Sameer Pawar

Frank Ong, Sameer Pawar, Kannan Ramchandran

We present a novel algorithm, named the 2D-FFAST, to compute a sparse 2D-Discrete Fourier Transform (2D-DFT) featuring both low sample complexity and low computational complexity. The proposed algorithm is based on mixed concepts from signal processing (sub-sampling and aliasing), coding theory (sparse-graph codes) and number theory (Chinese-remainder-theorem) and generalizes the 1D-FFAST 2 algorithm recently proposed by Pawar and Ramchandran [1] to the 2D setting. Concretely, our proposed 2D-FFAST algorithm computes a k-sparse 2D-DFT, with a uniformly random support, of size N = Nx x Ny using O(k) noiseless spatial-domain measurements in O(k log k) computational time. Our results are attractive when the sparsity is sub-linear with respect to the signal dimension, that is, when k -> infinity and k/N -> 0. For the case when the spatial-domain measurements are corrupted by additive noise, our 2D-FFAST framework extends to a noise-robust version in sub-linear time of O(k log4 N ) using O(k log3 N ) measurements. Simulation results, on synthetic images as well as real-world magnetic resonance images, are provided in Section VII and demonstrate the empirical performance of the proposed 2D-FFAST algorithm.

Xiao Li, Joseph K. Bradley, Sameer Pawar et al.

We consider the problem of computing the Walsh-Hadamard Transform (WHT) of some $N$-length input vector in the presence of noise, where the $N$-point Walsh spectrum is $K$-sparse with $K = {O}(N^δ)$ scaling sub-linearly in the input dimension $N$ for some $0<δ<1$. Over the past decade, there has been a resurgence in research related to the computation of Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) for some length-$N$ input signal that has a $K$-sparse Fourier spectrum. In particular, through a sparse-graph code design, our earlier work on the Fast Fourier Aliasing-based Sparse Transform (FFAST) algorithm computes the $K$-sparse DFT in time ${O}(K\log K)$ by taking ${O}(K)$ noiseless samples. Inspired by the coding-theoretic design framework, Scheibler et al. proposed the Sparse Fast Hadamard Transform (SparseFHT) algorithm that elegantly computes the $K$-sparse WHT in the absence of noise using ${O}(K\log N)$ samples in time ${O}(K\log^2 N)$. However, the SparseFHT algorithm explicitly exploits the noiseless nature of the problem, and is not equipped to deal with scenarios where the observations are corrupted by noise. Therefore, a question of critical interest is whether this coding-theoretic framework can be made robust to noise. Further, if the answer is yes, what is the extra price that needs to be paid for being robust to noise? In this paper, we show, quite interestingly, that there is {\it no extra price} that needs to be paid for being robust to noise other than a constant factor. In other words, we can maintain the same sample complexity ${O}(K\log N)$ and the computational complexity ${O}(K\log^2 N)$ as those of the noiseless case, using our SParse Robust Iterative Graph-based Hadamard Transform (SPRIGHT) algorithm.

Sameer Pawar, Kannan Ramchandran

The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is the most efficiently known way to compute the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) of an arbitrary n-length signal, and has a computational complexity of O(n log n). If the DFT X of the signal x has only k non-zero coefficients (where k < n), can we do better? In [1], we addressed this question and presented a novel FFAST (Fast Fourier Aliasing-based Sparse Transform) algorithm that cleverly induces sparse graph alias codes in the DFT domain, via a Chinese-Remainder-Theorem (CRT)-guided sub-sampling operation of the time-domain samples. The resulting sparse graph alias codes are then exploited to devise a fast and iterative onion-peeling style decoder that computes an n length DFT of a signal using only O(k) time-domain samples and O(klog k) computations. The FFAST algorithm is applicable whenever k is sub-linear in n (i.e. k = o(n)), but is obviously most attractive when k is much smaller than n. In this paper, we adapt the FFAST framework of [1] to the case where the time-domain samples are corrupted by a white Gaussian noise. In particular, we show that the extended noise robust algorithm R-FFAST computes an n-length k-sparse DFT X using O(klog ^3 n) noise-corrupted time-domain samples, in O(klog^4n) computations, i.e., sub-linear time complexity. While our theoretical results are for signals with a uniformly random support of the non-zero DFT coefficients and additive white Gaussian noise, we provide simulation results which demonstrates that the R-FFAST algorithm performs well even for signals like MR images, that have an approximately sparse Fourier spectrum with a non-uniform support for the dominant DFT coefficients.

Sameer Pawar, Kannan Ramchandran

Given an $n$-length input signal $\mbf{x}$, it is well known that its Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT), $\mbf{X}$, can be computed in $O(n \log n)$ complexity using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). If the spectrum $\mbf{X}$ is exactly $k$-sparse (where $k<<n$), can we do better? We show that asymptotically in $k$ and $n$, when $k$ is sub-linear in $n$ (precisely, $k \propto n^δ$ where $0 < δ<1$), and the support of the non-zero DFT coefficients is uniformly random, we can exploit this sparsity in two fundamental ways (i) {\bf {sample complexity}}: we need only $M=rk$ deterministically chosen samples of the input signal $\mbf{x}$ (where $r < 4$ when $0 < δ< 0.99$); and (ii) {\bf {computational complexity}}: we can reliably compute the DFT $\mbf{X}$ using $O(k \log k)$ operations, where the constants in the big Oh are small and are related to the constants involved in computing a small number of DFTs of length approximately equal to the sparsity parameter $k$. Our algorithm succeeds with high probability, with the probability of failure vanishing to zero asymptotically in the number of samples acquired, $M$.

Nebojsa Milosavljevic, Sameer Pawar, Salim El Rouayheb et al.

In this paper we construct a deterministic polynomial time algorithm for the problem where a set of users is interested in gaining access to a common file, but where each has only partial knowledge of the file. We further assume the existence of another set of terminals in the system, called helpers, who are not interested in the common file, but who are willing to help the users. Given that the collective information of all the terminals is sufficient to allow recovery of the entire file, the goal is to minimize the (weighted) sum of bits that these terminals need to exchange over a noiseless public channel in order achieve this goal. Based on established connections to the multi-terminal secrecy problem, our algorithm also implies a polynomial-time method for constructing the largest shared secret key in the presence of an eavesdropper. We consider the following side-information settings: (i) side-information in the form of uncoded packets of the file, where the terminals' side-information consists of subsets of the file; (ii) side-information in the form of linearly correlated packets, where the terminals have access to linear combinations of the file packets; and (iii) the general setting where the the terminals' side-information has an arbitrary (i.i.d.) correlation structure. We provide a polynomial-time algorithm (in the number of terminals) that finds the optimal rate allocations for these terminals, and then determines an explicit optimal transmission scheme for cases (i) and (ii).