A distributed mutual exclusion algorithm for mobile computing environments

M. Singhal, D. Manivannan

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Mobile computing systems are expected to revolutionize the way computers are used. Mobile hosts have small memory, a relatively slow processor and low power batteries, and communicate over low bandwidth wireless communication links. Existing mutual exclusion algorithms for distributed systems are not suitable for mobile systems due to these limitations. We propose a look-ahead technique for distributed mutual exclusion which instead of enforcing mutual exclusion among all the sites of a mobile system, enforces mutual exclusion only among the sites which are concurrently competing for a critical section (CS), resulting in less message overhead. We refer to it as a look-ahead technique because it first looks to find out the sites that are currently requesting CS before sending out request messages. Designing look-ahead mutual exclusion involves two issues: Identifying sites which are concurrently competing for CS; and enforcing mutual exclusion among these sites. We systematically develop a look-ahead mutual exclusion algorithm from the first principles, which suits mobile computing environments. Look-ahead mutual exclusion algorithms are more efficient because they eliminate unnecessary communication among sites. Message traffic is proportional to the average number of active sites at any time instead of the total number of sites in the system.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - Intelligent Information Systems, IIS 1997
EditorsHojjat Adeli
Pages557-561
Number of pages5
ISBN (Electronic)0818682183, 9780818682186
DOIs
StatePublished - 1997
Event1997 International Conference on Intelligent Information Systems, IIS 1997 - Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas
Duration: Dec 8 1997Dec 10 1997

Publication series

NameProceedings - Intelligent Information Systems, IIS 1997

Conference

Conference1997 International Conference on Intelligent Information Systems, IIS 1997
Country/TerritoryBahamas
CityGrand Bahama Island
Period12/8/9712/10/97

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 1997 IEEE.

Keywords

  • Distributed synchronization
  • mobile computing
  • mutual exclusion

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Information Systems
  • Information Systems and Management

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