# Towards Personalized Federated Learning via Heterogeneous Model Reassembly

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.08643 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.08643/

## Key facts

- Cited by 31 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 36 of its 44 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 16 Aug 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 36)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [Very Deep Convolutional Networks for Large-Scale Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.1556/) (2014)
- [A Simple Framework for Contrastive Learning of Visual Representations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.05709/) (2020)
- [Communication-Efficient Learning of Deep Networks from Decentralized Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.05629/) (2016)
- [Densely Connected Convolutional Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1608.06993/) (2016)
- [Going Deeper with Convolutions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.4842/) (2014)
- [Advances and Open Problems in Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.04977/) (2019)
- [Federated Optimization in Heterogeneous Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.06127/) (2018)
- [Similarity of Neural Network Representations Revisited](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.00414/) (2019)
- [Tackling the Objective Inconsistency Problem in Heterogeneous Federated Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.07481/) (2020)
- [Ensemble Distillation for Robust Model Fusion in Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.07242/) (2020)
- [Deep Mutual Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.00384/) (2017)
- [Personalized Federated Learning with Moreau Envelopes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.08848/) (2020)
- [An Efficient Framework for Clustered Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.04088/) (2020)
- [Git Re-Basin: Merging Models modulo Permutation Symmetries](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.04836/) (2022)
- [FedMD: Heterogenous Federated Learning via Model Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.03581/) (2019)
- [FedProto: Federated Prototype Learning across Heterogeneous Clients](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.00243/) (2021)
- [HeteroFL: Computation and Communication Efficient Federated Learning for Heterogeneous Clients](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.01264/) (2020)
- [Revisiting Model Stitching to Compare Neural Representations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.07682/) (2021)
- [FedKD: Communication Efficient Federated Learning via Knowledge Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.13323/) (2021)
- [Privacy and Robustness in Federated Learning: Attacks and Defenses](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.06337/) (2020)
- [Federated Learning from Pre-Trained Models: A Contrastive Learning Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.10083/) (2022)
- [Federated Learning with Partial Model Personalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.03809/) (2022)
- [Deep Model Reassembly](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.17409/) (2022)
- [Personalized Federated Learning via Variational Bayesian Inference](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.07977/) (2022)
- [Factorizing Knowledge in Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.03337/) (2022)
- [FedGH: Heterogeneous Federated Learning with Generalized Global Header](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.13137/) (2023)
- [Federated Model Distillation with Noise-Free Differential Privacy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.05537/) (2020)
- [Personalized Federated Learning under Mixture of Distributions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.01068/) (2023)
- [Personalized Federated Learning With Graph](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.00829/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 31)

- [Advances and Open Challenges in Federated Foundation Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.15381/) (2024)
- [FedMoE: Personalized Federated Learning via Heterogeneous Mixture of Experts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.11304/) (2024)
- [pFedMoE: Data-Level Personalization with Mixture of Experts for Model-Heterogeneous Personalized Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.01350/) (2024)
- [Federated Model Heterogeneous Matryoshka Representation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.00488/) (2024)
- [FIARSE: Model-Heterogeneous Federated Learning via Importance-Aware Submodel Extraction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.19389/) (2024)
- [Leveraging Foundation Models for Multi-modal Federated Learning with Incomplete Modality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.11048/) (2024)
- [Non-IID data in Federated Learning: A Survey with Taxonomy, Metrics, Methods, Frameworks and Future Directions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.12377/) (2024)
- [Advances in Robust Federated Learning: A Survey with Heterogeneity Considerations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.09839/) (2024)
- [ZooPFL: Exploring Black-box Foundation Models for Personalized Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.05143/) (2023)
- [FedAIoT: A Federated Learning Benchmark for Artificial Intelligence of Things](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.00109/) (2023)
- [Rethinking Personalized Federated Learning with Clustering-based Dynamic Graph Propagation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.15874/) (2024)
- [Foundation Models in Federated Learning: Assessing Backdoor Vulnerabilities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.10375/) (2024)
- [pFedAFM: Adaptive Feature Mixture for Batch-Level Personalization in Heterogeneous Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.17847/) (2024)
- [Asymmetrical Reciprocity-based Federated Learning for Resolving Disparities in Medical Diagnosis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.19654/) (2024)
- [FedEFM: Federated Endovascular Foundation Model with Unseen Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.16992/) (2025)
- [Communication-Efficient and Personalized Federated Foundation Model Fine-Tuning via Tri-Matrix Adaptation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.23869/) (2025)
- [Mosaic: Data-Free Knowledge Distillation via Mixture-of-Experts for Heterogeneous Distributed Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.19699/) (2025)
- [FedCache 2.0: Federated Edge Learning with Knowledge Caching and Dataset Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.13378/) (2024)
- [FedDTPT: Federated Discrete and Transferable Prompt Tuning for Black-Box Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.00985/) (2024)
- [PLayer-FL: A Principled Approach to Personalized Layer-wise Cross-Silo Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.08829/) (2025)
- [FedSKD: Aggregation-free Model-heterogeneous Federated Learning via Multi-dimensional Similarity Knowledge Distillation for Medical Image Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.18981/) (2025)
- [GeFL: Model-Agnostic Federated Learning with Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.18460/) (2024)
- [Multimodal Federated Learning: A Survey through the Lens of Different FL Paradigms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.21792/) (2025)
- [Lorica: A Synergistic Fine-Tuning Framework for Advancing Personalized Adversarial Robustness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.05402/) (2025)
- [From Privacy to Trust in the Agentic Era: A Taxonomy of Challenges in Trustworthy Federated Learning Through the Lens of Trust Report 2.0](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.15796/) (2025)
- [Dynamic Clustering for Personalized Federated Learning on Heterogeneous Edge Devices](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.01580/) (2025)
- [Enhancing Graph Neural Networks: A Mutual Learning Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.19223/) (2025)
- [GAPSL: A Gradient-Aligned Parallel Split Learning over Data-Heterogeneous Edge Computing Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.18540/) (2026)
- [FedeKD: Energy-Based Gating for Robust Federated Knowledge Distillation under Heterogeneous Settings](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.05553/) (2026)
- [FedCoE: Bridging Generalization and Personalization via Federated Coordinated Dual-level MoEs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.21264/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This paper focuses on addressing the practical yet challenging problem of model heterogeneity in federated learning, where clients possess models with different network structures. To track this problem, we propose a novel framework called pFedHR, which leverages heterogeneous model reassembly to achieve personalized federated learning. In particular, we approach the problem of heterogeneous model personalization as a model-matching optimization task on the server side. Moreover, pFedHR automatically and dynamically generates informative and diverse personalized candidates with minimal human intervention. Furthermore, our proposed heterogeneous model reassembly technique mitigates the adverse impact introduced by using public data with different distributions from the client data to a certain extent. Experimental results demonstrate that pFedHR outperforms baselines on three datasets under both IID and Non-IID settings. Additionally, pFedHR effectively reduces the adverse impact of using different public data and dynamically generates diverse personalized models in an automated manner.