacy in Processing Location

Dependent Queries in Mobile Database
Systems

Mehrnoosh Tarafdar 978-1-4244-8185-9/101$26.00 ©2010 IEEE 181

Department of Computer Engineering

Iran University of Science and Technology, lUST
Tehran, Iran
tarafdar@comp.iust.ac.ir

A bstract Emergence of the mobile computing paradigm helps

-

people to work in a much more convenient and efficient way,

anywhere and anytime. Today its application areas such as traffic
reports, weather forecast, bill paying and healthcare are so
popular. The field of data management is also extended with
such new services and applications. A mobile database system is
a special heterogonous distributed system that supports mobile
computing. One of the most important types of queries in mobile
environments is location dependant query. Its answer is
dependent to the mobile user's location. However, revealing
location information raises privacy concerns. This paper
concentrates on query processing in this paradigm.

Keywords-mobile computing; mobile database; query

processing; location dependent query; location privacy

I. INTRODUCTION

Today, mobile devices are inseparable part of everyday life.

Two main reasons provide this evolution. One of them is
wireless communication technology and the other is invention
of powerful, easy-to-use and portable computers (e.g. cell
phones, laptops) [1, 2]. Everyday these devices are becoming
cheaper, more powerful, smaller, storing more information,
and innovative technologies are integrated into them to
support new functionalities and services.
Appearance of these advances in the early 1990s, has led to
emergence of a new paradigm, called Mobile Computing [1, 3].
In recent years we have witnessed widening in area coverage
and an extensive use of wireless communication, such as
Bluetooth, Wi-fi, and GPRS [4, 5]. This situation helped
people to work in a much more convenient and efficient way,
anywhere and anytime [6]. Satyanarayanan in 1993 forecasted
this situation: "Mobility will influence the evolution of
distributed systems in ways that we can only dimly perceive at
the present time" [7].
Mobile computing is a specialized class of distributed
systems. In mobile computing environments, some clients are
"mobile" i.e. move freely in the physical space and reconnect
to a possibly different segment of a computer network at a later
stage and can resume suspended activities [8]. This type of
mobility is called hardware mobility in the mobile computing
framework which "...no longer requires users to maintain a
fixed and universally known position in the network and
enables unrestricted mobility of the users" [2].
 Mostafa S. Haghjoo
Department of Computer Engineering
Iran University of Science and Technology, lUST
Tehran, Iran
haghjoom@iust.ac.ir

Mobile computing systems have some properties, which are

different from conventional distributed systems. Some of these are
related to characteristics of mobile devices such as energy
restriction (low power of batteries), limited capabilities of them,
and frequent disconnection [9]. The next issue is wireless
communication limitations which include low-bandwidth, less
reliability, higher probability of failure (loss, damage), latency and
asymmetry in the communications (client-server vs. server-client)
[2, 10]. There are some other properties that are due to mobility of
the users (devices) such as varying resources and changing users'
locations [11].
Mobile database system is a special heterogonous
multidatabase system that supports mobile computing. To sum up,
the contributions of this paper are:
•
We provide a comprehensive study of mobile database
systems, their characteristics, and architecture.
•
We introduce mobile database query processing.
•
We investigate location privacy protection in mobile
database query processing.
The paper continues as follows: In section II mobile database
systems and its characteristics and architecture are introduced.
Section III investigates query processing. Section IV discusses
about location privacy in mobile database query processing.
Related works come in section V and section VI concludes the
paper.

II. MOBILE DATABASE SYSTEMS

As the number of mobile applications increases rapidly, there

has been a growing demand for engineering database architectures
that are suitable for such dynamic environments [10, 12]. However,
existing DBMS and distributed systems lack the mechanisms for
this especial environment and many of protocols must be adapted
due to its properties [13].
A mobile database is a kind of distributed database that
supports mobile computing [10]. Besides full database
functionalities, it allows a mobile user to initiate transactions from
anywhere and at anytime. A mobile database system is a special
heterogonous multidatabase system based on PCS or GSM [1, 14].
The system is heterogeneous since it may include
different types of hardware and different data types [8]. In this system
mobile units are autonomous and may host a part o t?e �
data and their own database and DBMS. Some famIlIar
applications of mobile database are emergency services (police,
 Wireless links

Wired links

• Mobile hosts

f
Fixed hosts
« ,)

Base station

/--,
\ I Wireless cell

Database
server

Database

Figure 1. Mobile database architecture.

