Combined Federated and Split Learning in Edge Computing for Ubiquitous Intelligence in Internet of Things: State of the Art and Future Directions

Abstract: Federated learning (FL) and split learning (SL) are two emerging collaborative learning methods that may greatly facilitate ubiquitous intelligence in Internet of Things (IoT). Federated learning enables ML models locally trained using private data to be aggregated into a global model. Split learning allows different portions of an ML model to be collaboratively trained on different workers in a learning framework. Federated learning and split learning, each has unique advantages and respective limitations, may complement each other toward ubiquitous intelligence in IoT. Therefore, combination of federated learning and split learning recently became an active research area attracting extensive interest. In this article, we review the latest developments in federated learning and split learning and present a survey on the state-of-the-art technologies for combining these two learning methods in an edge computing-based IoT environment. We also identify some open problems and discuss possible directions for future research in this area with a hope to further arouse the research community's interest in this emerging field.