AbstractThis paper presents a distributed and localized interference‐aware channel assignment framework for multi‐radio wireless mesh networks in a cognitive network environment. The availability of multiple interfaces and channels in wireless devices is expected to enhance network throughput in wireless mesh networks. A notable design issue in such networks is how to dynamically assign available channels to multiple radio interfaces for maximizing effective network throughput by minimizing interference. The proposed framework uses a novel interference estimation method by utilizing distributed conflict graphs on a per‐interface basis. Presented results obtained via simulation studies in 802.11 based multi‐radio mesh networks indicate that for both homogeneous and heterogeneous primary networks, the proposed protocol can facilitate a large increase in network throughput in comparison with a Common Channel Assignment mechanism that is used as a benchmark in the literature. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.