Fed-Universe: A Semantic-Geometric-Topological-Human (S-G-T-H) Stack for Negotiated Alignment in Federated Systems
Authors: Ting Xu, Henry Leung
Organizations: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada · Department of Electrical and Software Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
Conventional federated learners implicitly optimize for global means, creating a "one-size-fits-all" paradigm that inevitably suppresses the minority under cross-site heterogeneity. To bridge this critical gap, we present Fed-Universe, a generalizable Semantic-Geometric-Topological-Human (S-G-T-H) architecture that transforms passive averaging into an active negotiation for decentralized alignment. The S-layer deploys an edge-capable LLM as a semantic surrogate to translate heterogeneous inputs into standardized patient profile prompts. The G-layer enforces geometric quality assurance (GQA) via a mapping f: Theta -> Q from the statistical parameter space to a physically interpretable quality domain, employing a cosine similarity gate to retain minority updates based on physical geometry rather than statistical proximity. The T-layer executes topological Pareto control, identifying a sensitivity-based knee point (lambda_k) to balance multi-objective aggregation without majority degradation. Finally, the H-layer operationalizes a cognitive twin dynamic to mirror the user's real-time psychological state, dynamically adapting human-computer interaction modes via active intent alignment. To ground this theoretical architecture empirically, we validated the S-G-T core on a binational synthetic clinical network simulation. This proof-of-concept demonstrated a "zero-sum escape": a minority node (<3% data volume) achieved utility parity (loss reduction from 0.857 to 0.340) alongside dominant hubs. Our Fed-Universe framework is being expanded along two focused pillars: institutional multimodal alignment (Fed-Ultra) and individual cognitive intent alignment (Fed-Human).
Figures & tables
Figure 1. The Fed-Universe architecture: A federated S - G - T - H negotiation stack for decentralized intent alignment and Pareto-optimal fairness, equipped with localized geometric safety gates.
Figure 2. Pareto frontier sensitivity analysis: The identified knee point at w=2.0 establishes an optimal equilibrium, maximizing minority spoke utility without degrading the majority hub baseline.