Yonina C. Eldar

SP
h-index48
117papers
7,607citations
Novelty44%
AI Score56

117 Papers

SPMay 5, 2022
Model-Based Deep Learning: On the Intersection of Deep Learning and Optimization

Nir Shlezinger, Yonina C. Eldar, Stephen P. Boyd · stanford

Decision making algorithms are used in a multitude of different applications. Conventional approaches for designing decision algorithms employ principled and simplified modelling, based on which one can determine decisions via tractable optimization. More recently, deep learning approaches that use highly parametric architectures tuned from data without relying on mathematical models, are becoming increasingly popular. Model-based optimization and data-centric deep learning are often considered to be distinct disciplines. Here, we characterize them as edges of a continuous spectrum varying in specificity and parameterization, and provide a tutorial-style presentation to the methodologies lying in the middle ground of this spectrum, referred to as model-based deep learning. We accompany our presentation with running examples in super-resolution and stochastic control, and show how they are expressed using the provided characterization and specialized in each of the detailed methodologies. The gains of combining model-based optimization and deep learning are demonstrated using experimental results in various applications, ranging from biomedical imaging to digital communications.

NADec 4, 2010
Compressed Sensing with Coherent and Redundant Dictionaries

Emmanuel J. Candes, Yonina C. Eldar, Deanna Needell et al.

This article presents novel results concerning the recovery of signals from undersampled data in the common situation where such signals are not sparse in an orthonormal basis or incoherent dictionary, but in a truly redundant dictionary. This work thus bridges a gap in the literature and shows not only that compressed sensing is viable in this context, but also that accurate recovery is possible via an L1-analysis optimization problem. We introduce a condition on the measurement/sensing matrix, which is a natural generalization of the now well-known restricted isometry property, and which guarantees accurate recovery of signals that are nearly sparse in (possibly) highly overcomplete and coherent dictionaries. This condition imposes no incoherence restriction on the dictionary and our results may be the first of this kind. We discuss practical examples and the implications of our results on those applications, and complement our study by demonstrating the potential of L1-analysis for such problems.

SPFeb 22, 2019
Radar and Communication Co-existence: an Overview

Le Zheng, Marco Lops, Yonina C. Eldar et al.

Increased amounts of bandwidth are required to guarantee both high-quality/high-rate wireless services (4G and 5G) and reliable sensing capabilities such as automotive radar, air traffic control, earth geophysical monitoring and security applications. Therefore, co-existence between radar and communication systems using overlapping bandwidths has been a primary investigation field in recent years. Various signal processing techniques such as interference mitigation, pre-coding or spatial separation, and waveform design allow both radar and communications to share the spectrum. This article reviews recent work on co-existence between radar and communication systems, including signal models, waveform design and signal processing techniques. Our goal is to survey contributions in this area in order to provide a primary starting point for new researchers interested in these problems.

ITNov 5, 2012
Phase Retrieval: Stability and Recovery Guarantees

Yonina C. Eldar, Shahar Mendelson

We consider stability and uniqueness in real phase retrieval problems over general input sets. Specifically, we assume the data consists of noisy quadratic measurements of an unknown input x in R^n that lies in a general set T and study conditions under which x can be stably recovered from the measurements. In the noise-free setting we derive a general expression on the number of measurements needed to ensure that a unique solution can be found in a stable way, that depends on the set T through a natural complexity parameter. This parameter can be computed explicitly for many sets T of interest. For example, for k-sparse inputs we show that O(k\log(n/k)) measurements are needed, and when x can be any vector in R^n, O(n) measurements suffice. In the noisy case, we show that if one can find a value for which the empirical risk is bounded by a given, computable constant (that depends on the set T), then the error with respect to the true input is bounded above by an another, closely related complexity parameter of the set. By choosing an appropriate number N of measurements, this bound can be made arbitrarily small, and it decays at a rate faster than N^{-1/2+δ} for any δ>0. In particular, for k-sparse vectors stable recovery is possible from O(k\log(n/k)\log k) noisy measurements, and when x can be any vector in R^n, O(n \log n) noisy measurements suffice. We also show that the complexity parameter for the quadratic problem is the same as the one used for analyzing stability in linear measurements under very general conditions. Thus, no substantial price has to be paid in terms of stability if there is no knowledge of the phase.

NAFeb 12, 2011
Acceleration of Randomized Kaczmarz Method via the Johnson-Lindenstrauss Lemma

Yonina C. Eldar, Deanna Needell

The Kaczmarz method is an algorithm for finding the solution to an overdetermined consistent system of linear equations Ax=b by iteratively projecting onto the solution spaces. The randomized version put forth by Strohmer and Vershynin yields provably exponential convergence in expectation, which for highly overdetermined systems even outperforms the conjugate gradient method. In this article we present a modified version of the randomized Kaczmarz method which at each iteration selects the optimal projection from a randomly chosen set, which in most cases significantly improves the convergence rate. We utilize a Johnson-Lindenstrauss dimension reduction technique to keep the runtime on the same order as the original randomized version, adding only extra preprocessing time. We present a series of empirical studies which demonstrate the remarkable acceleration in convergence to the solution using this modified approach.

ROJun 3, 2022
Federated Deep Learning Meets Autonomous Vehicle Perception: Design and Verification

Shuai Wang, Chengyang Li, Derrick Wing Kwan Ng et al.

Realizing human-like perception is a challenge in open driving scenarios due to corner cases and visual occlusions. To gather knowledge of rare and occluded instances, federated learning assisted connected autonomous vehicle (FLCAV) has been proposed, which leverages vehicular networks to establish federated deep neural networks (DNNs) from distributed data captured by vehicles and road sensors. Without the need of data aggregation, FLCAV preserves privacy while reducing communication costs compared with conventional centralized learning. However, it is challenging to determine the network resources and road sensor placements for multi-stage training with multi-modal datasets in multi-variant scenarios. This article presents networking and training frameworks for FLCAV perception. Multi-layer graph resource allocation and vehicle-road contrastive sensor placement are proposed to address the network management and sensor deployment problems, respectively. We also develop CarlaFLCAV, a software platform that implements the above system and methods. Experimental results confirm the superiority of the proposed techniques compared with various benchmarks.

NAMar 28, 2011
Unicity conditions for low-rank matrix recovery

Yonina C. Eldar, Deanna Needell, Yaniv Plan

Low-rank matrix recovery addresses the problem of recovering an unknown low-rank matrix from few linear measurements. Nuclear-norm minimization is a tractible approach with a recent surge of strong theoretical backing. Analagous to the theory of compressed sensing, these results have required random measurements. For example, m >= Cnr Gaussian measurements are sufficient to recover any rank-r n x n matrix with high probability. In this paper we address the theoretical question of how many measurements are needed via any method whatsoever --- tractible or not. We show that for a family of random measurement ensembles, m >= 4nr - 4r^2 measurements are sufficient to guarantee that no rank-2r matrix lies in the null space of the measurement operator with probability one. This is a necessary and sufficient condition to ensure uniform recovery of all rank-r matrices by rank minimization. Furthermore, this value of $m$ precisely matches the dimension of the manifold of all rank-2r matrices. We also prove that for a fixed rank-r matrix, m >= 2nr - r^2 + 1 random measurements are enough to guarantee recovery using rank minimization. These results give a benchmark to which we may compare the efficacy of nuclear-norm minimization.

