Orbcomm

PTR Partners with Orbcomm

Overview
ORBCOMM, Inc owns and operates a network of 30 Low Earth Orbit satellites arranged in six planes, and terrestrial gateways. Using this network, ORBCOMM provides global narrow-band two-way digital messaging, data communications, and geo-positioning services. When ORBCOMM needed help maintaining and improving their on-orbit software, and modifying it to support new satellite designs, they turned to The PTR Group, Inc. ORBCOMM recognized that The PTR Group, employing some of the original authors of ORBCOMM's network software, and having many man-years of space-related experience beyond that, is uniquely qualified to perform such work. PTR Group engineers are now entrusted with maintaining the on-orbit software, and are working on several new development programs.

Coast Guard Demonstration Satellite (CDS)
This satellite, scheduled to launch early 2007, performs the same duties as the current on-orbit, but in addition, receives signals from ships indicating their position. This position information is collected and transmitted to the Coast Guard via the ORBCOMM network. The PTR Group was tasked with developing the software to support this new requirement. The CDS will demonstrate this Coast Guard capability, which will then be incorporated into future satellites.

Quick Launch (QL)
ORBCOMM is in the process of developing six new satellites that are identical to the CDS satellite, but with some extra receive capabilities. The need for these satellites arose when it was discovered that several of the oldest on-orbit satellites, all in a single plane, had developed hardware problems that limited their functionality. ORBCOMM's plan is to launch these new satellites in a relatively short amount of time (thus the name “Quick Launch”) to supplement the poorly-performing plane. ORBCOMM called on The PTR Group to develop the software to support the newly-added receive capability and perform overall network code optimization. QL is scheduled to launch in late 2007.

ORBCOMM Generation 2 (OG2)
ORBCOMM is in the process of developing their next generation of satellites. These satellites will comprise a whole new constellation of satellites, satellites that will far outperform their predecessors, while maintaining backward compatibility with existing Subscriber Communicators and ORBCOMM terrestrial gateways. PTR Group engineers assisted ORBCOMM with Request for Proposal (RFP) development and proposal evaluation. Continuing in their role as the ORBCOMM software development team, PTR Group engineers will develop the network software for the OG2 satellites.