medical, etc.), traffic control, e-commerce, and systems based

Different classes of mobile applications can be
on location-dependent information.
distinguished depending on the data management requirements
A. Mobile Database Architecture they introduce [15]. In many of the existing works, mobile
database systems refer to DBMS client-server systems in which
Fig. 1 shows a typical architecture of mobile database
systems which consists of fixed and mobile components. Fixed the client is mobile and the server is static [16]. Sistla and
others [17] proposed a centralized and distributed mobile
network (FN) is a conventional wired network which
database architecture where some data is present at the central
interconnects some other stationary parts [1, 2].
server and other data is present at mobile nodes [18].
A Mobile unit (MU) or Mobile host (MH) is a mobile
There are some extended client-server models, such as a
computer which is capable of connecting to the fixed network
three-tier client-agent-server architecture which introduces an
via a wireless link. This connection is realized by some
agent, located on the fixed network (e.g. on BSs [19]). Agents
transceivers which are equipped with a wireless interface to
communicate with MUs. They are called Base stations (BS) or are used in a variety of roles acting as a proxy of one or several
mobile hosts or being attached to a specific service or
Mobile support stations (MSS) [1]. In GSM architecture, a BS
application [20]. It is a very appropriate solution for frequent
is referred to as BTS (Base Transceiver Station) [14]. Each BS
disconnection problem.
serves MUs which are located within its radio coverage area
Besides the client-server architecture, there are other
called a cell. The size of the cell depends on the power of the
choices such as Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) in which
base station [2, 14]. The wireless interface in the BSs can be
all clients are moving and the wireless network topology is
provided by different technologies such as cellular network,
changing frequently. There are no fixed infrastructures or fixed
satellites, or wireless LAN. Each of them offers a different
BSs (servers). Some research efforts attempting to handle
bandwidth capacity which is, however, too small as compared
database issues in MANET have slowly emerged [10, 16].
to the fixed network [6, 11]. A BS functions under the
Another architecture is P2P (Peer-to-Peer), in which peers
supervision of a telecommunication switch called Mobile
communicate with each other via short range wireless protocols
Switching Center (MSC). Large systems may have two or more
and without going through a central node [16]. In contrast to
MSCs and they are connected to one or many BSs through
the assumptions in MANET, a peer may not know the
wired line [14].
identities of other peers in the network and the data they store
A Fixed host (FH) is a computer in the fixed network
[21].
which is not fitted with transceiver [14]; therefore MUs can not
connect them directly. MUs can communicate with them by B. Mobile Database Characteristics
means of BSs.
Mobile database systems are commonly regarded as an
To incorporate full database functionality, it is necessary to
extension of distributed database systems. However, there are
devise a set of Database servers (DBSs) to the architecture
several characteristics that uniquely constrain solutions to
[14]. As shown in Fig. 1, each DBS can be reached by any BS
mobile problem. Some of them are due to the constraints of
or FH directly. But MUs communicates with a DBS only
mobile environments, such as power restriction and frequent
through BSs. To coordinate with database servers, some
disconnection (lead to longer transaction models and need for
additional simple data processing capability is incorporated in
relaxation of ACID properties). Mobility also introduces
BSs.
fundamental problems such as location management of mobile
A transaction may fragments into a number of sub-
objects and scalability. The scale of the network has an
transactions, which are then executed at multiple nodes. The
important impact on sharing information solutions [22].
entire execution requires a software module called a
Interoperability and standardization (in large scale) are other
coordinator, which manages the set of activities leading to the
major features [13].
termination of the transaction. A BS is a suitable node for
being a coordinator [14].

