Dynamic Network-Assisted D2D-Aided Coded Distributed Learning

Abstract: Today, various ML applications offer continuous data processing and real-time data analytics at the edge of a wireless network. Distributed real-time ML solutions are highly sensitive to the so-called straggler effect caused by resource heterogeneity and alleviated by various computation offloading mechanisms that seriously challenge the communication efficiency, especially in large-scale scenarios. To decrease the communication overhead, we rely on device-to-device (D2D) connectivity that improves spectrum utilization and allows efficient data exchange between devices in proximity. In particular, we design a novel D2D-aided coded federated learning method (D2D-CFL) for efficient load balancing across devices. The proposed solution captures system dynamics, including data (time-dependent learning model, varied intensity of data arrivals), device (diverse computational resources and volume of training data), and deployment (varied locations and D2D graph connectivity). To minimize the number of communication rounds, we derive an optimal compression rate for achieving minimum processing time and establish its connection with the convergence time. The resulting optimization problem provides suboptimal compression parameters, which improve the total training time. Our proposed method is beneficial for real-time collaborative applications, where the users continuously generate training data resulting in the model drift.