As part of the EPSRC's Mathfit (mathematics for information technology) initiative, a meeting was held in Oxford from 8th-10th April 1997, to present the latest mathematical techniques for channel assignment in radio systems. The radio spectrum has reached a state of acute congestion, and strong interest from the radio community has stimulated much recent research. The meeting provided an opportunity for these new ideas to be properly aired among both mathematicians and radio practitioners.

Further information:

• The programme of talks.
  
• Details of participants.

Aims

The aims of the meeting were to

• survey the relevant mathematical techniques (graph-colouring, genetic algorithms, tabu search, simulated annealing, linear and integer programming, constraint satisfaction problems);
  
  
• describe the problems faced by radio spectrum users and regulators when making spectrum assignments;
  
  
• show how recent work has developed new algorithms and given new understanding of the principles behind good spectrum management;
  
  
• provide a guide to the literature, for both mathematicians and engineers.

Programme

The practitioners' perspective on spectrum management was provided by

	Jim Norton
	Chief Executive, Radiocommunications Agency
	Ryszard Struzak
	Radio Regulations Board, International Telecommunications Union

The mathematical perspective will be presented by

	Colin McDiarmid (Oxford) and Bruce Reed (Paris)
	Recent advances in graph-colouring
	Cor Hurkens (Eindhoven) and Karen Aardal (Utrecht)
	Channel assignment via linear and integer programming
	Jeannette Janssen (LSE)
	Polyhedral methods for lower bounds
	Peter Jeavons and David Cohen (Royal Holloway)
	Formulation in terms of constraint satisfaction problems
	Jan van den Heuvel (LSE)
	Channel assignment in regular networks
	Steve Hurley (Cardiff) and George Smith (East Anglia)
	Meta-heuristics (simulated annealing, genetic algorithms, tabu search etc.)
	Derek Smith (Glamorgan)
	The role of cliques
	Robert Leese (Oxford)
	Dynamic strategies for channel assignment

Methods and Algorithms for Radio Channel Assignment
was supported by



Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council



London Mathematical Society



Radiocommunications Agency