182

Mobile
User
Application
Layer
Middleware
Layer
Database
Layer
Figure 2. Architecture of query processing in a mobile database system
(adapted from [10]).
III. QUERY PROCESSING IN MOBILE DATABASE SYSTEMS
Special characteristics of mobile computing and mobile
database systems differentiate mobile query processing from
traditional distributed one. The query processing in a mobile
environment involves join processing among different sites
which include static and mobile stations [23]. In many cases,
performing several joins across the relations residing in
multiple mobile units, leads to complex situations [24].
In conventional distributed database systems, the site at
which a query is issued is also the site to which the result is
sent. However, in a mobile system these two sites are often
different due to the user's mobility. The longer the query takes
to be processed, the more likely the MU moves to a new
location [25]. Also approximate answers are more acceptable
in mobile databases than in traditional databases due to the
frequent disconnection and long-time transaction executions
[26]. Traditional query processing techniques based on global
data schema and collected statistics are no more adequate [8].
In general, two types of queries can be distinguished in a
mobile environment: Non-Location Related queries (NLRQ)
and Location Related queries (LRQ). In fact, a NLRQ is a
traditional query whose answer does not depend on locations
and none of the predicates and attributes used in it are location
related [27]. Example: "Retrieve the names of the servants of a
Hotel". Contrary to NLRQs, LRQs have at least one location
related predicate or attribute.
There are two categories of LRQs. The fIrst one is Location
Aware queries (LAQ) which has an explicit indication of
location. For example: "Select the names of hotels in Tehran".
The second one is Location Dependant queries (LDQ). The
location value in these queries is not explicitly known when the
query is asked. Their answers are dependent to MU's location;
i.e. the mobility affects their processing. For example, "Find
the hotels within 5 km of here" or "Find me the nearest hotel".
In order to provide the answer to the query, fIrst we have to
know the location of the query issuer. When we fInd out the
issuer's location (Location Binding), the query becomes
location-aware [27].
183
A. Query Processing Architecture
As a query processing point of view, there are three layers
in a mobile database system: the application layer, the
middleware layer and the database layer (Fig. 2) [10]. The
application layer accepts user queries. The middleware layer is
the core of the mobile database system. Queries are processed
by the middleware and transmitted to the middleware of other
MHs in the network. The middleware of a MH sends queries to
the local database system for execution. After the database
fInishes executing a query, the results are transmitted to the
application layer and then returned to the user. The
middleware layer which is transparent to users is divided into
three sub-layers: the query layer, the cache layer and the
network layer.
The query layer parses the syntax of user queries and
determines the query types. If it is a local query, the answer is
produced using local database. If not, fIrst it searches the local
cache. If the entire result is found, the query ends. Otherwise, it
searches the results from remote nodes. For join queries, the
query layer evaluates the query cost and generates some
distributed query plans. In such situations, the network layer is
responsible for the communications in the system. The cache
layer stores data accessed frequently by non-local queries. This
decreases the query response time and improves the data
accessibility when node disconnection occurs [10].
IV. LOCATION PRIVACY
Mobile database system is a suitable platform for providing
Location based services (LBS). Privacy protection is an
important issue in this context. Revealing location information
raises privacy concerns. Moreover, as a user becomes more
dependent on such systems, they become more knowledgeable
about herlhis movements and habits. This information can be
put to a variety of unpleasant uses such as targeted spams [28].
Broadcasting is a very appropriate way for mobile users in this
context; because they do not need to issue queries or
communicate their locations [11]. But this strategy is not
proper for many cases. Recent research efforts have been
dedicated to deal with this challenge. Existing solutions can be
divided into two general approaches:
A. Utilizing a Trusted Third Party
In this approach, a trusted third party (usually called
location anonymizer) is located between the users and the
service provider. All users subscribe to it and specify their own
desired level of privacy through a user-specifIed privacy
profIle. Users send their queries to servers via anonymizer [29,
30]. Its main function is to blur a user's exact location using
either spatial or temporal cloaking [31].
This is usually achieved by a technique which is called k-
anonymity [32]. In this model, the exact location of the user is
cloaked into an area that contains at least k users. Fig. 3
illustrates this technique.
This approach has several drawbacks. For example the
anonymizer becomes a bottleneck and also it is a single point
of attack [29, 33]
B. No Trusted Third Party
Users manage their own privacy by some tricks such as: (a)
False dummies [34]. For each location based query, the user

1,2= Query (MyLocation= Point
3= Query (MyLocation= Area A)
4,5,6= Result
towards context-aware data management, sensor networks,
continuous queries and web-based services [13].
There are some commercial products proposing database
solutions for mobile environments [20]. Some of them are:
FastObjects (Versant Co., object-oriented DB, Java platform,
ACID nested and parallel transactions, single offline
application, [38]); Oracle Database Lite (Oracle Corporation,
relational DB, ACID transactions, offline applications, [39]);
Anonymizer
DB2 Everyplace (IBM, relational DB, flat transactions, offline
P) Protocol: applications, [40]); WebSphere Everyplace Access (IBM,
K-Anonymity online web application access, [41]); PointBase (DataMirror
K=4
Co., relational DB, Java platform, flat transactions in micro