MLJun 29, 2022
Theoretical Perspectives on Deep Learning Methods in Inverse Problems

Jonathan Scarlett, Reinhard Heckel, Miguel R. D. Rodrigues et al.

In recent years, there have been significant advances in the use of deep learning methods in inverse problems such as denoising, compressive sensing, inpainting, and super-resolution. While this line of works has predominantly been driven by practical algorithms and experiments, it has also given rise to a variety of intriguing theoretical problems. In this paper, we survey some of the prominent theoretical developments in this line of works, focusing in particular on generative priors, untrained neural network priors, and unfolding algorithms. In addition to summarizing existing results in these topics, we highlight several ongoing challenges and open problems.

ITJan 20, 2018
Analog-to-Digital Compression: A New Paradigm for Converting Signals to Bits

Alon Kipnis, Yonina C. Eldar, Andrea J. Goldsmith

Processing, storing and communicating information that originates as an analog signal involves conversion of this information to bits. This conversion can be described by the combined effect of sampling and quantization, as illustrated in Fig. 1. The digital representation is achieved by first sampling the analog signal so as to represent it by a set of discrete-time samples and then quantizing these samples to a finite number of bits. Traditionally, these two operations are considered separately. The sampler is designed to minimize information loss due to sampling based on characteristics of the continuous-time input. The quantizer is designed to represent the samples as accurately as possible, subject to a constraint on the number of bits that can be used in the representation. The goal of this article is to revisit this paradigm by illuminating the dependency between these two operations. In particular, we explore the requirements on the sampling system subject to constraints on the available number of bits for storing, communicating or processing the analog information.

ITMar 15, 2011
Xampling: Compressed Sensing of Analog Signals

Moshe Mishali, Yonina C. Eldar

Xampling generalizes compressed sensing (CS) to reduced-rate sampling of analog signals. A unified framework is introduced for low rate sampling and processing of signals lying in a union of subspaces. Xampling consists of two main blocks: Analog compression that narrows down the input bandwidth prior to sampling with commercial devices followed by a nonlinear algorithm that detects the input subspace prior to conventional signal processing. A variety of analog CS applications are reviewed within the unified Xampling framework including a general filter-bank scheme for sparse shift-invariant spaces, periodic nonuniform sampling and modulated wideband conversion for multiband communications with unknown carrier frequencies, acquisition techniques for finite rate of innovation signals with applications to medical and radar imaging, and random demodulation of sparse harmonic tones. A hardware-oriented viewpoint is advocated throughout, addressing practical constraints and exemplifying hardware realizations where relevant. It will appear as a chapter in a book on "Compressed Sensing: Theory and Applications" edited by Yonina Eldar and Gitta Kutyniok.

ITJul 3, 2022
Task-Oriented Sensing, Computation, and Communication Integration for Multi-Device Edge AI

Dingzhu Wen, Peixi Liu, Guangxu Zhu et al.

This paper studies a new multi-device edge artificial-intelligent (AI) system, which jointly exploits the AI model split inference and integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) to enable low-latency intelligent services at the network edge. In this system, multiple ISAC devices perform radar sensing to obtain multi-view data, and then offload the quantized version of extracted features to a centralized edge server, which conducts model inference based on the cascaded feature vectors. Under this setup and by considering classification tasks, we measure the inference accuracy by adopting an approximate but tractable metric, namely discriminant gain, which is defined as the distance of two classes in the Euclidean feature space under normalized covariance. To maximize the discriminant gain, we first quantify the influence of the sensing, computation, and communication processes on it with a derived closed-form expression. Then, an end-to-end task-oriented resource management approach is developed by integrating the three processes into a joint design. This integrated sensing, computation, and communication (ISCC) design approach, however, leads to a challenging non-convex optimization problem, due to the complicated form of discriminant gain and the device heterogeneity in terms of channel gain, quantization level, and generated feature subsets. Remarkably, the considered non-convex problem can be optimally solved based on the sum-of-ratios method. This gives the optimal ISCC scheme, that jointly determines the transmit power and time allocation at multiple devices for sensing and communication, as well as their quantization bits allocation for computation distortion control. By using human motions recognition as a concrete AI inference task, extensive experiments are conducted to verify the performance of our derived optimal ISCC scheme.

LGSep 12, 2023
Optimization Guarantees of Unfolded ISTA and ADMM Networks With Smooth Soft-Thresholding

Shaik Basheeruddin Shah, Pradyumna Pradhan, Wei Pu et al.

Solving linear inverse problems plays a crucial role in numerous applications. Algorithm unfolding based, model-aware data-driven approaches have gained significant attention for effectively addressing these problems. Learned iterative soft-thresholding algorithm (LISTA) and alternating direction method of multipliers compressive sensing network (ADMM-CSNet) are two widely used such approaches, based on ISTA and ADMM algorithms, respectively. In this work, we study optimization guarantees, i.e., achieving near-zero training loss with the increase in the number of learning epochs, for finite-layer unfolded networks such as LISTA and ADMM-CSNet with smooth soft-thresholding in an over-parameterized (OP) regime. We achieve this by leveraging a modified version of the Polyak-Lojasiewicz, denoted PL$^*$, condition. Satisfying the PL$^*$ condition within a specific region of the loss landscape ensures the existence of a global minimum and exponential convergence from initialization using gradient descent based methods. Hence, we provide conditions, in terms of the network width and the number of training samples, on these unfolded networks for the PL$^*$ condition to hold. We achieve this by deriving the Hessian spectral norm of these networks. Additionally, we show that the threshold on the number of training samples increases with the increase in the network width. Furthermore, we compare the threshold on training samples of unfolded networks with that of a standard fully-connected feed-forward network (FFNN) with smooth soft-thresholding non-linearity. We prove that unfolded networks have a higher threshold value than FFNN. Consequently, one can expect a better expected error for unfolded networks than FFNN.

LGApr 19, 2023
Generalization and Estimation Error Bounds for Model-based Neural Networks

Avner Shultzman, Eyar Azar, Miguel R. D. Rodrigues et al.

Model-based neural networks provide unparalleled performance for various tasks, such as sparse coding and compressed sensing problems. Due to the strong connection with the sensing model, these networks are interpretable and inherit prior structure of the problem. In practice, model-based neural networks exhibit higher generalization capability compared to ReLU neural networks. However, this phenomenon was not addressed theoretically. Here, we leverage complexity measures including the global and local Rademacher complexities, in order to provide upper bounds on the generalization and estimation errors of model-based networks. We show that the generalization abilities of model-based networks for sparse recovery outperform those of regular ReLU networks, and derive practical design rules that allow to construct model-based networks with guaranteed high generalization. We demonstrate through a series of experiments that our theoretical insights shed light on a few behaviours experienced in practice, including the fact that ISTA and ADMM networks exhibit higher generalization abilities (especially for small number of training samples), compared to ReLU networks.

SPOct 8, 2022
Signal Detection in MIMO Systems with Hardware Imperfections: Message Passing on Neural Networks

Dawei Gao, Qinghua Guo, Guisheng Liao et al.

