Nearest neighbor queries with peer-to-peer data sharing in mobile environments

Nearest neighbor queries, such as determining the proximity of stationary objects (e.g., restaurants and gas stations) are an important class of inquiries for supporting location-based services. We present a novel approach to support nearest neighbor queries from mobile hosts by leveraging the sharing capabilities of wireless ad-hoc networks. We illustrate how previous query results cached in the local storage of neighboring mobile users can be leveraged to either fully or partially compute and verify nearest neighbor queries at a local host. The feasibility and appeal of our technique is illustrated through extensive simulation results that indicate a considerable reduction of the query load on the remote database. Furthermore, the scalability of our approach is excellent because a higher density of mobile hosts increases its effectiveness.