Satellite Federated Fine-Tuning for Foundation Models in Space Computing Power Networks

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Zhu, Yan, Zhu, Jingyang, Wang, Ting, Shi, Yuanming, Jiang, Chunxiao, Letaief, Khaled Ben
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Zhu, Yan
Zhu, Jingyang
Wang, Ting
Shi, Yuanming
Jiang, Chunxiao
Letaief, Khaled Ben
author_facet Zhu, Yan
Zhu, Jingyang
Wang, Ting
Shi, Yuanming
Jiang, Chunxiao
Letaief, Khaled Ben
contents Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites have promoted the application of large remote sensing foundation models for various downstream tasks. However, direct downloading of these models for fine-tuning on the ground is impeded by privacy concerns and limited bandwidth. Satellite federated learning (FL) offers a solution by enabling model fine-tuning directly on-board satellites and aggregating model updates without data downloading. Nevertheless, for large foundation models, the computational capacity of satellites is insufficient to support effective on-board fine-tuning in traditional satellite FL frameworks. To address these challenges, we propose a satellite-ground collaborative federated fine-tuning framework. The key of the framework lies in how to reasonably decompose and allocate model components to alleviate insufficient on-board computation capabilities. During fine-tuning, satellites exchange intermediate results with ground stations or other satellites for forward propagation and back propagation, which brings communication challenges due to the special communication topology of space transmission networks, such as intermittent satellite-ground communication, short duration of satellite-ground communication windows, and unstable inter-orbit inter-satellite links (ISLs). To reduce transmission delays, we further introduce tailored communication strategies that integrate both communication and computing resources. Specifically, we propose a parallel intra-orbit communication strategy, a topology-aware satellite-ground communication strategy, and a latency-minimalization inter-orbit communication strategy to reduce space communication costs. Simulation results demonstrate significant reductions in training time with improvements of approximately 33%.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_10403
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Satellite Federated Fine-Tuning for Foundation Models in Space Computing Power Networks
Zhu, Yan
Zhu, Jingyang
Wang, Ting
Shi, Yuanming
Jiang, Chunxiao
Letaief, Khaled Ben
Machine Learning
Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing
Networking and Internet Architecture
Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites have promoted the application of large remote sensing foundation models for various downstream tasks. However, direct downloading of these models for fine-tuning on the ground is impeded by privacy concerns and limited bandwidth. Satellite federated learning (FL) offers a solution by enabling model fine-tuning directly on-board satellites and aggregating model updates without data downloading. Nevertheless, for large foundation models, the computational capacity of satellites is insufficient to support effective on-board fine-tuning in traditional satellite FL frameworks. To address these challenges, we propose a satellite-ground collaborative federated fine-tuning framework. The key of the framework lies in how to reasonably decompose and allocate model components to alleviate insufficient on-board computation capabilities. During fine-tuning, satellites exchange intermediate results with ground stations or other satellites for forward propagation and back propagation, which brings communication challenges due to the special communication topology of space transmission networks, such as intermittent satellite-ground communication, short duration of satellite-ground communication windows, and unstable inter-orbit inter-satellite links (ISLs). To reduce transmission delays, we further introduce tailored communication strategies that integrate both communication and computing resources. Specifically, we propose a parallel intra-orbit communication strategy, a topology-aware satellite-ground communication strategy, and a latency-minimalization inter-orbit communication strategy to reduce space communication costs. Simulation results demonstrate significant reductions in training time with improvements of approximately 33%.
title Satellite Federated Fine-Tuning for Foundation Models in Space Computing Power Networks
topic Machine Learning
Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing
Networking and Internet Architecture
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.10403