A Techno-Economic Approach to U. S. Domestic Satellite Orbit-Spectrum Regulation

The efficiency of orbit-spectrum use is often thought of in units of information rate per unit bandwidth and per unit of satellite spacing. A major problem with using such purely technical measures of use efficiency for policy is that they fail to reflect directly the basic purpose of orbit-spectrum use. It is now possible to accurately include the costs of spectrum-conservation technology in the measure of use efficiency, shedding new light on the nature of the orbit-spectrum conservation measures that should be taken as this resource becomes more crowded.