Orbcomm

Orbcomm is a publicly traded company headquartered in Fort Lee (New Jersey), where among other things the German technology group OHB is involved. It operates a data communications network that routes from any point on Earth of text messages. Applications include container tracking, machine monitoring or measurement data transmission.

Orbcomm Germany is the German Country Representative of ORBCOMM Europe LLC, a company for the marketing of telecommunications services of the Orbcomm satellite system in Europe. These resellers provide complete end-to -end solutions and the proper support for mobile and fixed installations.

Satellite

The Orbcomm satellite constellation is based on a total of 27 small satellites in 800 km altitude orbit the earth in six Earth orbits ( Low Earth Orbit LEO) and 13 globally distributed ground stations. The satellites receive the data directly from small radios and pass them through a gateway as Internet e- mail or X.400 to the next recipient. Orbcomm guarantees that 90 % of messages reach their addressees within six minutes.

The small satellites weigh about 45 kg and have an electrical output of 160 W. They were launched by Pegasus rocket from an airplane.

A series of 18 second-generation satellites is in preparation. The launch of the first eight satellites with a Falcon 9 is currently scheduled for 30 April 2014.

Uplink / downlink

Used is the VHF band between 137 MHz and 150 MHz. The data rate in the uplink is 4.8 kbit / s and 2.4 kbps in SDPSK modulation.