Advances in Real-Time Database Systems Research
A Real-Time DataBase System (RTDBS) can be viewed as an amalgamation of a conventional DataBase Management System (DBMS) and a real-t ime system. Like a DBMS, it has to process transactions and guarantee ACID database properties. Furthermore, it has to operate in real-time, satisfying t ime constraints imposed on transaction commitments. A RTDBS may exist as a standoalone system or as an embedded component in a larger mult idatabase system. The publication in 1988 of a special issue of ACM SIGMOD Record on Real-Time DataBases [23] signaled the bir th of the RTDBS research a r e a a n area that brings together researchers from both the database and real-time systems communities. Today, almost eight years later, I am pleased to present in this special section of ACM SIGMOD Record a review of recent advances in RTDBS research. There were 18 submissions to this special section, of which eight papers were selected for inclusion to provide the readers of ACM SIGMOD Record with an overview of current and future research directions within the RTDBS community. In the remainder of this paper, I will summarize these directions and provide the reader with pointers to other publications for further information.1