An enumerative algorithm for the frequency assignment problem Original Research Article

We present an algorithm to solve the frequency assignment problem for mobile cellular systems and radio and television broadcasting. Frequencies must be assigned to transmitters in order to meet interference requirements so that the overall signal/noise ratio is satisfactory. The basic scheme is an exact enumerative method provided with fixing criteria to reduce the size of the instances. Larger instances are solved by applying the algorithm to suitable subinstances, eventually extending the solutions found. We were able to solve large real-life instances arising in radio broadcasting and mobile cellular systems. Computational results outperform previous results reported in the literature.