John Thompson

Sarthak Pati, Ujjwal Baid, Brandon Edwards et al.

Although machine learning (ML) has shown promise in numerous domains, there are concerns about generalizability to out-of-sample data. This is currently addressed by centrally sharing ample, and importantly diverse, data from multiple sites. However, such centralization is challenging to scale (or even not feasible) due to various limitations. Federated ML (FL) provides an alternative to train accurate and generalizable ML models, by only sharing numerical model updates. Here we present findings from the largest FL study to-date, involving data from 71 healthcare institutions across 6 continents, to generate an automatic tumor boundary detector for the rare disease of glioblastoma, utilizing the largest dataset of such patients ever used in the literature (25,256 MRI scans from 6,314 patients). We demonstrate a 33% improvement over a publicly trained model to delineate the surgically targetable tumor, and 23% improvement over the tumor's entire extent. We anticipate our study to: 1) enable more studies in healthcare informed by large and diverse data, ensuring meaningful results for rare diseases and underrepresented populations, 2) facilitate further quantitative analyses for glioblastoma via performance optimization of our consensus model for eventual public release, and 3) demonstrate the effectiveness of FL at such scale and task complexity as a paradigm shift for multi-site collaborations, alleviating the need for data sharing.

Dianxin Luan, John Thompson

In this paper, we propose an encoder-decoder neural architecture (called Channelformer) to achieve improved channel estimation for orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) waveforms in downlink scenarios. The self-attention mechanism is employed to achieve input precoding for the input features before processing them in the decoder. In particular, we implement multi-head attention in the encoder and a residual convolutional neural architecture as the decoder, respectively. We also employ a customized weight-level pruning to slim the trained neural network with a fine-tuning process, which reduces the computational complexity significantly to realize a low complexity and low latency solution. This enables reductions of up to 70\% in the parameters, while maintaining an almost identical performance compared with the complete Channelformer. We also propose an effective online training method based on the fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) configuration for the modern communication systems, which only needs the available information at the receiver for online training. Using industrial standard channel models, the simulations of attention-based solutions show superior estimation performance compared with other candidate neural network methods for channel estimation.

Chenglong Wang, John Thompson, Bongshin Lee

With most modern visualization tools, authors need to transform their data into tidy formats to create visualizations they want. Because this requires experience with programming or separate data processing tools, data transformation remains a barrier in visualization authoring. To address this challenge, we present a new visualization paradigm, concept binding, that separates high-level visualization intents and low-level data transformation steps, leveraging an AI agent. We realize this paradigm in Data Formulator, an interactive visualization authoring tool. With Data Formulator, authors first define data concepts they plan to visualize using natural languages or examples, and then bind them to visual channels. Data Formulator then dispatches its AI-agent to automatically transform the input data to surface these concepts and generate desired visualizations. When presenting the results (transformed table and output visualizations) from the AI agent, Data Formulator provides feedback to help authors inspect and understand them. A user study with 10 participants shows that participants could learn and use Data Formulator to create visualizations that involve challenging data transformations, and presents interesting future research directions.

Dianxin Luan, John Thompson

In this paper, we deploy the self-attention mechanism to achieve improved channel estimation for orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing waveforms in the downlink. Specifically, we propose a new hybrid encoder-decoder structure (called HA02) for the first time which exploits the attention mechanism to focus on the most important input information. In particular, we implement a transformer encoder block as the encoder to achieve the sparsity in the input features and a residual neural network as the decoder respectively, inspired by the success of the attention mechanism. Using 3GPP channel models, our simulations show superior estimation performance compared with other candidate neural network methods for channel estimation.

Dianxin Luan, John Thompson

In this paper, we propose a method to design the training data that can support robust generalization of trained neural networks to unseen channels. The proposed design that improves the generalization is described and analysed. It avoids the requirement of online training for previously unseen channels, as this is a memory and processing intensive solution, especially for battery powered mobile terminals. To prove the validity of the proposed method, we use the channels modelled by different standards and fading modelling for simulation. We also use an attention-based structure and a convolutional neural network to evaluate the generalization results achieved. Simulation results show that the trained neural networks maintain almost identical performance on the unseen channels.

