# FedLP: Layer-wise Pruning Mechanism for Communication-Computation Efficient Federated Learning

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.06360 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.06360/

## Key facts

- Cited by 7 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 14 of its 21 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 11 Mar 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 14 of 14)

- [Communication-Efficient Learning of Deep Networks from Decentralized Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.05629/) (2016)
- [Advances and Open Problems in Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.04977/) (2019)
- [Measuring the Effects of Non-Identical Data Distribution for Federated Visual Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.06335/) (2019)
- [Federated Learning in Mobile Edge Networks: A Comprehensive Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.11875/) (2019)
- [Model Pruning Enables Efficient Federated Learning on Edge Devices](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.12326/) (2019)
- [FjORD: Fair and Accurate Federated Learning under heterogeneous targets with Ordered Dropout](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.13451/) (2021)
- [Expanding the Reach of Federated Learning by Reducing Client Resource Requirements](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.07210/) (2018)
- [The Roadmap to 6G -- AI Empowered Wireless Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.11686/) (2019)
- [Federated Learning for Wireless Communications: Motivation, Opportunities and Challenges](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.06847/) (2019)
- [Federated Dropout -- A Simple Approach for Enabling Federated Learning on Resource Constrained Devices](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.15258/) (2021)
- [Layer-wise Adaptive Model Aggregation for Scalable Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.10302/) (2021)
- [FedOBD: Opportunistic Block Dropout for Efficiently Training Large-scale Neural Networks through Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.05174/) (2022)
- [Federated Multi-Agent Actor-Critic Learning for Age Sensitive Mobile Edge Computing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.14137/) (2020)
- [How global observation works in Federated Learning: Integrating vertical training into Horizontal Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.01039/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [Hierarchical Federated Learning in Wireless Networks: Pruning Tackles Bandwidth Scarcity and System Heterogeneity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.01562/) (2023)
- [FedNC: A Secure and Efficient Federated Learning Method with Network Coding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.03292/) (2023)
- [PLayer-FL: A Principled Approach to Personalized Layer-wise Cross-Silo Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.08829/) (2025)
- [Onboard Optimization and Learning: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.08793/) (2025)
- [FedX: Explanation-Guided Pruning for Communication-Efficient Federated Learning in Remote Sensing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.06256/) (2025)
- [EdgeFLow: Serverless Federated Learning via Sequential Model Migration in Edge Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.02562/) (2026)
- [FedGMI: Generative Model-Driven Federated Learning for Probabilistic Mixture Inference](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.08760/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Federated learning (FL) has prevailed as an efficient and privacy-preserved scheme for distributed learning. In this work, we mainly focus on the optimization of computation and communication in FL from a view of pruning. By adopting layer-wise pruning in local training and federated updating, we formulate an explicit FL pruning framework, FedLP (Federated Layer-wise Pruning), which is model-agnostic and universal for different types of deep learning models. Two specific schemes of FedLP are designed for scenarios with homogeneous local models and heterogeneous ones. Both theoretical and experimental evaluations are developed to verify that FedLP relieves the system bottlenecks of communication and computation with marginal performance decay. To the best of our knowledge, FedLP is the first framework that formally introduces the layer-wise pruning into FL. Within the scope of federated learning, more variants and combinations can be further designed based on FedLP.