In this paper, we investigate signal detection in multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) communication systems with hardware impairments, such as power amplifier nonlinearity and in-phase/quadrature imbalance. To deal with the complex combined effects of hardware imperfections, neural network (NN) techniques, in particular deep neural networks (DNNs), have been studied to directly compensate for the impact of hardware impairments. However, it is difficult to train a DNN with limited pilot signals, hindering its practical applications. In this work, we investigate how to achieve efficient Bayesian signal detection in MIMO systems with hardware imperfections. Characterizing combined hardware imperfections often leads to complicated signal models, making Bayesian signal detection challenging. To address this issue, we first train an NN to "model" the MIMO system with hardware imperfections and then perform Bayesian inference based on the trained NN. Modelling the MIMO system with NN enables the design of NN architectures based on the signal flow of the MIMO system, minimizing the number of NN layers and parameters, which is crucial to achieving efficient training with limited pilot signals. We then represent the trained NN with a factor graph, and design an efficient message passing based Bayesian signal detector, leveraging the unitary approximate message passing (UAMP) algorithm. The implementation of a turbo receiver with the proposed Bayesian detector is also investigated. Extensive simulation results demonstrate that the proposed technique delivers remarkably better performance than state-of-the-art methods.

COMP-PHJul 26, 2022
Physics Embedded Machine Learning for Electromagnetic Data Imaging

Rui Guo, Tianyao Huang, Maokun Li et al.

Electromagnetic (EM) imaging is widely applied in sensing for security, biomedicine, geophysics, and various industries. It is an ill-posed inverse problem whose solution is usually computationally expensive. Machine learning (ML) techniques and especially deep learning (DL) show potential in fast and accurate imaging. However, the high performance of purely data-driven approaches relies on constructing a training set that is statistically consistent with practical scenarios, which is often not possible in EM imaging tasks. Consequently, generalizability becomes a major concern. On the other hand, physical principles underlie EM phenomena and provide baselines for current imaging techniques. To benefit from prior knowledge in big data and the theoretical constraint of physical laws, physics embedded ML methods for EM imaging have become the focus of a large body of recent work. This article surveys various schemes to incorporate physics in learning-based EM imaging. We first introduce background on EM imaging and basic formulations of the inverse problem. We then focus on three types of strategies combining physics and ML for linear and nonlinear imaging and discuss their advantages and limitations. Finally, we conclude with open challenges and possible ways forward in this fast-developing field. Our aim is to facilitate the study of intelligent EM imaging methods that will be efficient, interpretable and controllable.

IVApr 1, 2022
Data and Physics Driven Learning Models for Fast MRI -- Fundamentals and Methodologies from CNN, GAN to Attention and Transformers

Jiahao Huang, Yingying Fang, Yang Nan et al.

Research studies have shown no qualms about using data driven deep learning models for downstream tasks in medical image analysis, e.g., anatomy segmentation and lesion detection, disease diagnosis and prognosis, and treatment planning. However, deep learning models are not the sovereign remedy for medical image analysis when the upstream imaging is not being conducted properly (with artefacts). This has been manifested in MRI studies, where the scanning is typically slow, prone to motion artefacts, with a relatively low signal to noise ratio, and poor spatial and/or temporal resolution. Recent studies have witnessed substantial growth in the development of deep learning techniques for propelling fast MRI. This article aims to (1) introduce the deep learning based data driven techniques for fast MRI including convolutional neural network and generative adversarial network based methods, (2) survey the attention and transformer based models for speeding up MRI reconstruction, and (3) detail the research in coupling physics and data driven models for MRI acceleration. Finally, we will demonstrate through a few clinical applications, explain the importance of data harmonisation and explainable models for such fast MRI techniques in multicentre and multi-scanner studies, and discuss common pitfalls in current research and recommendations for future research directions.

SPSep 28, 2022
Unrolled Compressed Blind-Deconvolution

Bahareh Tolooshams, Satish Mulleti, Demba Ba et al.

The problem of sparse multichannel blind deconvolution (S-MBD) arises frequently in many engineering applications such as radar/sonar/ultrasound imaging. To reduce its computational and implementation cost, we propose a compression method that enables blind recovery from much fewer measurements with respect to the full received signal in time. The proposed compression measures the signal through a filter followed by a subsampling, allowing for a significant reduction in implementation cost. We derive theoretical guarantees for the identifiability and recovery of a sparse filter from compressed measurements. Our results allow for the design of a wide class of compression filters. We, then, propose a data-driven unrolled learning framework to learn the compression filter and solve the S-MBD problem. The encoder is a recurrent inference network that maps compressed measurements into an estimate of sparse filters. We demonstrate that our unrolled learning method is more robust to choices of source shapes and has better recovery performance compared to optimization-based methods. Finally, in data-limited applications (fewshot learning), we highlight the superior generalization capability of unrolled learning compared to conventional deep learning.

SPJul 31, 2022
Unitary Approximate Message Passing for Matrix Factorization

Zhengdao Yuan, Qinghua Guo, Yonina C. Eldar et al.

We consider matrix factorization (MF) with certain constraints, which finds wide applications in various areas. Leveraging variational inference (VI) and unitary approximate message passing (UAMP), we develop a Bayesian approach to MF with an efficient message passing implementation, called UAMPMF. With proper priors imposed on the factor matrices, UAMPMF can be used to solve many problems that can be formulated as MF, such as non negative matrix factorization, dictionary learning, compressive sensing with matrix uncertainty, robust principal component analysis, and sparse matrix factorization. Extensive numerical examples are provided to show that UAMPMF significantly outperforms state-of-the-art algorithms in terms of recovery accuracy, robustness and computational complexity.

LGOct 14, 2022
FedFM: Anchor-based Feature Matching for Data Heterogeneity in Federated Learning

Rui Ye, Zhenyang Ni, Chenxin Xu et al.

One of the key challenges in federated learning (FL) is local data distribution heterogeneity across clients, which may cause inconsistent feature spaces across clients. To address this issue, we propose a novel method FedFM, which guides each client's features to match shared category-wise anchors (landmarks in feature space). This method attempts to mitigate the negative effects of data heterogeneity in FL by aligning each client's feature space. Besides, we tackle the challenge of varying objective function and provide convergence guarantee for FedFM. In FedFM, to mitigate the phenomenon of overlapping feature spaces across categories and enhance the effectiveness of feature matching, we further propose a more precise and effective feature matching loss called contrastive-guiding (CG), which guides each local feature to match with the corresponding anchor while keeping away from non-corresponding anchors. Additionally, to achieve higher efficiency and flexibility, we propose a FedFM variant, called FedFM-Lite, where clients communicate with server with fewer synchronization times and communication bandwidth costs. Through extensive experiments, we demonstrate that FedFM with CG outperforms several works by quantitative and qualitative comparisons. FedFM-Lite can achieve better performance than state-of-the-art methods with five to ten times less communication costs.

LGJul 19, 2022
Neural Greedy Pursuit for Feature Selection

Sandipan Das, Alireza M. Javid, Prakash Borpatra Gohain et al.

