1. A network node of a radio access network, the network node comprising: a scheduler that is configured to divide a defined frequency bandwidth into a plurality of bandwidth pipes, configured to develop sets of nodes that are candidates for using corresponding ones of the bandwidth pipes to communicate with the network node during a communication time interval, wherein at least one of the sets contains a plurality of candidate nodes, configured to operate separate parallel processes that are arranged for computing metrics for the sets of nodes, and configured to assign one of the nodes in each set of nodes to the corresponding bandwidth pipe in response to the computed metrics.