Towards Efficient Synchronous Federated Training: A Survey on System Optimization Strategies
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Abstract (arXiv)
The increasing demand for privacy-preserving collaborative learning has given rise to a new computing paradigm called federated learning (FL), in which clients collaboratively train a machine learning (ML) model without revealing their private training data. Given an acceptable level of privacy guarantee, the goal of FL is to minimize the time-to-accuracy of model training. Compared with distributed ML in data centers, there are four distinct challenges to achieving short time-to-accuracy in FL training, namely the lack of information for optimization, the tradeoff between statistical and system utility, client heterogeneity, and large configuration space. In this paper, we survey recent works in addressing these challenges and present them following a typical training workflow through three phases: client selection, configuration, and reporting. We also review system works including measurement studies and benchmarking tools that aim to support FL developers.
Key facts. Cited by 9 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 101 of its 175 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 9 Sep 2021.
Builds on
101 of 175 references.
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38 more
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50 most cited of 101 All 101 (JSON)
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Citing papers per year: 2022: 2; 2023: 2; 2024: 2; 2025: 2; 2026: 1.
9 papers.
- 2022Pisces: Efficient Federated Learning via Guided Asynchronous Trainingcited by 8
- 2025SyncFed: Time-Aware Federated Learning through Explicit Timestamping and Synchronizationcited by 4
- 2022Quantifying the Impact of Label Noise on Federated Learningcited by 3
- 2024Adaptive Active Inference Agents for Heterogeneous and Lifelong Federated Learningcited by 3
- 2024Review of Mathematical Optimization in Federated Learningcited by 3
- 2025Federated Learning Survey: A Multi-Level Taxonomy of Aggregation Techniques, Experimental Insights, and Future Frontierscited by 3
- 2023A Safe Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach for Energy Efficient Federated Learning in Wireless Communication Networkscited by 2
- 2023Federated Learning in IoT: a Survey from a Resource-Constrained Perspectivecited by 2
- 2026On the Push-Based Asynchronous Federated Learning: A Bias-Correction Aggregation Approachcited by 0
- 2026On the Push-Based Asynchronous Federated Learning: A Bias-Correction Aggregation Approach24 May 2026
- 2025Federated Learning Survey: A Multi-Level Taxonomy of Aggregation Techniques, Experimental Insights, and Future Frontiers27 Nov 2025
- 2025SyncFed: Time-Aware Federated Learning through Explicit Timestamping and Synchronization11 Jun 2025
- 2024Review of Mathematical Optimization in Federated Learning2 Dec 2024
- 2024Adaptive Active Inference Agents for Heterogeneous and Lifelong Federated Learning9 Oct 2024
- 2023Federated Learning in IoT: a Survey from a Resource-Constrained Perspective25 Aug 2023
- 2023A Safe Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach for Energy Efficient Federated Learning in Wireless Communication Networks21 Aug 2023
- 2022Quantifying the Impact of Label Noise on Federated Learning15 Nov 2022
- 2022Pisces: Efficient Federated Learning via Guided Asynchronous Training18 Jun 2022