We propose a greedy algorithm to select $N$ important features among $P$ input features for a non-linear prediction problem. The features are selected one by one sequentially, in an iterative loss minimization procedure. We use neural networks as predictors in the algorithm to compute the loss and hence, we refer to our method as neural greedy pursuit (NGP). NGP is efficient in selecting $N$ features when $N \ll P$, and it provides a notion of feature importance in a descending order following the sequential selection procedure. We experimentally show that NGP provides better performance than several feature selection methods such as DeepLIFT and Drop-one-out loss. In addition, we experimentally show a phase transition behavior in which perfect selection of all $N$ features without false positives is possible when the training data size exceeds a threshold.

SPApr 9, 2022
Ultrasound Signal Processing: From Models to Deep Learning

Ben Luijten, Nishith Chennakeshava, Yonina C. Eldar et al.

Medical ultrasound imaging relies heavily on high-quality signal processing to provide reliable and interpretable image reconstructions. Conventionally, reconstruction algorithms where derived from physical principles. These algorithms rely on assumptions and approximations of the underlying measurement model, limiting image quality in settings were these assumptions break down. Conversely, more sophisticated solutions based on statistical modelling, careful parameter tuning, or through increased model complexity, can be sensitive to different environments. Recently, deep learning based methods, which are optimized in a data-driven fashion, have gained popularity. These model-agnostic techniques often rely on generic model structures, and require vast training data to converge to a robust solution. A relatively new paradigm combines the power of the two: leveraging data-driven deep learning, as well as exploiting domain knowledge. These model-based solutions yield high robustness, and require less parameters and training data than conventional neural networks. In this work we provide an overview of these techniques from recent literature, and discuss a wide variety of ultrasound applications. We aim to inspire the reader to further research in this area, and to address the opportunities within the field of ultrasound signal processing. We conclude with a future perspective on model-based deep learning techniques for medical ultrasound.

SPNov 9, 2022
Hyper-Parameter Auto-Tuning for Sparse Bayesian Learning

Dawei Gao, Qinghua Guo, Ming Jin et al.

Choosing the values of hyper-parameters in sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) can significantly impact performance. However, the hyper-parameters are normally tuned manually, which is often a difficult task. Most recently, effective automatic hyper-parameter tuning was achieved by using an empirical auto-tuner. In this work, we address the issue of hyper-parameter auto-tuning using neural network (NN)-based learning. Inspired by the empirical auto-tuner, we design and learn a NN-based auto-tuner, and show that considerable improvement in convergence rate and recovery performance can be achieved.

ITMar 3, 2023
AI-Empowered Hybrid MIMO Beamforming

Nir Shlezinger, Mengyuan Ma, Ortal Lavi et al.

Hybrid multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is an attractive technology for realizing extreme massive MIMO systems envisioned for future wireless communications in a scalable and power-efficient manner. However, the fact that hybrid MIMO systems implement part of their beamforming in analog and part in digital makes the optimization of their beampattern notably more challenging compared with conventional fully digital MIMO. Consequently, recent years have witnessed a growing interest in using data-aided artificial intelligence (AI) tools for hybrid beamforming design. This article reviews candidate strategies to leverage data to improve real-time hybrid beamforming design. We discuss the architectural constraints and characterize the core challenges associated with hybrid beamforming optimization. We then present how these challenges are treated via conventional optimization, and identify different AI-aided design approaches. These can be roughly divided into purely data-driven deep learning models and different forms of deep unfolding techniques for combining AI with classical optimization.We provide a systematic comparative study between existing approaches including both numerical evaluations and qualitative measures. We conclude by presenting future research opportunities associated with the incorporation of AI in hybrid MIMO systems.

LGSep 4, 2023
Adaptive Model Pruning and Personalization for Federated Learning over Wireless Networks

Xiaonan Liu, Tharmalingam Ratnarajah, Mathini Sellathurai et al.

Federated learning (FL) enables distributed learning across edge devices while protecting data privacy. However, the learning accuracy decreases due to the heterogeneity of devices' data, and the computation and communication latency increase when updating large-scale learning models on devices with limited computational capability and wireless resources. We consider a FL framework with partial model pruning and personalization to overcome these challenges. This framework splits the learning model into a global part with model pruning shared with all devices to learn data representations and a personalized part to be fine-tuned for a specific device, which adapts the model size during FL to reduce both computation and communication latency and increases the learning accuracy for devices with non-independent and identically distributed data. The computation and communication latency and convergence of the proposed FL framework are mathematically analyzed. To maximize the convergence rate and guarantee learning accuracy, Karush Kuhn Tucker (KKT) conditions are deployed to jointly optimize the pruning ratio and bandwidth allocation. Finally, experimental results demonstrate that the proposed FL framework achieves a remarkable reduction of approximately 50 percent computation and communication latency compared with FL with partial model personalization.

NAMar 28, 2018
RAPToR: A Resampling Algorithm for Pseudo-Polar based Tomographic Reconstruction

Shahar Tsiper, Yonina C. Eldar

We propose a stable and fast reconstruction technique for parallel-beam (PB) tomographic X-ray imaging, relying on the discrete pseudo-polar (PP) Radon transform. Our main contribution is a resampling method, based on modern sampling theory, that transforms the acquired PB measurements to a PP grid. The resampling process is both fast and accurate, and in addition, simultaneously denoises the measurements, by exploiting geometrical properties of the tomographic scan. The transformed measurements are then reconstructed using an iterative solver with total variation (TV) regularization. We show that reconstructing from measurements on the PP grid, leads to improved recovery, due to the inherent stability and accuracy of the PP Radon transform, compared with the PB Radon transform. We also demonstrate recovery from a reduced number of PB acquisition angles, and high noise levels. Our approach is shown to achieve superior results over other state-of-the-art solutions, that operate directly on the given PB measurements. The proposed method can benefit fan-beam and/or cone-beam projections by coupling it with a rebinning process.

25.0SPApr 25
Semi-Supervised Model-Free Bayesian State Estimation from Compressed Measurements

Anubhab Ghosh, Yonina C. Eldar, Saikat Chatterjee

We consider data-driven Bayesian state estimation from compressed measurements (BSCM) of a model-free process. The dimension of the temporal measurement vector is lower than that of the temporal state vector to be estimated, leading to an under-determined inverse problem. The underlying dynamical model of the state's evolution is unknown for a `model-free process.' Hence, it is difficult to use traditional model-driven methods, for example, Kalman and particle filters. Instead, we consider data-driven methods. We experimentally show that two existing unsupervised learning-based data-driven methods fail to address the BSCM problem in a model-free process. The methods are -- data-driven nonlinear state estimation (DANSE) and deep Markov model (DMM). While DANSE provides good predictive/forecasting performance to model the temporal measurement data as a time series, its unsupervised learning lacks suitable regularization for tackling the BSCM task. We then propose a semi-supervised learning approach and develop a semi-supervised learning-based DANSE method, referred to as SemiDANSE. In SemiDANSE, we use a large amount of unlabelled data along with a limited amount of labelled data, i.e., pairwise measurement-and-state data, which provides the desired regularization. Using {benchmark chaotic dynamical systems}, we {empirically} show that the data-driven SemiDANSE provides competitive state estimation performance for BSCM {using a handful of different measurement systems}, against a hybrid method called KalmanNet and two model-driven methods (extended Kalman filter and unscented Kalman filter) that know the dynamical models exactly.

