Dolphin: An Actor-Oriented Database for Reactive Moving Object Data Management

Abstract: Novel reactive moving object applications require solutions to support object reactive behaviors as a way to query and update dynamic data. While moving object scenarios have long been researched in the context of spatio-temporal data management, reactive behavior is usually left to complex end-user implementations. However, it is not just a matter of hardwiring reactive constraints: the required solutions need to satisfy tight low-latency computation requirements and be scalable. This paper explores a novel approach to enrich a distributed actor-based framework with reactive functionality and complex spatial data management along with concurrency semantics. Our approach relies on a proposal of the moving actor abstraction, which is a conceptual enhancement of the actor model with reactive sensing, movement, and spatial querying capabilities. This enhancement helps developers of reactive moving object applications avoid the significant burden of implementing application-level schemes to balance performance and consistency. Based on moving actors, we define a reactive moving object data management platform, named Moving Actor-Oriented Databases (M-AODBs), and build Dolphin -- an implementation of M-AODBs. Dolphin embodies a non-intrusive actor-based design layered on top of the Microsoft Orleans distributed virtual actor framework. In a set of experimental evaluations with realistic reactive moving object scenarios, Dolphin exhibits scalability on multi-machines and provides near-real-time reaction latency.