Sajal K. Das

Yeahia Sarker, Abdullah-Al-Zubaer Imran, Md Hafiz Ahamed et al.

Deep learning-based super-resolution methods have shown great promise, especially for single image super-resolution (SISR) tasks. Despite the performance gain, these methods are limited due to their reliance on copious data for model training. In addition, supervised SISR solutions rely on local neighbourhood information focusing only on the feature learning processes for the reconstruction of low-dimensional images. Moreover, they fail to capitalize on global context due to their constrained receptive field. To combat these challenges, this paper proposes a novel image-specific solution, namely non-local variational autoencoder (\texttt{NLVAE}), to reconstruct a high-resolution (HR) image from a single low-resolution (LR) image without the need for any prior training. To harvest maximum details for various receptive regions and high-quality synthetic images, \texttt{NLVAE} is introduced as a self-supervised strategy that reconstructs high-resolution images using disentangled information from the non-local neighbourhood. Experimental results from seven benchmark datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the \texttt{NLVAE} model. Moreover, our proposed model outperforms a number of baseline and state-of-the-art methods as confirmed through extensive qualitative and quantitative evaluations.

Vishesh Kumar Tanwar, Soumik Sarkar, Asheesh K. Singh et al.

To empower precision agriculture through distributed machine learning (DML), split learning (SL) has emerged as a promising paradigm, partitioning deep neural networks (DNNs) between edge devices and servers to reduce computational burdens and preserve data privacy. However, conventional SL frameworks' one-split-fits-all strategy is a critical limitation in agricultural ecosystems where edge insect monitoring devices exhibit vast heterogeneity in computational power, energy constraints, and connectivity. This leads to straggler bottlenecks, inefficient resource utilization, and compromised model performance. Bridging this gap, we introduce ReinDSplit, a novel reinforcement learning (RL)-driven framework that dynamically tailors DNN split points for each device, optimizing efficiency without sacrificing accuracy. Specifically, a Q-learning agent acts as an adaptive orchestrator, balancing workloads and latency thresholds across devices to mitigate computational starvation or overload. By framing split layer selection as a finite-state Markov decision process, ReinDSplit convergence ensures that highly constrained devices contribute meaningfully to model training over time. Evaluated on three insect classification datasets using ResNet18, GoogleNet, and MobileNetV2, ReinDSplit achieves 94.31% accuracy with MobileNetV2. Beyond agriculture, ReinDSplit pioneers a paradigm shift in SL by harmonizing RL for resource efficiency, privacy, and scalability in heterogeneous environments.

Aakash Khochare, Yogesh Simmhan, Francesco Betti Sorbelli et al.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones are increasingly used for urban applications like traffic monitoring and construction surveys. Autonomous navigation allows drones to visit waypoints and accomplish activities as part of their mission. A common activity is to hover and observe a location using on-board cameras. Advances in Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) allow such videos to be analyzed for automated decision making. UAVs also host edge computing capability for on-board inferencing by such DNNs. To this end, for a fleet of drones, we propose a novel Mission Scheduling Problem (MSP) that co-schedules the flight routes to visit and record video at waypoints, and their subsequent on-board edge analytics. The proposed schedule maximizes the utility from the activities while meeting activity deadlines as well as energy and computing constraints. We first prove that MSP is NP-hard and then optimally solve it by formulating a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) problem. Next, we design two efficient heuristic algorithms, JSC and VRC, that provide fast sub-optimal solutions. Evaluation of these three schedulers using real drone traces demonstrate utility-runtime trade-offs under diverse workloads.