Wireless Decentralized Federated Learning via Device Clustering and Inter-Cluster Link Enhancement

Decentralized federated learning (DFL) dispenses with the central server of classical FL by utilizing peer-to-peer model exchanges among edge devices. This server-free architecture enables ad-hoc, flexible distributed learning in large device-to-device (D2D) networks. However, wireless DFL converges slowly because peer-to-peer model aggregation incurs high delays and errors. Each DFL training round involves many-to-many gradient sharing over wireless channels, resulting in uncoordinated channel access, large communication errors from stragglers, and slow model consensus, especially in large-scale D2D networks with pronounced clustering structures. We address these aggregation bottlenecks by provisioning a few reliable backhaul links at straggling nodes to enhance network connectivity. Building on this idea, our budget-aware, cluster-centric DFL framework first partitions the network into densely connected clusters, and then allocates the limited backhaul budget to selected cluster heads. The resulting two-tier protocol executes fast, parallel model aggregation within clusters and infrequent inter-cluster exchanges among the heads, yielding an O(1/t) convergence rate in t iterations. Numerical experiments on image-classification tasks confirm that our approach accelerates convergence compared to state-of-the-art DFL baselines with only a few strategically placed backhaul links.