B O S T O N U N I V E R S I T Y Computer Science Department C O L L O Q U I U M Wednesday, November 20, 3:00 PM (Coffee served at 2:45 PM) Seminar Room / MCS 135 Conflict-Free Colorings of Simple Geometric Regions Zvika Lotker Tel-Aviv University We introduce and study a new coloring problem that we call Minimum Conflict-Free Coloring (Min-CF-Coloring). Cellular networks are heterogeneous networks with two different types of nodes: base-stations (that act as static servers) and clients (which are mobile). The base stations are interconnected by an external fixed backbone network, clients are connected only to base-stations; links between clients and base-stations are implemented by radio links. Fixed frequencies are assigned to base-stations to enable links to clients. Clients, on the other hand, continuously scan frequencies in search of a base-station with good reception. This scanning takes place automatically and enables smooth transitions between links when a client is mobile. Consider a client that is within the reception range of two base-stations. If these two base-stations are assigned the same frequency, then mutual interference occurs, and the links between the client and each of these conflicting base-stations are rendered too noisy to be used. A base-station may serve a client provided that the reception is strong enough and interference from other base stations is weak enough. The fundamental problem of frequency assignment in cellular networks is to assign frequencies to base-stations so that every client is served by some base-station. The goal is to minimize the number of assigned frequencies since the spectrum is limited and costly. We call this problem Min-CF-Coloring. In my talk I will present some new results concerning Min-CF-Coloring. This is a joint work with Guy Even Zvi Lotker Dana Ron Shakhar Smorodinsky. Host: Boaz Patt-Shamir ------------------------------------------------------------------------- For colloquium info, including directions, see http://www.cs.bu.edu/colloquium -------------------------------------------------------------------------