Tutorial #8 – Coding for Edge Computing

Instructor: Alexandre Graell i Amat, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Instructor: Eirik Rosnes, Simula UiB, Norway
Instructor: Albin Severinson, Simula UiB and the Department of Informatics, University of Bergen, Norway

Abstract: Distributed computing systems have emerged as one of the most effective ways of solving increasingly complex computational problems in a wide range of domains, e.g., in large-scale machine learning and data analytics. For example, Google routinely performs computations over several thousands of servers. For applications such as the Internet of Things (IoT), intelligent transportation systems, and real-time online gaming, processing data in the cloud typically results in latencies that are not acceptable. In this context, edge computing has emerged as the new paradigm to reduce latency and save bandwidth. Edge computing has been recognized as a pillar of the 5G network architecture and an enabler of computation-intensive applications on IoT devices.

The promised benefits of edge computing, however, come with important challenges, among them the problems of straggling edge nodes and limited bandwidth which may severely penalize the latency, and the unreliability of nodes and communication links, which not only impact the latency, but also impair the accuracy of the computation. Furthermore, performing computations over possibly untrustable edge nodes or on the user devices themselves, pose serious concerns about security and privacy.

This tutorial will show how channel coding is a powerful tool to overcome these challenges, bringing significant improvements in terms of latency and accuracy, as well as providing security and privacy.

The tutorial assumes a basic understanding of linear algebra and probability theory.

Bio: Alexandre Graell i Amat is a Professor with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and an Adjunct Research Scientist with Simula UiB, Norway. His research interests are in the field of coding theory and its application to areas including distributed storage and computing, privacy, and optical communications. Prior to joining Chalmers, he was a Visiting Scholar with the University of California at San Diego, USA (2001-2002). In 2002–2003 he held a visiting appointment at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain. In 2001-2004 he held a part-time appointment at STMicroelectronics Data Storage Division, Italy. In 2004-2005 he was a Visiting Professor with Universitat Pompeu Fabra. From 2006 to 2010, he was with the Department of Electronics, IMT Atlantique (former ENST Bretagne), France. He joined Chalmers in 2011.
Prof. Graell i Amat is a Senior member of the IEEE and Area Editor (Coding and Information Theory) for the IEEE Transactions on Communications. He also served as Editor at Large and Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Communications (2011–2019) and the IEEE Communications Letters (2011–2013). He is the TPC Co-Chair of the IEEE International Symposium on Topics in Coding, Montreal, 2020. He was the General Co-Chair of the IEEE International Symposium on Turbo Codes & Iterative Information Processing, 2012 and the IEEE European School of Information Theory, 2016. He is the recipient of the 2010 IEEE ComSoc Best Young Researcher Award for the Europe, Middle East, and Africa Region.

Bio: Eirik Rosnes is a Chief Research Scientist and Section Leader of the Information Theory Section at Simula UiB, Bergen, Norway. His research interests are in the areas of communication and information theory, including classical codes, codes on graphs, codes for distributed storage and computing and coding for privacy and security. Prior to joining Simula UiB, he was with the Department of Informatics, University of Bergen from 2003 to 2011, first as a Postdoctoral Researcher, then as a Senior Researcher, and from 2020 as a Chief Research Scientist. From 2001 to 2002 and from 2005 to 2005, he was a Visiting Scholar with the Center for Magnetic Recording Research, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA. From 2011 to 2013, he was a Senior Engineer with Ceragon Networks, and since 2013, he has been with both the University of Bergen (until 2017) as an Adjunct Associate Professor and with the Simula Research Laboratory / Simula UiB.
Dr. Rosnes was a Technical Program Co-Chair for the 2009 International Workshop on Coding and Cryptography, Ullensvang, Norway, and is currently serving as Associate Editor for the AEU International Journal of Electronics and Communications and the IEEE Transactions on Communications.

Bio: Albin Severinson is a PhD candidate with Simula UiB and the Department of Informatics at the University of Bergen (UiB), Bergen, Norway, under the supervision of Dr. Rosnes and Prof. Graell i Amat. Prior to joining Simula UiB and UiB, he studied at Chalmers University, Gothenburg, Sweden and TU Delft, Delft, The Netherlands. His research is on coding for distributed computing.

Albin Severinson is the founder of Rendits, a company developing vehicle-to-vehicle communication equip- ment and is the president of UiBdoc, an organization working to further the interests of PhD candidates and PostDocs at UiB. He has participated in the Grand Cooperative Driving Challenge vehicle automation competition on the Chalmers team and in the World Solar Challenge on the TU Delft team.