Figure 3. Location privacy with k-anonymity. version, distributed transactions in the embedded version,
single offline application, [42]).
sends n different locations to the server which only one of them B. Query Processing in Mobile Database Systems
is true and the rest are dummies. The server sends an answer
Several research efforts have been dedicated to query
set for all of them and can not distinguish the real one. (b)
processing issues in mobile databases. The paper [26]
False location (Landmark objects) [35]. Sending the location
introduces query optimization and transaction models related
of a nearby certain landmark or a significant object instead of
to mobile database systems. [43] combines the problem of
the exact location.
location management and query processing. It discusses
several strategies for efficient processing of queries to obtain
The first approach needs a trusted third party which users
the location or activeness of an MU. the authors in [24]
really trust it and also subscribe to it. Moreover, becoming a
proposed several query processing schemes that are able to
bottleneck and also a single point of attack are disadvantages of
divide the query processing into several sub-query processing
this approach. The second one is very easy but increases
modules, appropriate to the network topology. In [23] and [4],
processing overhead in mobile units. In false location
various challenging issues in querying in a mobile distributed
technique, mobile users should have information about nearby
environment are presented. Papers such as [6, 23] discussed
certain landmarks or a comprehensive map. In some situations
about query processing strategies.
it may be unavailable.
Many researches are about location dependent queries. One
V. RELATED WORK of the most noticeable surveys in this subject is [11]. However
investigation about this subject started in 90's. [44] presented
A. Mobile Databases the concept of queries with location constraints. Location-
aware query processing technique has been studied in [45].
In recent years, there has been a remarkable surge of
Some of research efforts studied processing a specific type of
research in the area of data management in mobile computing.
query and introducing new methods and improving the
Work on mobile databases started in the early 90's [16]. The
performance such as [46].
topic of mobile database systems was introduced by Imielinski
and Badrinath in 1993 in [36] and also [37]. They categorize C. Privacy Protection in Location Based Services
research into the areas of mobility (e.g. locating users),
Recently some research efforts have been dedicated to deal
disconnection (e.g. handoff effect on transaction processing),
with getting anonymous services from location-based
new data access modes (e.g. wireless medium or power), and
applications such as [30, 31, 34]. Most existing approaches for
scale. Alonso and Korth [26] concentrate on the impact that
private location-dependent queries follow the anonymizer
mobile computing has on various database processing activities
approach. Location cloaking is one typical approach to
such as optimization, transaction models, and security.
protecting user location privacy in LBS [30, 31]. The paper
In 1995, Dunham and Helal [1] argued that data
[47] combines spatial with temporal cloaking. In [30], the
management in mobile computing environments is similar to
anonymizer maintains the locations of the clients using a
that of a distributed system and presented open challenges in
pyramid data structure, similar to a Quad-tree. [48] uses a P2P
mobile database systems. Sistla and others in [17] proposed a
system to support distributed anonymization; although a
mobile database architecture.
centralized anonymizer is not required, all users must trust each
One of the most noticeable mobile database surveys was in
other.
1999 by Barbar'a [2]. This paper surveys each distinctive
feature of mobile computing and how they impact the VI. CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER WORK
implementation of databases for mobile computers. Barbar'a
Today, mobile devices are inseparable part of everyday life.
indicates several open research areas in mobile database
Emergence of the mobile computing paradigm helped people to
systems: prototyping, effective bandwidth utilization,
work in a much more convenient and efficient way, anywhere
transactional properties, optimization of location dependent
and anytime. The field of data management is also extended
query processing, and data visualization.
with such new services and applications. Mobile database
At the turn of the century the focus of mobile data
system is a special heterogonous multidatabase system that
management research has shifted from human interaction and
supports mobile computing. In this paper, we presented some
distributed activities in mobile computing environments

184
preliminaries on mobile computing and mobile database
system and its architecture.
There are several demands and challenges in mobile
database query processing that should be considered. One of
the most important types of queries in mobile environments is
location dependant query. Its answer is dependent to the
mobile user's location. However, revealing location information
raises privacy concerns. There are some techniques to deal with
this challenge. One approach is that each mobile unit handles
this problem itself by some available tricks. Another approach
is to use a trusted third party. One of the most noticeable
techniques in this context is k-anonymity. Each of these
approaches has advantages and disadvantages. Privacy
concerns in processing location dependant queries are still
open area of research; due to lack of efficient algorithms.
Comparing the efficiency of different approaches via simulation
models can be very helpful.
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