SIMS: addressing the problem of heterogeneity in databases

Yigal Arens

doi:10.1117/12.266759

18 February 1997 SIMS: addressing the problem of heterogeneity in databases

Yigal Arens

Proceedings Volume 2938, Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence Systems for Law Enforcement; (1997) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.266759
Event: Enabling Technologies for Law Enforcement and Security, 1996, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

The heterogeneity of remotely accessible databases -- with respect to contents, query language, semantics, organization, etc. -- presents serious obstacles to convenient querying. The SIMS (single interface to multiple sources) system addresses this global integration problem. It does so by defining a single language for describing the domain about which information is stored in the databases and using this language as the query language. Each database to which SIMS is to provide access is modeled using this language. The model describes a database's contents, organization, and other relevant features. SIMS uses these models, together with a planning system drawing on techniques from artificial intelligence, to decompose a given user's high-level query into a series of queries against the databases and other data manipulation steps. The retrieval plan is constructed so as to minimize data movement over the network and maximize parallelism to increase execution speed. SIMS can recover from network failures during plan execution by obtaining data from alternate sources, when possible. SIMS has been demonstrated in the domains of medical informatics and logistics, using real databases.

Citation Download Citation

Yigal Arens "SIMS: addressing the problem of heterogeneity in databases", Proc. SPIE 2938, Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence Systems for Law Enforcement, (18 February 1997); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.266759

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