# AdapterFL: Adaptive Heterogeneous Federated Learning for Resource-constrained Mobile Computing Systems

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.14037 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.14037/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 34 of its 54 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 23 Nov 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 34)

- [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)
- [Distilling the Knowledge in a Neural Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1503.02531/) (2015)
- [Communication-Efficient Learning of Deep Networks from Decentralized Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.05629/) (2016)
- [MobileNetV2: Inverted Residuals and Linear Bottlenecks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.04381/) (2018)
- [Parameter-Efficient Transfer Learning for NLP](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.00751/) (2019)
- [Advances and Open Problems in Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.04977/) (2019)
- [Similarity of Neural Network Representations Revisited](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.00414/) (2019)
- [Federated Learning: Challenges, Methods, and Future Directions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.07873/) (2019)
- [Learning Transferable Features with Deep Adaptation Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1502.02791/) (2015)
- [How transferable are features in deep neural networks?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1411.1792/) (2014)
- [Federated Learning with Non-IID Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.00582/) (2018)
- [Adaptive Federated Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.00295/) (2020)
- [An overview of gradient descent optimization algorithms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.04747/) (2016)
- [Measuring the Effects of Non-Identical Data Distribution for Federated Visual Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.06335/) (2019)
- [Ensemble Distillation for Robust Model Fusion in Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.07242/) (2020)
- [FedMD: Heterogenous Federated Learning via Model Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.03581/) (2019)
- [Efficient Processing of Deep Neural Networks: A Tutorial and Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.09039/) (2017)
- [Data-Free Knowledge Distillation for Heterogeneous Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.10056/) (2021)
- [HeteroFL: Computation and Communication Efficient Federated Learning for Heterogeneous Clients](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.01264/) (2020)
- [EIE: Efficient Inference Engine on Compressed Deep Neural Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.01528/) (2016)
- [Distillation-Based Semi-Supervised Federated Learning for Communication-Efficient Collaborative Training with Non-IID Private Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.06180/) (2020)
- [Asynchronous Federated Learning on Heterogeneous Devices: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.04269/) (2021)
- [Heterogeneous Ensemble Knowledge Transfer for Training Large Models in Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.12703/) (2022)
- [DELTA: DEep Learning Transfer using Feature Map with Attention for Convolutional Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.09229/) (2019)
- [Deep Model Reassembly](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.17409/) (2022)
- [No One Left Behind: Inclusive Federated Learning over Heterogeneous Devices](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.08036/) (2022)
- [Efficient Split-Mix Federated Learning for On-Demand and In-Situ Customization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.09747/) (2022)
- [Challenges and Opportunities in Edge Computing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.01967/) (2016)
- [Transfer Learning or Self-supervised Learning? A Tale of Two Pretraining Paradigms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.04234/) (2020)

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [CaBaFL: Asynchronous Federated Learning via Hierarchical Cache and Feature Balance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.12850/) (2024)
- [FedADP: Unified Model Aggregation for Federated Learning with Heterogeneous Model Architectures](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.06497/) (2025)
- [Architectural Blueprint For Heterogeneity-Resilient Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.04546/) (2024)
- [QA-HFL: Quality-Aware Hierarchical Federated Learning for Resource-Constrained Mobile Devices with Heterogeneous Image Quality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.05411/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Federated Learning (FL) enables collaborative learning of large-scale distributed clients without data sharing. However, due to the disparity of computing resources among massive mobile computing devices, the performance of traditional homogeneous model-based Federated Learning (FL) is seriously limited. On the one hand, to achieve model training in all the diverse clients, mobile computing systems can only use small low-performance models for collaborative learning. On the other hand, devices with high computing resources cannot train a high-performance large model with their insufficient raw data. To address the resource-constrained problem in mobile computing systems, we present a novel heterogeneous FL approach named AdapterFL, which uses a model reassemble strategy to facilitate collaborative training of massive heterogeneous mobile devices adaptively. Specifically, we select multiple candidate heterogeneous models based on the computing performance of massive mobile devices and then divide each heterogeneous model into two partitions. By reassembling the partitions, we can generate models with varied sizes that are combined by the partial parameters of the large model with the partial parameters of the small model. Using these reassembled models for FL training, we can train the partial parameters of the large model using low-performance devices. In this way, we can alleviate performance degradation in large models due to resource constraints. The experimental results show that AdapterFL can achieve up to 12% accuracy improvement compared to the state-of-the-art heterogeneous federated learning methods in resource-constrained scenarios.