Uncertain Data: Representations, Query Processing, and Applications

Tingjian Ge, Alex Dekhtyar, Judy Goldsmith

Abstract: Uncertain data is common in many emerging applications. In this chapter, we start by surveying a few applications in sensor networks, ubiquitous computing, and scientific databases that require managing uncertain and probabilistic data. We then present two approaches to meeting this requirement. In the first approach, we propose a rich treatment of probability distributions in the system, in particular the SPO framework and the SP-algebra. In the second approach, we stay closer to a traditional DBMS, extended with tuple probabilities or attribute probability distributions, and study the semantics and efficient processing of queries.