Dianxin Luan, Chengsi Liang, Jie Huang et al.

This paper proposes a Mamba-assisted neural network framework incorporating self-attention mechanism to achieve improved channel estimation with low complexity for orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) waveforms, particularly for configurations with a large number of subcarriers. With the integration of customized Mamba architecture, the proposed framework handles large-scale subcarrier channel estimation efficiently while capturing long-distance dependencies among these subcarriers effectively. Unlike conventional Mamba structure, this paper implements a bidirectional selective scan to improve channel estimation performance, because channel gains at different subcarriers are non-causal. Moreover, the proposed framework exhibits relatively lower space complexity than transformer-based neural networks. Simulation results tested on the 3GPP TS 36.101 channel demonstrate that compared to other baseline neural network solutions, the proposed method achieves improved channel estimation performance with a reduced number of tunable parameters.

Zehang Lin, Miao Yang, Haihan Zhu et al.

The growing complexity of neural networks hinders the deployment of distributed machine learning on resource-constrained devices. Split learning (SL) offers a promising solution by partitioning the large model and offloading the primary training workload from edge devices to an edge server. However, the increasing number of participating devices and model complexity leads to significant communication overhead from the transmission of smashed data (e.g., activations and gradients), which constitutes a critical bottleneck for SL. To tackle this challenge, we propose SL-FAC, a communication-efficient SL framework comprising two key components: adaptive frequency decomposition (AFD) and frequency-based quantization compression (FQC). AFD first transforms the smashed data into the frequency domain and decomposes it into spectral components with distinct information. FQC then applies customized quantization bit widths to each component based on its spectral energy distribution. This collaborative approach enables SL-FAC to achieve significant communication reduction while strategically preserving the information most crucial for model convergence. Extensive experiments confirm the superior performance of SL-FAC for improving the training efficiency.

Dianxin Luan, John Thompson

Channel estimation is crucial in wireless communications. However, in many papers neural networks are frequently tested by training and testing on one example channel or similar channels. This is because data-driven methods often degrade on new data which they are not trained on, as they cannot extrapolate their training knowledge. This is despite the fact physical channels are often assumed to be time-variant. However, due to the low latency requirements and limited computing resources, neural networks may not have enough time and computing resources to execute online training to fine-tune the parameters. This motivates us to design offline-trained neural networks that can perform robustly over wireless channels, but without any actual channel information being known at design time. In this paper, we propose design criteria to generate synthetic training datasets for neural networks, which guarantee that after training the resulting networks achieve a certain mean squared error (MSE) on new and previously unseen channels. Therefore, trained neural networks require no prior channel information or parameters update for real-world implementations. Based on the proposed design criteria, we further propose a benchmark design which ensures intelligent operation for different channel profiles. To demonstrate general applicability, we use neural networks with different levels of complexity to show that the generalization achieved appears to be independent of neural network architecture. From simulations, neural networks achieve robust generalization to wireless channels with both fixed channel profiles and variable delay spreads.

Dianxin Luan, John Thompson

Optical Wireless Communication (OWC) has gained significant attention due to its high-speed data transmission and throughput. Optical wireless channels are often assumed to be flat, but we evaluate frequency selective channels to consider high data rate optical wireless or very dispersive environments. To address this for optical scenarios, this paper presents a robust channel estimation framework with low-complexity to mitigate frequency-selective effects, then to improve system reliability and performance. This channel estimation framework contains a neural network that can estimate general optical wireless channels without prior channel information about the environment. Based on this estimate and the corresponding delay spread, one of several candidate offline-trained neural networks will be activated to predict this channel. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method has improved and robust normalized mean square error (NMSE) and bit error rate (BER) performance compared to conventional estimation methods while maintaining computational efficiency. These findings highlight the potential of neural network solutions in enhancing the performance of OWC systems under indoor channel conditions.

