Search-based heuristic for fixed spectrum frequency assignment

A search-based heuristic for assigning frequencies to transmitters in a fixed spectrum frequency assignment (FS-FA) telecommunications network in order to satisfy a set of frequency constraints is described. Each connection in a network must have a frequency assigned from the spectrum which satisfies the set of constraints, which specify the frequency separation which is necessary between frequencies assigned to different transmitters. Violation of these constraints creates interference, which must be minimized. The exemplary heuristic has two main components: a local search heuristic and a compound move. The local search heuristic employs one-change moves and a lookup table that classifies all possible one-change moves as positive or negative, which are chosen until a locally minimal solution is found. The compound move operation shifts the local search to a new location in the search space. The local search and compound move are iterated until a total interference cost function is minimized.