SPJul 10, 2024
Semi-Supervised Model-Free Bayesian State Estimation from Compressed Measurements

Anubhab Ghosh, Yonina C. Eldar, Saikat Chatterjee

We consider data-driven Bayesian state estimation from compressed measurements (BSCM) of a model-free process. The dimension of the temporal measurement vector is lower than that of the temporal state vector to be estimated, leading to an under-determined inverse problem. The underlying dynamical model of the state's evolution is unknown for a 'model-free process.' Hence, it is difficult to use traditional model-driven methods, for example, Kalman and particle filters. Instead, we consider data-driven methods. We experimentally show that two existing unsupervised learning-based data-driven methods fail to address the BSCM problem in a model-free process. The methods are -- data-driven nonlinear state estimation (DANSE) and deep Markov model (DMM). While DANSE provides good predictive/forecasting performance to model the temporal measurement data as a time series, its unsupervised learning lacks suitable regularization for tackling the BSCM task. We then propose a semi-supervised learning approach and develop a semi-supervised learning-based DANSE method, referred to as SemiDANSE. In SemiDANSE, we use a large amount of unlabelled data along with a limited amount of labelled data, i.e., pairwise measurement-and-state data, which provides the desired regularization. Using benchmark chaotic dynamical systems, we empirically show that the data-driven SemiDANSE provides competitive state estimation performance for BSCM using a handful of different measurement systems, against a hybrid method called KalmanNet and two model-driven methods (extended Kalman filter and unscented Kalman filter) that know the dynamical models exactly.

CVJul 4, 2022
BiTAT: Neural Network Binarization with Task-dependent Aggregated Transformation

Geon Park, Jaehong Yoon, Haiyang Zhang et al.

Neural network quantization aims to transform high-precision weights and activations of a given neural network into low-precision weights/activations for reduced memory usage and computation, while preserving the performance of the original model. However, extreme quantization (1-bit weight/1-bit activations) of compactly-designed backbone architectures (e.g., MobileNets) often used for edge-device deployments results in severe performance degeneration. This paper proposes a novel Quantization-Aware Training (QAT) method that can effectively alleviate performance degeneration even with extreme quantization by focusing on the inter-weight dependencies, between the weights within each layer and across consecutive layers. To minimize the quantization impact of each weight on others, we perform an orthonormal transformation of the weights at each layer by training an input-dependent correlation matrix and importance vector, such that each weight is disentangled from the others. Then, we quantize the weights based on their importance to minimize the loss of the information from the original weights/activations. We further perform progressive layer-wise quantization from the bottom layer to the top, so that quantization at each layer reflects the quantized distributions of weights and activations at previous layers. We validate the effectiveness of our method on various benchmark datasets against strong neural quantization baselines, demonstrating that it alleviates the performance degeneration on ImageNet and successfully preserves the full-precision model performance on CIFAR-100 with compact backbone networks.

89.5SPApr 6
Beyond the Flat-Spike: Adaptive Sparse CCA for Decaying and Unbalanced Signals

Mengchu Xu, Jian Wang, Yonina C. Eldar

Sparse Canonical Correlation Analysis (SCCA) is a fundamental statistical tool for identifying linear relationships in high-dimensional, multi-view data. While minimax theory establishes an optimal sample complexity scaling additively with the sparsity levels of the canonical vectors, computationally efficient algorithms typically suffer from a suboptimal multiplicative dependence. This computational-statistical gap is intrinsically tied to worst-case ``flat'' signal assumptions. In practice, however, multi-view signals frequently exhibit structured energy concentration, such as a power-law decay. To exploit this structural concentration and bypass the worst-case bottleneck, we propose Bilateral Spectral Energy Pursuit (Bi-SEP). Operating directly on the cross-covariance matrix, Bi-SEP is a stagewise adaptive algorithm that utilizes a proxy refinement step to dynamically track and capture cross-view signal energy. Theoretically, we establish a profile-adaptive sample complexity bound governed by the coupled energy profiles of the two views. Notably, under power-law decay models, we reveal a synergistic phase transition: the optimal linear sample complexity is attainable provided that the aggregate decay rate of the two views is sufficiently large. This result demonstrates that a highly concentrated signal in one view allows the model to accommodate a completely flat signal in its partner. Numerical experiments validate our theoretical findings, illustrating the advantages of Bi-SEP in structured, non-flat signal regimes.

LGSep 19, 2024
Unrolled denoising networks provably learn optimal Bayesian inference

Aayush Karan, Kulin Shah, Sitan Chen et al.

Much of Bayesian inference centers around the design of estimators for inverse problems which are optimal assuming the data comes from a known prior. But what do these optimality guarantees mean if the prior is unknown? In recent years, algorithm unrolling has emerged as deep learning's answer to this age-old question: design a neural network whose layers can in principle simulate iterations of inference algorithms and train on data generated by the unknown prior. Despite its empirical success, however, it has remained unclear whether this method can provably recover the performance of its optimal, prior-aware counterparts. In this work, we prove the first rigorous learning guarantees for neural networks based on unrolling approximate message passing (AMP). For compressed sensing, we prove that when trained on data drawn from a product prior, the layers of the network approximately converge to the same denoisers used in Bayes AMP. We also provide extensive numerical experiments for compressed sensing and rank-one matrix estimation demonstrating the advantages of our unrolled architecture - in addition to being able to obliviously adapt to general priors, it exhibits improvements over Bayes AMP in more general settings of low dimensions, non-Gaussian designs, and non-product priors.

LGDec 3, 2025
Deep Unfolding: Recent Developments, Theory, and Design Guidelines

Nir Shlezinger, Santiago Segarra, Yi Zhang et al.

Optimization methods play a central role in signal processing, serving as the mathematical foundation for inference, estimation, and control. While classical iterative optimization algorithms provide interpretability and theoretical guarantees, they often rely on surrogate objectives, require careful hyperparameter tuning, and exhibit substantial computational latency. Conversely, machine learning (ML ) offers powerful data-driven modeling capabilities but lacks the structure, transparency, and efficiency needed for optimization-driven inference. Deep unfolding has recently emerged as a compelling framework that bridges these two paradigms by systematically transforming iterative optimization algorithms into structured, trainable ML architectures. This article provides a tutorial-style overview of deep unfolding, presenting a unified perspective of methodologies for converting optimization solvers into ML models and highlighting their conceptual, theoretical, and practical implications. We review the foundations of optimization for inference and for learning, introduce four representative design paradigms for deep unfolding, and discuss the distinctive training schemes that arise from their iterative nature. Furthermore, we survey recent theoretical advances that establish convergence and generalization guarantees for unfolded optimizers, and provide comparative qualitative and empirical studies illustrating their relative trade-offs in complexity, interpretability, and robustness.

SPOct 18, 2022
Split-KalmanNet: A Robust Model-Based Deep Learning Approach for SLAM

Geon Choi, Jeonghun Park, Nir Shlezinger et al.

Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) is a method that constructs a map of an unknown environment and localizes the position of a moving agent on the map simultaneously. Extended Kalman filter (EKF) has been widely adopted as a low complexity solution for online SLAM, which relies on a motion and measurement model of the moving agent. In practice, however, acquiring precise information about these models is very challenging, and the model mismatch effect causes severe performance loss in SLAM. In this paper, inspired by the recently proposed KalmanNet, we present a robust EKF algorithm using the power of deep learning for online SLAM, referred to as Split-KalmanNet. The key idea of Split-KalmanNet is to compute the Kalman gain using the Jacobian matrix of a measurement function and two recurrent neural networks (RNNs). The two RNNs independently learn the covariance matrices for a prior state estimate and the innovation from data. The proposed split structure in the computation of the Kalman gain allows to compensate for state and measurement model mismatch effects independently. Numerical simulation results verify that Split-KalmanNet outperforms the traditional EKF and the state-of-the-art KalmanNet algorithm in various model mismatch scenarios.

IVJan 30
Compressed BC-LISTA via Low-Rank Convolutional Decomposition

Han Wang, Yhonatan Kvich, Eduardo Pérez et al.

We study Sparse Signal Recovery (SSR) methods for multichannel imaging with compressed {forward and backward} operators that preserve reconstruction accuracy. We propose a Compressed Block-Convolutional (C-BC) measurement model based on a low-rank Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) decomposition that is analytically initialized from a low-rank factorization of physics-derived forward/backward operators in time delay-based measurements. We use Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP) to select a compact set of basis filters from the analytic model and compute linear mixing coefficients to approximate the full model. We consider the Learned Iterative Shrinkage-Thresholding Algorithm (LISTA) network as a representative example for which the C-BC-LISTA extension is presented. In simulated multichannel ultrasound imaging across multiple Signal-to-Noise Ratios (SNRs), C-BC-LISTA requires substantially fewer parameters and smaller model size than other state-of-the-art (SOTA) methods while improving reconstruction accuracy. In ablations over OMP, Singular Value Decomposition (SVD)-based, and random initializations, OMP-initialized structured compression performs best, yielding the most efficient training and the best performance.

SPFeb 11
Bayesian Signal Component Decomposition via Diffusion-within-Gibbs Sampling

Yi Zhang, Rui Guo, Yonina C. Eldar

In signal processing, the data collected from sensing devices is often a noisy linear superposition of multiple components, and the estimation of components of interest constitutes a crucial pre-processing step. In this work, we develop a Bayesian framework for signal component decomposition, which combines Gibbs sampling with plug-and-play (PnP) diffusion priors to draw component samples from the posterior distribution. Unlike many existing methods, our framework supports incorporating model-driven and data-driven prior knowledge into the diffusion prior in a unified manner. Moreover, the proposed posterior sampler allows component priors to be learned separately and flexibly combined without retraining. Under suitable assumptions, the proposed DiG sampler provably produces samples from the posterior distribution. We also show that DiG can be interpreted as an extension of a class of recently proposed diffusion-based samplers, and that, for suitable classes of sensing operators, DiG better exploits the structure of the measurement model. Numerical experiments demonstrate the superior performance of our method over existing approaches.

SPOct 31, 2025
pDANSE: Particle-based Data-driven Nonlinear State Estimation from Nonlinear Measurements

Anubhab Ghosh, Yonina C. Eldar, Saikat Chatterjee

We consider the problem of designing a data-driven nonlinear state estimation (DANSE) method that uses (noisy) nonlinear measurements of a process whose underlying state transition model (STM) is unknown. Such a process is referred to as a model-free process. A recurrent neural network (RNN) provides parameters of a Gaussian prior that characterize the state of the model-free process, using all previous measurements at a given time point. In the case of DANSE, the measurement system was linear, leading to a closed-form solution for the state posterior. However, the presence of a nonlinear measurement system renders a closed-form solution infeasible. Instead, the second-order statistics of the state posterior are computed using the nonlinear measurements observed at the time point. We address the nonlinear measurements using a reparameterization trick-based particle sampling approach, and estimate the second-order statistics of the state posterior. The proposed method is referred to as particle-based DANSE (pDANSE). The RNN of pDANSE uses sequential measurements efficiently and avoids the use of computationally intensive sequential Monte-Carlo (SMC) and/or ancestral sampling. We describe the semi-supervised learning method for pDANSE, which transitions to unsupervised learning in the absence of labeled data. Using a stochastic Lorenz-$63$ system as a benchmark process, we experimentally demonstrate the state estimation performance for four nonlinear measurement systems. We explore cubic nonlinearity and a camera-model nonlinearity where unsupervised learning is used; then we explore half-wave rectification nonlinearity and Cartesian-to-spherical nonlinearity where semi-supervised learning is used. The performance of state estimation is shown to be competitive vis-à-vis particle filters that have complete knowledge of the STM of the Lorenz-$63$ system.

CVJan 23, 2024Code
Pragmatic Communication in Multi-Agent Collaborative Perception

Yue Hu, Xianghe Pang, Xiaoqi Qin et al.

Collaborative perception allows each agent to enhance its perceptual abilities by exchanging messages with others. It inherently results in a trade-off between perception ability and communication costs. Previous works transmit complete full-frame high-dimensional feature maps among agents, resulting in substantial communication costs. To promote communication efficiency, we propose only transmitting the information needed for the collaborator's downstream task. This pragmatic communication strategy focuses on three key aspects: i) pragmatic message selection, which selects task-critical parts from the complete data, resulting in spatially and temporally sparse feature vectors; ii) pragmatic message representation, which achieves pragmatic approximation of high-dimensional feature vectors with a task-adaptive dictionary, enabling communicating with integer indices; iii) pragmatic collaborator selection, which identifies beneficial collaborators, pruning unnecessary communication links. Following this strategy, we first formulate a mathematical optimization framework for the perception-communication trade-off and then propose PragComm, a multi-agent collaborative perception system with two key components: i) single-agent detection and tracking and ii) pragmatic collaboration. The proposed PragComm promotes pragmatic communication and adapts to a wide range of communication conditions. We evaluate PragComm for both collaborative 3D object detection and tracking tasks in both real-world, V2V4Real, and simulation datasets, OPV2V and V2X-SIM2.0. PragComm consistently outperforms previous methods with more than 32.7K times lower communication volume on OPV2V. Code is available at github.com/PhyllisH/PragComm.

CVSep 19, 2025Code
Deep Learning Empowered Super-Resolution: A Comprehensive Survey and Future Prospects

Le Zhang, Ao Li, Qibin Hou et al.

Super-resolution (SR) has garnered significant attention within the computer vision community, driven by advances in deep learning (DL) techniques and the growing demand for high-quality visual applications. With the expansion of this field, numerous surveys have emerged. Most existing surveys focus on specific domains, lacking a comprehensive overview of this field. Here, we present an in-depth review of diverse SR methods, encompassing single image super-resolution (SISR), video super-resolution (VSR), stereo super-resolution (SSR), and light field super-resolution (LFSR). We extensively cover over 150 SISR methods, nearly 70 VSR approaches, and approximately 30 techniques for SSR and LFSR. We analyze methodologies, datasets, evaluation protocols, empirical results, and complexity. In addition, we conducted a taxonomy based on each backbone structure according to the diverse purposes. We also explore valuable yet under-studied open issues in the field. We believe that this work will serve as a valuable resource and offer guidance to researchers in this domain. To facilitate access to related work, we created a dedicated repository available at https://github.com/AVC2-UESTC/Holistic-Super-Resolution-Review.

