Verifying Attention Robustness of Deep Neural Networks against Semantic Perturbations

It is known that deep neural networks (DNNs) classify an input image by paying particular attention to certain specific pixels; a graphical representation of the magnitude of attention to each pixel is called a saliency-map. Saliency-maps are used to check the validity of the classification decision basis, e.g., it is not a valid basis for classification if a DNN pays more attention to the background rather than the subject of an image. Semantic perturbations can significantly change the saliency-map. In this work, we propose the first verification method for attention robustness, i.e., the local robustness of the changes in the saliency-map against combinations of semantic perturbations. Specifically, our method determines the range of the perturbation parameters (e.g., the brightness change) that maintains the difference between the actual saliency-map change and the expected saliency-map change below a given threshold value. Our method is based on activation region traversals, focusing on the outermost robust boundary for scalability on larger DNNs. Experimental results demonstrate that our method can show the extent to which DNNs can classify with the same basis regardless of semantic perturbations and report on performance and performance factors of activation region traversals.

Vision-Aided Frame-Capture-Based CSI Recomposition for WiFi Sensing: A Multimodal Approach

Recompositing channel state information (CSI) from the beamforming feedback matrix (BFM), which is a compressed version of CSI and can be captured because of its lack of encryption, is an alternative way of implementing firmware-agnostic WiFi sensing. In this study, we propose the use of camera images toward the accuracy enhancement of CSI recomposition from BFM. The key motivation for this vision-aided CSI recomposition is to draw a first-hand insight that the BFM does not fully involve spatial information to recomposite CSI and that this could be compensated by camera images. To leverage the camera images, we use multimodal deep learning, where the two modalities, i.e., images and BFMs, are integrated to recomposite the CSI. We conducted experiments using IEEE 802.11ac devices. The experimental results confirmed that the recomposition accuracy of the proposed multimodal framework is improved compared to the single-modal framework only using images or BFMs.

Communication-oriented Model Fine-tuning for Packet-loss Resilient Distributed Inference under Highly Lossy IoT Networks

The distributed inference (DI) framework has gained traction as a technique for real-time applications empowered by cutting-edge deep machine learning (ML) on resource-constrained Internet of things (IoT) devices. In DI, computational tasks are offloaded from the IoT device to the edge server via lossy IoT networks. However, generally, there is a communication system-level trade-off between communication latency and reliability; thus, to provide accurate DI results, a reliable and high-latency communication system is required to be adapted, which results in non-negligible end-to-end latency of the DI. This motivated us to improve the trade-off between the communication latency and accuracy by efforts on ML techniques. Specifically, we have proposed a communication-oriented model tuning (COMtune), which aims to achieve highly accurate DI with low-latency but unreliable communication links. In COMtune, the key idea is to fine-tune the ML model by emulating the effect of unreliable communication links through the application of the dropout technique. This enables the DI system to obtain robustness against unreliable communication links. Our ML experiments revealed that COMtune enables accurate predictions with low latency and under lossy networks.

Frame-Capture-Based CSI Recomposition Pertaining to Firmware-Agnostic WiFi Sensing

With regard to the implementation of WiFi sensing agnostic according to the availability of channel state information (CSI), we investigate the possibility of estimating a CSI matrix based on its compressed version, which is known as beamforming feedback matrix (BFM). Being different from the CSI matrix that is processed and discarded in physical layer components, the BFM can be captured using a medium-access-layer frame-capturing technique because this is exchanged among an access point (AP) and stations (STAs) over the air. This indicates that WiFi sensing that leverages the BFM matrix is more practical to implement using the pre-installed APs. However, the ability of BFM-based sensing has been evaluated in a few tasks, and more general insights into its performance should be provided. To fill this gap, we propose a CSI estimation method based on BFM, approximating the estimation function with a machine learning model. In addition, to improve the estimation accuracy, we leverage the inter-subcarrier dependency using the BFMs at multiple subcarriers in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing transmissions. Our simulation evaluation reveals that the estimated CSI matches the ground-truth amplitude. Moreover, compared to CSI estimation at each individual subcarrier, the effect of the BFMs at multiple subcarriers on the CSI estimation accuracy is validated.

Beamforming Feedback-based Model-driven Angle of Departure Estimation Toward Firmware-Agnostic WiFi Sensing

This paper proves that the angle of departure (AoD) estimation using the multiple signal classification (MUSIC) with only WiFi control frames for beamforming feedback (BFF), defined in IEEE 802.11ac/ax, is possible. Although channel state information (CSI) enables model-driven AoD estimation, most BFF-based sensing techniques are data-driven because they only contain the right singular vectors of CSI and subcarrier-averaged stream gain. Specifically, we find that right singular vectors with a subcarrier-averaged stream gain of zero have the same role as the noise subspace vectors in the CSI-based MUSIC algorithm. Numerical evaluations confirm that the proposed BFF-based MUSIC successfully estimates the AoDs and gains for all propagation paths. Meanwhile, this result implies a potential privacy risk; a malicious sniffer can carry out AoD estimation only with unencrypted BFF frames.

