LOOSELY-COUPLED NETWORK DATABASE FOR INFORMATION RETRIEVAL

WE PROPOSE AN EFFICIENT AND COST-EFFECTIVE QUERY PROCESSING COMPONENT FOR AN INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM BASED ON THE USE OF NETWORKED MICROCOMPUTERS AS A LOOSELY-COUPLED NETWORK DATABASE. THE QUERY PROCESSSING SYSTEM WILL WORK ON BOTH LOCAL AND WIDE AREA NETWORKS AND CAN BE USED WITH ANY METHOD OF INFORMATION RETRIEVAL. WE PROPOSE TO: 1. MODEL THE EXPECTED PERFORMANCE OF THIS SYSTEM SO THAT IT MAY BE COMPARED WITH OTHER IR SYSTEMS; 2. DESIGN FOR EASE OF MANAGEMENT IN ADDITION TO QUERY PROCESSING PERFORMANCE, SINCE DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS ARE IN GENERAL MORE DIFFICULT TO MANAGE THAN NON-DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS; AND 3. ADDRESS THE OTHER ISSUES THAT HAVE CHALLENGED OTHERS DEVELOPING DISTRIBUTED DATABASES. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS - THIS PROJECT CAN LEAD TO COST-EFFECTIVE PLATFORMS, SCALABILITY, AND FAULT-TOLERANCE FOR IR APPLICATIONS THAT ARE BETTER THAN MAINFRAME IMPLEMENTATIONS. THE EVENTUAL TECHNOLOGY COULD BE APPLIED TO THE HEALTHCARE AND EDUCATIONAL FIELDS - REDUCING THE COSTS OF IR SYSTEMS IN EACH AREA.