Machine learning at the wireless edge: distributed stochastic gradient descent over-the-air
File(s)MAG_TSP20.pdf (865.11 KB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Amiri, Mohammad Mohammadi
Gunduz, Deniz
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We study federated machine learning (ML) at the wireless edge, where power- and bandwidth-limited wireless devices with local datasets carry out distributed stochastic gradient descent (DSGD) with the help of a parameter server (PS). Standard approaches assume separate computation and communication, where local gradient estimates are compressed and transmitted to the PS over orthogonal links. Following this digital approach, we introduce D-DSGD, in which the wireless devices employ gradient quantization and error accumulation, and transmit their gradient estimates to the PS over a multiple access channel (MAC). We then introduce a novel analog scheme, called A-DSGD, which exploits the additive nature of the wireless MAC for over-the-air gradient computation, and provide convergence analysis for this approach. In A-DSGD, the devices first sparsify their gradient estimates, and then project them to a lower dimensional space imposed by the available channel bandwidth. These projections are sent directly over the MAC without employing any digital code. Numerical results show that A-DSGD converges faster than D-DSGD thanks to its more efficient use of the limited bandwidth and the natural alignment of the gradient estimates over the channel. The improvement is particularly compelling at low power and low bandwidth regimes. We also illustrate for a classification problem that, A-DSGD is more robust to bias in data distribution across devices, while D-DSGD significantly outperforms other digital schemes in the literature. We also observe that both D-DSGD and A-DSGD perform better with the number of devices, showing their ability in harnessing the computation power of edge devices.
Date Issued
2020-03-19
Date Acceptance
2020-03-15
Citation
IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, 2020, 68, pp.2155-2169
ISSN
1053-587X
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Start Page
2155
End Page
2169
Journal / Book Title
IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing
Volume
68
Copyright Statement
© 2020 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000531398900003&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Engineering
Approximate message passing (AMP)
federated learning (FL)
over-the-air computation
stochastic gradient descent (SGD)
SPARSE
EIGENVALUE
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2020-03-19