Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: This paper develops a novel distributed optimization algorithm based on the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) to solve hierarchical optimization problems over tree-structured networks, termed hierarchical ADMM (hADMM), with a particular focus on enhancing communication efficiency across the network. By rearranging the augmented Lagrangian to establish a query-response communication mechanism between nodes that explicitly exploits the hierarchical tree structure, the proposed algorithm significantly reduces communication costs compared to existing ADMM-based methods for hierarchical optimization. Furthermore, hADMM guarantees asymptotic convergence under convexity assumptions. We also present a convergence rate analysis based on linear matrix inequalities to characterize the maximum theoretically achievable convergence rates across different network topologies, showing that the proposed hADMM attains linear convergence under mild conditions. Three numerical experiments demonstrate that hADMM is compatible with arbitrary tree network structures and outperforms existing approaches in terms of communication efficiency.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Institutions: University of Central Florida, Louisiana State University
Language: English
Subfield: Control and Systems Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: National Science Foundation
OpenAlex ID: W7212126604