Dianxin Luan, John Thompson

Research on machine learning for channel estimation, especially neural network solutions for wireless communications, is attracting significant current interest. This is because conventional methods cannot meet the present demands of the high speed communication. In the paper, we deploy a general residual convolutional neural network to achieve channel estimation for the orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signals in a downlink scenario. Our method also deploys a simple interpolation layer to replace the transposed convolutional layer used in other networks to reduce the computation cost. The proposed method is more easily adapted to different pilot patterns and packet sizes. Compared with other deep learning methods for channel estimation, our results for 3GPP channel models suggest improved mean squared error performance for our approach.

Peter Clark, John Thompson, Bruce Porter

This paper describes a new technique, called "knowledge patterns", for helping construct axiom-rich, formal ontologies, based on identifying and explicitly representing recurring patterns of knowledge (theory schemata) in the ontology, and then stating how those patterns map onto domain-specific concepts in the ontology. From a modeling perspective, knowledge patterns provide an important insight into the structure of a formal ontology: rather than viewing a formal ontology simply as a list of terms and axioms, knowledge patterns views it as a collection of abstract, modular theories (the "knowledge patterns") plus a collection of modeling decisions stating how different aspects of the world can be modeled using those theories. Knowledge patterns make both those abstract theories and their mappings to the domain of interest explicit, thus making modeling decisions clear, and avoiding some of the ontological confusion that can otherwise arise. In addition, from a computational perspective, knowledge patterns provide a simple and computationally efficient mechanism for facilitating knowledge reuse. We describe the technique and an application built using them, and then critique its strengths and weaknesses. We conclude that this technique enables us to better explicate both the structure and modeling decisions made when constructing a formal axiom-rich ontology.

Arvind Satyanarayan, Bongshin Lee, Donghao Ren et al.

An emerging generation of visualization authoring systems support expressive information visualization without textual programming. As they vary in their visualization models, system architectures, and user interfaces, it is challenging to directly compare these systems using traditional evaluative methods. Recognizing the value of contextualizing our decisions in the broader design space, we present critical reflections on three systems we developed -- Lyra, Data Illustrator, and Charticulator. This paper surfaces knowledge that would have been daunting within the constituent papers of these three systems. We compare and contrast their (previously unmentioned) limitations and trade-offs between expressivity and learnability. We also reflect on common assumptions that we made during the development of our systems, thereby informing future research directions in visualization authoring systems.

Dylan Cashman, Shah Rukh Humayoun, Florian Heimerl et al.

Many visual analytics systems allow users to interact with machine learning models towards the goals of data exploration and insight generation on a given dataset. However, in some situations, insights may be less important than the production of an accurate predictive model for future use. In that case, users are more interested in generating of diverse and robust predictive models, verifying their performance on holdout data, and selecting the most suitable model for their usage scenario. In this paper, we consider the concept of Exploratory Model Analysis (EMA), which is defined as the process of discovering and selecting relevant models that can be used to make predictions on a data source. We delineate the differences between EMA and the well-known term exploratory data analysis in terms of the desired outcome of the analytic process: insights into the data or a set of deployable models. The contributions of this work are a visual analytics system workflow for EMA, a user study, and two use cases validating the effectiveness of the workflow. We found that our system workflow enabled users to generate complex models, to assess them for various qualities, and to select the most relevant model for their task.

Cristian Rusu, John Thompson

Given a dataset, the task of learning a transform that allows sparse representations of the data bears the name of dictionary learning. In many applications, these learned dictionaries represent the data much better than the static well-known transforms (Fourier, Hadamard etc.). The main downside of learned transforms is that they lack structure and therefore they are not computationally efficient, unlike their classical counterparts. These posse several difficulties especially when using power limited hardware such as mobile devices, therefore discouraging the application of sparsity techniques in such scenarios. In this paper we construct orthogonal and non-orthogonal dictionaries that are factorized as a product of a few basic transformations. In the orthogonal case, we solve exactly the dictionary update problem for one basic transformation, which can be viewed as a generalized Givens rotation, and then propose to construct orthogonal dictionaries that are a product of these transformations, guaranteeing their fast manipulation. We also propose a method to construct fast square but non-orthogonal dictionaries that are factorized as a product of few transforms that can be viewed as a further generalization of Givens rotations to the non-orthogonal setting. We show how the proposed transforms can balance very well data representation performance and computational complexity. We also compare with classical fast and learned general and orthogonal transforms.