Spectrum is a limited resource upon which the world makes continually increasing demands. It is therefore natural and compelling to study the efficiency with which radio systems use spectrum. Spectrum efficiency studies reveal how future systems can make better use of radio spectrum, and allow spectrum engineers and managers to make better allocation and sharing decisions. This report provides a 53-year historical review of previous domestic and international spectrum efficiency studies. Based on this review, we recommend possible future spectrum efficiency work to extend the state of knowledge in this area.

Keywords: spectrum efficiency; band sharing; spectrum utilization; spectrum sharing; out-of-band (OOB) emissions; spurious emissions; frequency bandwidth; spectrum efficiency metrics

• TR-18-530 [3]