A UNIFIED APPROACH TO THE ASSIGNMENT OF RADIO CHANNELS ON A REGULAR HEXAGONAL GRID

In radio systems, quality of ser,ice is achieved by assigning channels with reference to a set of protection ratios, which in a simplified s etting may be replaced with frequency-distance bounds, This paper cons iders the assignment problem on a lattice of hexagonal cells, with the allowed assignments generated by regular tilings of a single polyhex, The main aim is to investigate the interplay between the cochannel an d adjacent channel separations without restricting the assignments unn ecessarily, The outcome is a unified framework in which all previous r esults appear as particular cases. The possible cochannel lattices are carefully classified, and then an algorithm is developed, which assig ns channels on any cochannel lattice so that the adjacent channel sepa ration is maximized, In this way, a library of the best assignments ca n be compiled, The results are of relevance to a range of applications , including both broadcast and mobile systems.