To solve discrete optimization difficulty of the spectrum allocation problem,a membrane-inspired quantum shuffled frog leaping(MQSFL) algorithm is proposed.The proposed MQSFL algorithm applies the theory of membrane computing and quantum computing to the shuffled frog leaping algorithm,which is an effective discrete optimization algorithm.Then the proposed MQSFL algorithm is used to solve the spectrum allocation problem of cognitive radio systems.By hybridizing the quantum frog colony optimization and membrane computing,the quantum state and observation state of the quantum frogs can be well evolved within the membrane structure.The novel spectrum allocation algorithm can search the global optimal solution within a reasonable computation time.Simulation results for three utility functions of a cognitive radio system are provided to show that the MQSFL spectrum allocation method is superior to some previous spectrum allocation algorithms based on intelligence computing. To solve discrete optimization difficulty of the spectrum allocation problem, a membrane-inspired quantum shuffled frog leaping (MQSFL) algorithm is proposed. The proposed MQSFL algorithm applies the theory of membrane computing and quantum computing to the shuffled frog leaping algorithm, which is an effective discrete optimization algorithm. The proposed MQSFL algorithm is used to solve the spectrum allocation problem of cognitive radio systems. By hybridizing the quantum frog colony optimization and membrane computing, the quantum state and observation state of the quantum frogs can be well evolved within the membrane structure.The novel spectrum allocation algorithm can search the global optimal solution within a reasonable computation time.Simulation results for three utility functions of a cognitive radio system are to show that the MQSFL spectrum allocation method is superior to some previous spectrum allocation algorithms based on intelligence computing.