Packet-Loss-Tolerant Split Inference for Delay-Sensitive Deep Learning in Lossy Wireless Networks

The distributed inference framework is an emerging technology for real-time applications empowered by cutting-edge deep machine learning (ML) on resource-constrained Internet of things (IoT) devices. In distributed inference, computational tasks are offloaded from the IoT device to other devices or the edge server via lossy IoT networks. However, narrow-band and lossy IoT networks cause non-negligible packet losses and retransmissions, resulting in non-negligible communication latency. This study solves the problem of the incremental retransmission latency caused by packet loss in a lossy IoT network. We propose a split inference with no retransmissions (SI-NR) method that achieves high accuracy without any retransmissions, even when packet loss occurs. In SI-NR, the key idea is to train the ML model by emulating the packet loss by a dropout method, which randomly drops the output of hidden units in a DNN layer. This enables the SI-NR system to obtain robustness against packet losses. Our ML experimental evaluation reveals that SI-NR obtains accurate predictions without packet retransmission at a packet loss rate of 60%.

Decentralized and Model-Free Federated Learning: Consensus-Based Distillation in Function Space

This paper proposes a decentralized FL scheme for IoE devices connected via multi-hop networks. FL has gained attention as an enabler of privacy-preserving algorithms, but it is not guaranteed that FL algorithms converge to the optimal point because of non-convexity when using decentralized parameter averaging schemes. Therefore, a distributed algorithm that converges to the optimal solution should be developed. The key idea of the proposed algorithm is to aggregate the local prediction functions, not in a parameter space but in a function space. Since machine learning tasks can be regarded as convex functional optimization problems, a consensus-based optimization algorithm achieves the global optimum if it is tailored to work in a function space. This paper at first analyzes the convergence of the proposed algorithm in a function space, which is referred to as a meta-algorithm. It is shown that spectral graph theory can be applied to the function space in a similar manner as that of numerical vectors. Then, a CMFD is developed for NN as an implementation of the meta-algorithm. CMFD leverages knowledge distillation to realize function aggregation among adjacent devices without parameter averaging. One of the advantages of CMFD is that it works even when NN models are different among the distributed learners. This paper shows that CMFD achieves higher accuracy than parameter aggregation under weakly-connected networks. The stability of CMFD is also higher than that of parameter aggregation methods.

Zero-Shot Adaptation for mmWave Beam-Tracking on Overhead Messenger Wires through Robust Adversarial Reinforcement Learning

This paper discusses the opportunity of bringing the concept of zero-shot adaptation into learning-based millimeter-wave (mmWave) communication systems, particularly in environments with unstable urban infrastructures. Here, zero-shot adaptation implies that a learning agent adapts to unseen scenarios during training without any adaptive fine-tuning. By considering learning-based beam-tracking of a mmWave node placed on an overhead messenger wire, we first discuss the importance of zero-shot adaptation. More specifically, we confirm that the gap between the values of wire tension and total wire mass in training and test scenarios deteriorates the beam-tracking performance in terms of the received power. Motivated by this discussion, we propose a robust beam-tracking method to adapt to a broad range of test scenarios in a zero-shot manner, i.e., without requiring any retraining to adapt the scenarios. The key idea is to leverage a recent, robust adversarial reinforcement learning technique, where such training and test gaps are regarded as disturbances from adversaries. In our case, a beam-tracking agent performs training competitively bases on an intelligent adversary who causes beam misalignments. Numerical evaluations confirm the feasibility of zero-shot adaptation by showing that the on-wire node achieves feasible beam-tracking performance without any adaptive fine-tuning in unseen scenarios.

Distillation-Based Semi-Supervised Federated Learning for Communication-Efficient Collaborative Training with Non-IID Private Data

This study develops a federated learning (FL) framework overcoming largely incremental communication costs due to model sizes in typical frameworks without compromising model performance. To this end, based on the idea of leveraging an unlabeled open dataset, we propose a distillation-based semi-supervised FL (DS-FL) algorithm that exchanges the outputs of local models among mobile devices, instead of model parameter exchange employed by the typical frameworks. In DS-FL, the communication cost depends only on the output dimensions of the models and does not scale up according to the model size. The exchanged model outputs are used to label each sample of the open dataset, which creates an additionally labeled dataset. Based on the new dataset, local models are further trained, and model performance is enhanced owing to the data augmentation effect. We further highlight that in DS-FL, the heterogeneity of the devices' dataset leads to ambiguous of each data sample and lowing of the training convergence. To prevent this, we propose entropy reduction averaging, where the aggregated model outputs are intentionally sharpened. Moreover, extensive experiments show that DS-FL reduces communication costs up to 99% relative to those of the FL benchmark while achieving similar or higher classification accuracy.