A wavelet framework for adapting data cube views for OLAP

Abstract

This article presents a method for adaptively representing multidimensional data cubes using wavelet view elements in order to more efficiently support data analysis and querying involving aggregations. The proposed method decomposes the data cubes into an indexed hierarchy of wavelet view elements. The view elements differ from traditional data cube cells in that they correspond to partial and residual aggregations of the data cube. The view elements provide highly granular building blocks for synthesizing the aggregated and range-aggregated views of the data cubes. We propose a strategy for selectively materializing alternative sets of view elements based on the patterns of access of views. We present a fast and optimal algorithm for selecting a nonexpansive set of wavelet view elements that minimizes the average processing cost for supporting a population of queries of data cube views. We also present a greedy algorithm for allowing the selective materialization of a redundant set of view element sets which, for measured increases in storage capacity, further reduces processing costs. Experiments and analytic results show that the wavelet view element framework performs better in terms of lower processing and storage cost than previous methods that materialize and store redundant views for online analytical processing (OLAP).