Oscillator phase noise: A 50-year retrospective

Fifty years ago emerging developments in oscillator applications led to the formation of an IEEE committee to unify time- and frequency-domain definitions of frequency stability. As a member, the author had the good fortune to participate and contribute. This paper is a personal recollection of events and impressions of the committee's 1964 IEEE-NASA Symposium, our 1966 Proc IEEE special issue on frequency stability (with comments on this author's oscillator-model paper), and our 1971 “Characterization of Frequency Stability” paper that was written to provide a basis for IEEE Std 1139.