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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Guo, Shiqian, Liu, Jianqing, Lorenzo, Beatriz
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.25212
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author Guo, Shiqian
Liu, Jianqing
Lorenzo, Beatriz
author_facet Guo, Shiqian
Liu, Jianqing
Lorenzo, Beatriz
contents Federated learning (FL) is an effective paradigm for enhancing the learning capability of edge devices while preserving data privacy. In geographically dispersed FL systems, such as sensor networks in remote areas, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can flexibly establish high-quality communication links to support parameter exchange. However, device heterogeneity and the limited battery capacity of UAVs pose significant challenges. Specifically, data heterogeneity slows convergence, while scheduling all devices for global collaboration incurs excessive communication and energy costs. To overcome these challenges, we adopt a strict separation between a globally shared backbone and permanently local personalization heads, thereby mitigating the impact of data heterogeneity. Furthermore, we propose a gradient-based scheduling strategy that jointly considers energy efficiency and learning performance. In each communication round, the backbone is updated only by the top-$α$ devices ranked by gradient $\ell_{2}$-norm, ensuring that optimization focuses on the most informative updates. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme achieves higher learning accuracy than state-of-the-art approaches while significantly reducing UAV energy consumption.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_25212
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Personalized Federated Learning by Energy-Efficient UAV Communications
Guo, Shiqian
Liu, Jianqing
Lorenzo, Beatriz
Machine Learning
Systems and Control
Federated learning (FL) is an effective paradigm for enhancing the learning capability of edge devices while preserving data privacy. In geographically dispersed FL systems, such as sensor networks in remote areas, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can flexibly establish high-quality communication links to support parameter exchange. However, device heterogeneity and the limited battery capacity of UAVs pose significant challenges. Specifically, data heterogeneity slows convergence, while scheduling all devices for global collaboration incurs excessive communication and energy costs. To overcome these challenges, we adopt a strict separation between a globally shared backbone and permanently local personalization heads, thereby mitigating the impact of data heterogeneity. Furthermore, we propose a gradient-based scheduling strategy that jointly considers energy efficiency and learning performance. In each communication round, the backbone is updated only by the top-$α$ devices ranked by gradient $\ell_{2}$-norm, ensuring that optimization focuses on the most informative updates. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme achieves higher learning accuracy than state-of-the-art approaches while significantly reducing UAV energy consumption.
title Personalized Federated Learning by Energy-Efficient UAV Communications
topic Machine Learning
Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.25212