Timeliness via speculation for real-time databases

Abstract

Various concurrency control algorithms differ in the time when conflicts are detected, and in the way they are resolved. Pessimistic (PCC) protocols detect conflicts as soon as they occur and resolve them using blocking. Optimistic (OCC) protocols detect conflicts at transaction commit time and resolve them using rollbacks. For real-time databases, blockages and rollbacks are hazards that increase the likelihood of transactions missing their deadlines. We propose a Speculative Concurrency Control (SCC) technique that minimizes the impact of block ages and rollbacks. SCC relies on added system resources to speculate on potential serialization orders, ensuring that if such serialization orders materialize, the hazards of blockages and roll-back are minimized. We present a number of SCC-based algorithms that differ in the level of speculation they introduce, and the amount of System resources (mainly memory) they require. We show the performance gains (in terms of number of satisfied timing constraints) to be expected when a representative SCC algorithm (SCC-2S) is adopted.