Optimizing Over-the-Air Federated Learning under Wireless Heterogeneity

Core Concepts

Designing biased over-the-air federated learning solutions can provide higher gains over existing zero-bias schemes in heterogeneous wireless settings by optimizing the trade-off between model bias and variance.

Abstract

The paper studies the performance of over-the-air federated learning (OTA-FL) in a wireless network with heterogeneous device conditions. Unlike prior works that assume homogeneous wireless settings, the authors consider a more practical scenario where devices experience different average path losses.
Key highlights:

The authors derive an upper bound on the model "optimality error" that explicitly captures the effect of bias and variance in the OTA-FL updates.
Based on this bound, they propose two OTA device pre-scaler designs: 1) minimum noise variance, and 2) minimum noise variance zero-bias solutions.
Numerical results show that the proposed minimum noise variance biased pre-scalers can provide significant gains in global loss and test accuracy compared to existing schemes under wireless heterogeneity.
The analysis reveals that forcing zero-bias in each round, as done in prior works, may lead to high variance in the FL updates under heterogeneous wireless conditions, motivating the need for biased OTA-FL designs.

Stats

The average of the squared norm of the local gradients at the global minimizer w* is bounded by κ^2.
The norm of local gradients in each FL round is uniformly bounded by Gmax.

Quotes

"To optimize this trade-off, we study the design of OTA device pre-scalers by focusing on the OTA-FL convergence."
"Numerical evaluations show that using OTA device pre-scalers that minimize the variance of FL updates, while allowing a small bias, can provide high gains over existing schemes."

Key Insights Distilled From

Biased Over-the-Air Federated Learning under Wireless Heterogeneity

by Muha... at arxiv.org 04-01-2024

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2403.19849.pdf

Deeper Inquiries

How can the proposed biased OTA-FL solutions be extended to handle time-varying wireless channel conditions

To extend the proposed biased OTA-FL solutions to handle time-varying wireless channel conditions, we can incorporate adaptive algorithms that adjust the pre-scalers based on real-time channel state information (CSI). By continuously monitoring the channel conditions and updating the pre-scalers accordingly, the system can adapt to changes in the wireless environment. This adaptation can be done using techniques like reinforcement learning or online optimization algorithms, which can dynamically optimize the pre-scalers to minimize the noise variance while allowing a controlled bias. Additionally, incorporating feedback mechanisms from the devices to the central server can help in updating the pre-scalers in a distributed manner, ensuring efficient adaptation to time-varying channel conditions.

What are the potential drawbacks or limitations of allowing a non-zero bias in the OTA-FL updates

Allowing a non-zero bias in the OTA-FL updates can introduce certain drawbacks or limitations. One potential limitation is the risk of introducing systematic errors in the learning process. A non-zero bias may lead to a consistent deviation from the true global model parameters, affecting the overall accuracy and convergence of the federated learning system. Additionally, a non-zero bias can result in biased decision-making, where certain devices have more influence on the global model than others, potentially leading to unfair or skewed outcomes. Moreover, managing a controlled bias requires careful calibration and monitoring to ensure that it does not adversely impact the overall performance of the system.

How can the insights from this work be leveraged to design federated learning systems for emerging applications like autonomous driving or healthcare, which have stringent latency and reliability requirements

The insights from this work can be leveraged to design federated learning systems for applications like autonomous driving or healthcare by addressing their specific requirements for latency and reliability. For autonomous driving, where real-time decision-making is critical, the biased OTA-FL solutions can be tailored to prioritize low-latency updates while maintaining a certain level of accuracy. By optimizing the pre-scalers to minimize noise variance and allowing a controlled bias, the system can achieve faster convergence and adaptability to changing driving conditions. In healthcare applications, where data privacy and reliability are paramount, the biased OTA-FL solutions can be customized to ensure secure and accurate model updates while meeting stringent latency requirements. By incorporating robust encryption techniques and stringent data validation processes, the federated learning system can maintain the integrity and privacy of sensitive healthcare data while enabling timely and reliable insights for medical decision-making.