Federated Computing -- Survey on Building Blocks, Extensions and Systems
René Schwermer Ruben Mayer Hans-Arno Jacobsen
In response to the increasing volume and sensitivity of data, traditional
centralized computing models face challenges, such as data security breaches
and regulatory hurdles. Federated Computing (FC) addresses these concerns by
enabling collaborative processing without compromising individual data privacy.
This is achieved through a decentralized network of devices, each retaining
control over its data, while participating in collective computations. The
motivation behind FC extends beyond technical considerations to encompass
societal implications. As the need for responsible AI and ethical data
practices intensifies, FC aligns with the principles of user empowerment and
data sovereignty. FC comprises of Federated Learning (FL) and Federated
Analytics (FA). FC systems became more complex over time and they currently
lack a clear definition and taxonomy describing its moving pieces. Current
surveys capture domain-specific FL use cases, describe individual components in
an FC pipeline individually or decoupled from each other, or provide a
quantitative overview of the number of published papers. This work surveys more
than 150 papers to distill the underlying structure of FC systems with their
basic building blocks, extensions, architecture, environment, and motivation.
We capture FL and FA systems individually and point out unique difference
between those two.