Client Selection for Generalization in Accelerated Federated Learning: A Multi-Armed Bandit Approach

Federated learning (FL) is an emerging machine learning (ML) paradigm used to train models across multiple nodes (i.e., clients) holding local data sets, without explicitly exchanging the data. It has attracted a growing interest in recent years due to its advantages in terms of privacy considerations, and communication resources. In FL, selected clients train their local models and send a function of the models to the server, which consumes a random processing and transmission time. The server updates the global model and broadcasts it back to the clients. The client selection problem in FL is to schedule a subset of the clients for training and transmission at each given time so as to optimize the learning performance. In this paper, we present a novel multi-armed bandit (MAB)-based approach for client selection to minimize the training latency without harming the ability of the model to generalize, that is, to provide reliable predictions for new observations. We develop a novel algorithm to achieve this goal, dubbed Bandit Scheduling for FL (BSFL). We analyze BSFL theoretically, and show that it achieves a logarithmic regret, defined as the loss of BSFL as compared to a genie that has complete knowledge about the latency means of all clients. Furthermore, simulation results using synthetic and real datasets demonstrate that BSFL is superior to existing methods.

A Communication-Efficient Adaptive Algorithm for Federated Learning under Cumulative Regret

We consider the problem of online stochastic optimization in a distributed setting with $M$ clients connected through a central server. We develop a distributed online learning algorithm that achieves order-optimal cumulative regret with low communication cost measured in the total number of bits transmitted over the entire learning horizon. This is in contrast to existing studies which focus on the offline measure of simple regret for learning efficiency. The holistic measure for communication cost also departs from the prevailing approach that \emph{separately} tackles the communication frequency and the number of bits in each communication round.

Distributed Linear Bandits under Communication Constraints

We consider distributed linear bandits where $M$ agents learn collaboratively to minimize the overall cumulative regret incurred by all agents. Information exchange is facilitated by a central server, and both the uplink and downlink communications are carried over channels with fixed capacity, which limits the amount of information that can be transmitted in each use of the channels. We investigate the regret-communication trade-off by (i) establishing information-theoretic lower bounds on the required communications (in terms of bits) for achieving a sublinear regret order; (ii) developing an efficient algorithm that achieves the minimum sublinear regret order offered by centralized learning using the minimum order of communications dictated by the information-theoretic lower bounds. For sparse linear bandits, we show a variant of the proposed algorithm offers better regret-communication trade-off by leveraging the sparsity of the problem.

Novelty Detection in Time Series via Weak Innovations Representation: A Deep Learning Approach

We consider novelty detection in time series with unknown and nonparametric probability structures. A deep learning approach is proposed to causally extract an innovations sequence consisting of novelty samples statistically independent of all past samples of the time series. A novelty detection algorithm is developed for the online detection of novel changes in the probability structure in the innovations sequence. A minimax optimality under a Bayes risk measure is established for the proposed novelty detection method, and its robustness and efficacy are demonstrated in experiments using real and synthetic datasets.

A detail-enhanced sampling strategy in Hadamard single-pixel imaging

Hadamard single-pixel imaging (HSI) is an appealing imaging technique due to its features of low hardware complexity and industrial cost. To improve imaging efficiency, many studies have focused on sorting Hadamard patterns to obtain reliable reconstructed images with very few samples. In this study, we present an efficient HSI imaging method that employs an exponential probability function to sample Hadamard spectra along a direction with better energy concentration for obtaining Hadamard patterns. We also propose an XY order to further optimize the pattern-selection method with extremely fast Hadamard order generation while retaining the original performance. We used the compressed sensing algorithm for image reconstruction. The simulation and experimental results show that these pattern-selection method reliably reconstructs objects and preserves the edge and details of images.

Single-pixel tracking and imaging of a high-speed moving object

Image-free tracking methods based on single-pixel detection have been able to track a moving object at a very high frame rate, but these tracking methods can not achieve simultaneous imaging of the object. Here we report a method for simultaneously tracking and imaging a high-speed moving object. Four binary Fourier patterns and two differential Hadamard patterns are used to modulate one frame of the object, then the modulated light signals are obtained by single-pixel detection. The trajectory and the image of the moving object can be gradually obtained along with the detection. The proposed method does not need any prior knowledge of the object and its motion. It has been verified by simulations and experiments which achieves a frame rate of 3332$~\mathrm{Hz}$ at a spatial resolution of $128 \times 128$ pixels by using a 20000$~\mathrm{Hz}$ digital micromirror device. This proposed method can broaden the application of image-free tracking methods and realize the detection of spatial information of the moving object.

Kernel-based Federated Learning with Personalization

We consider federated learning with personalization, where in addition to a global objective, each client is also interested in maximizing a personalized local objective. We consider this problem under a general continuous action space setting where the objective functions belong to a reproducing kernel Hilbert space. We propose algorithms based on surrogate Gaussian process (GP) models that achieve the optimal regret order (up to polylogarithmic factors). Furthermore, we show that the sparse approximations of the GP models significantly reduce the communication cost across clients.

Provably and Practically Efficient Neural Contextual Bandits

We consider the neural contextual bandit problem. In contrast to the existing work which primarily focuses on ReLU neural nets, we consider a general set of smooth activation functions. Under this more general setting, (i) we derive non-asymptotic error bounds on the difference between an overparameterized neural net and its corresponding neural tangent kernel, (ii) we propose an algorithm with a provably sublinear regret bound that is also efficient in the finite regime as demonstrated by empirical studies. The non-asymptotic error bounds may be of broader interest as a tool to establish the relation between the smoothness of the activation functions in neural contextual bandits and the smoothness of the kernels in kernel bandits.

OpTopNET: A Learning Optimal Topology Synthesizer for Ad-hoc Robot Networks

In this paper, we synthesize a machine-learning stacked ensemble model a vector of which predicts the optimal topology of a robot network. This problem is technically a multi-task classification problem. However, we divide it into a class of multi-class classification problems that can be more efficiently solved. For this purpose, we first compose an algorithm to create ground-truth topologies associated with various configurations of a robot network. This algorithm incorporates a complex collection of nonlinear optimality criteria that our learning model successfully manages to learn. Then, we propose a stacked ensemble model whose output is the topology prediction for the particular robot associated with it. Each stacked ensemble instance constitutes three low-level estimators whose outputs will be aggregated by a high-level boosting blender. The results of the simulations, applying our model to a network of 10 robots, represents over %80 accuracy in the prediction of optimal topologies corresponding to various configurations of this complex optimal topology learning problem.

Spectroscopy Approaches for Food Safety Applications: Improving Data Efficiency Using Active Learning and Semi-Supervised Learning

The past decade witnesses a rapid development in the measurement and monitoring technologies for food science. Among these technologies, spectroscopy has been widely used for the analysis of food quality, safety, and nutritional properties. Due to the complexity of food systems and the lack of comprehensive predictive models, rapid and simple measurements to predict complex properties in food systems are largely missing. Machine Learning (ML) has shown great potential to improve classification and prediction of these properties. However, the barriers to collect large datasets for ML applications still persists. In this paper, we explore different approaches of data annotation and model training to improve data efficiency for ML applications. Specifically, we leverage Active Learning (AL) and Semi-Supervised Learning (SSL) and investigate four approaches: baseline passive learning, AL, SSL, and a hybrid of AL and SSL. To evaluate these approaches, we collect two spectroscopy datasets: predicting plasma dosage and detecting foodborne pathogen. Our experimental results show that, compared to the de facto passive learning approach, AL and SSL methods reduce the number of labeled samples by 50% and 25% for each ML application, respectively.