ROMar 11, 2024
NeuPAN: Direct Point Robot Navigation with End-to-End Model-based Learning

Ruihua Han, Shuai Wang, Shuaijun Wang et al.

Navigating a nonholonomic robot in a cluttered, unknown environment requires accurate perception and precise motion control for real-time collision avoidance. This paper presents NeuPAN: a real-time, highly accurate, map-free, easy-to-deploy, and environment-invariant robot motion planner. Leveraging a tightly coupled perception-to-control framework, NeuPAN has two key innovations compared to existing approaches: 1) it directly maps raw point cloud data to a latent distance feature space for collision-free motion generation, avoiding error propagation from the perception to control pipeline; 2) it is interpretable from an end-to-end model-based learning perspective. The crux of NeuPAN is solving an end-to-end mathematical model with numerous point-level constraints using a plug-and-play (PnP) proximal alternating-minimization network (PAN), incorporating neurons in the loop. This allows NeuPAN to generate real-time, physically interpretable motions. It seamlessly integrates data and knowledge engines, and its network parameters can be fine-tuned via backpropagation. We evaluate NeuPAN on a ground mobile robot, a wheel-legged robot, and an autonomous vehicle, in extensive simulated and real-world environments. Results demonstrate that NeuPAN outperforms existing baselines in terms of accuracy, efficiency, robustness, and generalization capabilities across various environments, including the cluttered sandbox, office, corridor, and parking lot. We show that NeuPAN works well in unknown and unstructured environments with arbitrarily shaped objects, transforming impassable paths into passable ones.

LGOct 16, 2024
AI-Aided Kalman Filters

Nir Shlezinger, Guy Revach, Anubhab Ghosh et al.

The Kalman filter (KF) and its variants are among the most celebrated algorithms in signal processing. These methods are used for state estimation of dynamic systems by relying on mathematical representations in the form of simple state-space (SS) models, which may be crude and inaccurate descriptions of the underlying dynamics. Emerging data-centric artificial intelligence (AI) techniques tackle these tasks using deep neural networks (DNNs), which are model-agnostic. Recent developments illustrate the possibility of fusing DNNs with classic Kalman-type filtering, obtaining systems that learn to track in partially known dynamics. This article provides a tutorial-style overview of design approaches for incorporating AI in aiding KF-type algorithms. We review both generic and dedicated DNN architectures suitable for state estimation, and provide a systematic presentation of techniques for fusing AI tools with KFs and for leveraging partial SS modeling and data, categorizing design approaches into task-oriented and SS model-oriented. The usefulness of each approach in preserving the individual strengths of model-based KFs and data-driven DNNs is investigated in a qualitative and quantitative study, whose code is publicly available, illustrating the gains of hybrid model-based/data-driven designs. We also discuss existing challenges and future research directions that arise from fusing AI and Kalman-type algorithms.

LGDec 12, 2023
Deep Internal Learning: Deep Learning from a Single Input

Tom Tirer, Raja Giryes, Se Young Chun et al.

Deep learning, in general, focuses on training a neural network from large labeled datasets. Yet, in many cases there is value in training a network just from the input at hand. This is particularly relevant in many signal and image processing problems where training data is scarce and diversity is large on the one hand, and on the other, there is a lot of structure in the data that can be exploited. Using this information is the key to deep internal-learning strategies, which may involve training a network from scratch using a single input or adapting an already trained network to a provided input example at inference time. This survey paper aims at covering deep internal-learning techniques that have been proposed in the past few years for these two important directions. While our main focus will be on image processing problems, most of the approaches that we survey are derived for general signals (vectors with recurring patterns that can be distinguished from noise) and are therefore applicable to other modalities.

IVMar 25, 2024
Self-STORM: Deep Unrolled Self-Supervised Learning for Super-Resolution Microscopy

Yair Ben Sahel, Yonina C. Eldar

The use of fluorescent molecules to create long sequences of low-density, diffraction-limited images enables highly-precise molecule localization. However, this methodology requires lengthy imaging times, which limits the ability to view dynamic interactions of live cells on short time scales. Many techniques have been developed to reduce the number of frames needed for localization, from classic iterative optimization to deep neural networks. Particularly, deep algorithm unrolling utilizes both the structure of iterative sparse recovery algorithms and the performance gains of supervised deep learning. However, the robustness of this approach is highly dependant on having sufficient training data. In this paper we introduce deep unrolled self-supervised learning, which alleviates the need for such data by training a sequence-specific, model-based autoencoder that learns only from given measurements. Our proposed method exceeds the performance of its supervised counterparts, thus allowing for robust, dynamic imaging well below the diffraction limit without any labeled training samples. Furthermore, the suggested model-based autoencoder scheme can be utilized to enhance generalization in any sparse recovery framework, without the need for external training data.

CVFeb 16, 2024
Real-Time Model-Based Quantitative Ultrasound and Radar

Tom Sharon, Yonina C. Eldar

Ultrasound and radar signals are highly beneficial for medical imaging as they are non-invasive and non-ionizing. Traditional imaging techniques have limitations in terms of contrast and physical interpretation. Quantitative medical imaging can display various physical properties such as speed of sound, density, conductivity, and relative permittivity. This makes it useful for a wider range of applications, including improving cancer detection, diagnosing fatty liver, and fast stroke imaging. However, current quantitative imaging techniques that estimate physical properties from received signals, such as Full Waveform Inversion, are time-consuming and tend to converge to local minima, making them unsuitable for medical imaging. To address these challenges, we propose a neural network based on the physical model of wave propagation, which defines the relationship between the received signals and physical properties. Our network can reconstruct multiple physical properties in less than one second for complex and realistic scenarios, using data from only eight elements. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach for both radar and ultrasound signals.

LGFeb 28, 2024
Communication Efficient ConFederated Learning: An Event-Triggered SAGA Approach

Bin Wang, Jun Fang, Hongbin Li et al.

Federated learning (FL) is a machine learning paradigm that targets model training without gathering the local data dispersed over various data sources. Standard FL, which employs a single server, can only support a limited number of users, leading to degraded learning capability. In this work, we consider a multi-server FL framework, referred to as \emph{Confederated Learning} (CFL), in order to accommodate a larger number of users. A CFL system is composed of multiple networked edge servers, with each server connected to an individual set of users. Decentralized collaboration among servers is leveraged to harness all users' data for model training. Due to the potentially massive number of users involved, it is crucial to reduce the communication overhead of the CFL system. We propose a stochastic gradient method for distributed learning in the CFL framework. The proposed method incorporates a conditionally-triggered user selection (CTUS) mechanism as the central component to effectively reduce communication overhead. Relying on a delicately designed triggering condition, the CTUS mechanism allows each server to select only a small number of users to upload their gradients, without significantly jeopardizing the convergence performance of the algorithm. Our theoretical analysis reveals that the proposed algorithm enjoys a linear convergence rate. Simulation results show that it achieves substantial improvement over state-of-the-art algorithms in terms of communication efficiency.

