NSF CAREER grant #IRI-9733678

PI:  Dina Q Goldin <dqg@engr.uconn.edu>

Original Award Abstract

Constraint Databases (CDBs) are an extension of relational databases that enrich both the relational data model and the relational query primitives with constraints.  For data-intensive applications over non-traditional data, CDBs hold the promise to combine the versatility of constraints with the commercial success of the relational approach.  This project focuses on the internal query representation of CDBs queries, i.e. Constraint Query Algebra (CQA).  CQA forms the ``middle layer'' of CDBs, underneath the user interface layer and above the disk access layer, providing a homogenous set of operators for expressing queries over any data.

The following challenges related to CQAs are addressed, both from a theoretical and a practical perspective, leading to an implementation of CQA:

(1) efficient data representation and algebraic operator implementation,
(2) novel indexing and query optimization techniques,
(3) safe use of additional operators,
(4) integration with front-end query languages.

This project involves collaboration with researchers in other disciplines, such as Geography and Environmental Sciences, where the research involves large quantities of spatiotemporal data.  It is hoped that this research will lead to revolutionizing the systems that researchers in those areas use to store and query their data.

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