On channel assignment problem in cellular networks

Abstract

The channel assignment problem in a mobile cellular network is considered in this paper. The cellular network is most often modelled as a graph and the channel assignment problem is formulated as the coloring problem of that graph. The channel assignment problem in its most general form is NP-complete. Prior studies assume that the graph modelling the cellular network is an arbitrary graph. However, we show that the graph modelling the cellular network has a very regular structure and exploiting this regular structure, the channel assignment problem can be solved optimally in many cases. We also present an integer linear programming formulation of the channel assignment problem.