LGJan 4
SGD-Based Knowledge Distillation with Bayesian Teachers: Theory and Guidelines

Itai Morad, Nir Shlezinger, Yonina C. Eldar

Knowledge Distillation (KD) is a central paradigm for transferring knowledge from a large teacher network to a typically smaller student model, often by leveraging soft probabilistic outputs. While KD has shown strong empirical success in numerous applications, its theoretical underpinnings remain only partially understood. In this work, we adopt a Bayesian perspective on KD to rigorously analyze the convergence behavior of students trained with Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD). We study two regimes: $(i)$ when the teacher provides the exact Bayes Class Probabilities (BCPs); and $(ii)$ supervision with noisy approximations of the BCPs. Our analysis shows that learning from BCPs yields variance reduction and removes neighborhood terms in the convergence bounds compared to one-hot supervision. We further characterize how the level of noise affects generalization and accuracy. Motivated by these insights, we advocate the use of Bayesian deep learning models, which typically provide improved estimates of the BCPs, as teachers in KD. Consistent with our analysis, we experimentally demonstrate that students distilled from Bayesian teachers not only achieve higher accuracies (up to +4.27%), but also exhibit more stable convergence (up to 30% less noise), compared to students distilled from deterministic teachers.

IVOct 15, 2025
Semantic Communication Enabled Holographic Video Processing and Transmission

Jingkai Ying, Zhiyuan Qi, Yulong Feng et al.

Holographic video communication is considered a paradigm shift in visual communications, becoming increasingly popular for its ability to offer immersive experiences. This article provides an overview of holographic video communication and outlines the requirements of a holographic video communication system. Particularly, following a brief review of semantic com- munication, an architecture for a semantic-enabled holographic video communication system is presented. Key technologies, including semantic sampling, joint semantic-channel coding, and semantic-aware transmission, are designed based on the proposed architecture. Two related use cases are presented to demonstrate the performance gain of the proposed methods. Finally, potential research topics are discussed to pave the way for the realization of semantic-enabled holographic video communications.

LGMay 10, 2023
Spectrum Breathing: Protecting Over-the-Air Federated Learning Against Interference

Zhanwei Wang, Kaibin Huang, Yonina C. Eldar

Federated Learning (FL) is a widely embraced paradigm for distilling artificial intelligence from distributed mobile data. However, the deployment of FL in mobile networks can be compromised by exposure to interference from neighboring cells or jammers. Existing interference mitigation techniques require multi-cell cooperation or at least interference channel state information, which is expensive in practice. On the other hand, power control that treats interference as noise may not be effective due to limited power budgets, and also that this mechanism can trigger countermeasures by interference sources. As a practical approach for protecting FL against interference, we propose Spectrum Breathing, which cascades stochastic-gradient pruning and spread spectrum to suppress interference without bandwidth expansion. The cost is higher learning latency by exploiting the graceful degradation of learning speed due to pruning. We synchronize the two operations such that their levels are controlled by the same parameter, Breathing Depth. To optimally control the parameter, we develop a martingale-based approach to convergence analysis of Over-the-Air FL with spectrum breathing, termed AirBreathing FL. We show a performance tradeoff between gradient-pruning and interference-induced error as regulated by the breathing depth. Given receive SIR and model size, the optimization of the tradeoff yields two schemes for controlling the breathing depth that can be either fixed or adaptive to channels and the learning process. As shown by experiments, in scenarios where traditional Over-the-Air FL fails to converge in the presence of strong interference, AirBreahing FL with either fixed or adaptive breathing depth can ensure convergence where the adaptive scheme achieves close-to-ideal performance.

LGOct 24, 2021
Learning to Estimate Without Bias

Tzvi Diskin, Yonina C. Eldar, Ami Wiesel

The Gauss Markov theorem states that the weighted least squares estimator is a linear minimum variance unbiased estimation (MVUE) in linear models. In this paper, we take a first step towards extending this result to non linear settings via deep learning with bias constraints. The classical approach to designing non-linear MVUEs is through maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) which often involves computationally challenging optimizations. On the other hand, deep learning methods allow for non-linear estimators with fixed computational complexity. Learning based estimators perform optimally on average with respect to their training set but may suffer from significant bias in other parameters. To avoid this, we propose to add a simple bias constraint to the loss function, resulting in an estimator we refer to as Bias Constrained Estimator (BCE). We prove that this yields asymptotic MVUEs that behave similarly to the classical MLEs and asymptotically attain the Cramer Rao bound. We demonstrate the advantages of our approach in the context of signal to noise ratio estimation as well as covariance estimation. A second motivation to BCE is in applications where multiple estimates of the same unknown are averaged for improved performance. Examples include distributed sensor networks and data augmentation in test-time. In such applications, we show that BCE leads to asymptotically consistent estimators.

ITOct 22, 2021
Two-Timescale End-to-End Learning for Channel Acquisition and Hybrid Precoding

Qiyu Hu, Yunlong Cai, Kai Kang et al.

In this paper, we propose an end-to-end deep learning-based joint transceiver design algorithm for millimeter wave (mmWave) massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, which consists of deep neural network (DNN)-aided pilot training, channel feedback, and hybrid analog-digital (HAD) precoding. Specifically, we develop a DNN architecture that maps the received pilots into feedback bits at the receiver, and then further maps the feedback bits into the hybrid precoder at the transmitter. To reduce the signaling overhead and channel state information (CSI) mismatch caused by the transmission delay, a two-timescale DNN composed of a long-term DNN and a short-term DNN is developed. The analog precoders are designed by the long-term DNN based on the CSI statistics and updated once in a frame consisting of a number of time slots. In contrast, the digital precoders are optimized by the short-term DNN at each time slot based on the estimated low-dimensional equivalent CSI matrices. A two-timescale training method is also developed for the proposed DNN with a binary layer. We then analyze the generalization ability and signaling overhead for the proposed DNN based algorithm. Simulation results show that our proposed technique significantly outperforms conventional schemes in terms of bit-error rate performance with reduced signaling overhead and shorter pilot sequences.

LGOct 20, 2021
Robust lEarned Shrinkage-Thresholding (REST): Robust unrolling for sparse recover

Wei Pu, Chao Zhou, Yonina C. Eldar et al.

In this paper, we consider deep neural networks for solving inverse problems that are robust to forward model mis-specifications. Specifically, we treat sensing problems with model mismatch where one wishes to recover a sparse high-dimensional vector from low-dimensional observations subject to uncertainty in the measurement operator. We then design a new robust deep neural network architecture by applying algorithm unfolding techniques to a robust version of the underlying recovery problem. Our proposed network - named Robust lEarned Shrinkage-Thresholding (REST) - exhibits an additional normalization processing compared to Learned Iterative Shrinkage-Thresholding Algorithm (LISTA), leading to reliable recovery of the signal under sample-wise varying model mismatch. The proposed REST network is shown to outperform state-of-the-art model-based and data-driven algorithms in both compressive sensing and radar imaging problems wherein model mismatch is taken into consideration.