An efficient heuristic algorithm for channel assignment problem in cellular radio networks

This paper presents an efficient heuristic algorithm for channel assignment problem in cellular radio networks. The task is to find channel assignment with minimum frequency bandwidth necessary to satisfy given demands from d ifferent nodes in a cellular network. At the same time the interference amo ng calls within the same cell and from different neighboring cells are to b e avoided, where interference is specified as the minimum frequency distanc e to be maintained between channels assigned to a pair of nodes. The simple st version of this problem, where only cochannel interferences are consider ed, is NT-complete. The proposed algorithm could generate a population of r andom valid solutions of the problem very fast. The best among them is the optimum or very near to optimum solution. For all problems with known optim al solutions, the algorithm could find them. A statistical estimation of th e performance of the proposed algorithm is done. Comparison with other meth ods show that our algorithm works better than the algorithms that we have i nvestigated.