The Construction of Optimal Balanced Incomplete Block Designs When Adjacent Observations are Correlated

An algorithm is described for the optimal rearrangement of the treatments within each block of a Balanced Incomplete Block Design when a specified “nearest neighbour” correlation structure exists among observations from plots in the same block. The procedure uses results obtained by Kiefer & Wynn (1981). Designs obtained using the algorithm are found to compare favourably with those produced by combinatorial methods given in Cheng (1983). The algorithm produces optimal designs for all BIBD parameter sets, including those not covered by the results of Kiefer & Wynn or Cheng.