Querying in Packs: Trustworthy Data Management in Ad Hoc Networks

We describe a trust-based data management framework enabling mobile devices to access the distributed computation, storage, and sensory resources available in pervasive computing environments. Available resources include those in the fixed surrounding infrastructure as well as services offered by other nearby mobile devices. We take a holistic approach that considers data trust, security, and privacy and focus on the collaborative mechanisms providing a trustworthy data management platform in an ad hoc network. The framework is based on a pack formation mechanism that enables collaborative peer interactions using context information and landmarks. A pack provides a routing substrate allowing devices to find reliable information sources and coordinated pro-active and reactive mechanisms to detect and respond to malicious activity. Consequently, a pack forms a foundation for distributed trust management and data intensive interactions. We describe our data management framework with an emphasis on pack formation in mobile ad-hoc networks and present preliminary results from simulation experiments.