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Main Authors: Khodadadian, Sajad, Sharma, Pranay, Joshi, Gauri, Maguluri, Siva Theja
Format: Preprint
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.10185
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author Khodadadian, Sajad
Sharma, Pranay
Joshi, Gauri
Maguluri, Siva Theja
author_facet Khodadadian, Sajad
Sharma, Pranay
Joshi, Gauri
Maguluri, Siva Theja
contents Since reinforcement learning algorithms are notoriously data-intensive, the task of sampling observations from the environment is usually split across multiple agents. However, transferring these observations from the agents to a central location can be prohibitively expensive in terms of communication cost, and it can also compromise the privacy of each agent's local behavior policy. Federated reinforcement learning is a framework in which $N$ agents collaboratively learn a global model, without sharing their individual data and policies. This global model is the unique fixed point of the average of $N$ local operators, corresponding to the $N$ agents. Each agent maintains a local copy of the global model and updates it using locally sampled data. In this paper, we show that by careful collaboration of the agents in solving this joint fixed point problem, we can find the global model $N$ times faster, also known as linear speedup. We first propose a general framework for federated stochastic approximation with Markovian noise and heterogeneity, showing linear speedup in convergence. We then apply this framework to federated reinforcement learning algorithms, examining the convergence of federated on-policy TD, off-policy TD, and $Q$-learning.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2206_10185
institution arXiv
publishDate 2022
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Federated Stochastic Approximation under Markov Noise and Heterogeneity: Applications in Reinforcement Learning
Khodadadian, Sajad
Sharma, Pranay
Joshi, Gauri
Maguluri, Siva Theja
Machine Learning
Since reinforcement learning algorithms are notoriously data-intensive, the task of sampling observations from the environment is usually split across multiple agents. However, transferring these observations from the agents to a central location can be prohibitively expensive in terms of communication cost, and it can also compromise the privacy of each agent's local behavior policy. Federated reinforcement learning is a framework in which $N$ agents collaboratively learn a global model, without sharing their individual data and policies. This global model is the unique fixed point of the average of $N$ local operators, corresponding to the $N$ agents. Each agent maintains a local copy of the global model and updates it using locally sampled data. In this paper, we show that by careful collaboration of the agents in solving this joint fixed point problem, we can find the global model $N$ times faster, also known as linear speedup. We first propose a general framework for federated stochastic approximation with Markovian noise and heterogeneity, showing linear speedup in convergence. We then apply this framework to federated reinforcement learning algorithms, examining the convergence of federated on-policy TD, off-policy TD, and $Q$-learning.
title Federated Stochastic Approximation under Markov Noise and Heterogeneity: Applications in Reinforcement Learning
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.10185