Successive Approximation for Coded Matrix Multiplication

Coded computing was recently introduced to mitigate the effect of stragglers on distributed computing systems. This paper combines ideas of approximate and coded computing to further accelerate computation. We propose approximated coded distributed computing (ACDC) that realizes a tradeoff between accuracy and speed, allowing the distributed computing system to produce approximations that increase in accuracy over time. If a sufficient number of compute nodes finish their tasks, ACDC exactly recovers the desired computation. We theoretically provide design guidelines for ACDC, and numerically show its benefits over previous methods.