ORBCOMM Inc. is an American company that offers industrial IoT products designed to track, monitor, and control fixed and mobile assets in markets including transportation, heavy equipment, maritime, oil and gas, utilities and government. The company provides hardware devices, modems, web applications, and data services delivered over multiple satellites and cellular networks.
As of June 30, 2021, Orbcomm has more than 2.3 million billable subscriber communicators,ORBCOMM Announces Second Quarter 2021 Results serving original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Caterpillar Inc., Doosan Infracore America, Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd., John Deere, Komatsu Limited, and Volvo Construction Equipment, as well as other customers such as J. B. Hunt,J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. Selects ORBCOMM for End-to-End, Fleet-Wide Asset Tracking and Monitoring Solution C&S Wholesale Grocers, Canadian National Railways, C.R. England, Hub Group, KLLM Transport Services, Marten Transport, Swift Transportation, Target, Tropicana, Tyson Foods, Walmart and Werner Enterprises.ORBCOMM Announces Third Quarter 2015 Results
Orbcomm owns and operates a global network of 31 low Earth orbit (LEO) communications satellite and accompanying ground infrastructure, including 16 gateway Earth stations (GESs) around the world. Orbcomm is licensed to provide service in more than 130 countries and territories worldwide.ORBCOMM and Morsviazsputnik to Offer IDP Service in Russia
History
The Orbcomm low Earth orbit (LEO) system was conceived by Orbital Sciences Corporation (Orbital) in the late 1980s. In 1990, Orbital filed the world's first license application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the operation of a network of small LEO spacecraft to provide global satellite services of commercial messaging and data communications services via the company's Orbcomm program.
During the initial stages of the program, Orbital pursued a multi-pronged approach: regulatory approvals, ground infrastructure development and procurement of sites, modem development, and country licensing. In 1992, the World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC) supported the spectrum allocation for non-voice, non-geostationary mobile-satellite service. With WARC approval, Orbital set up a specific Orbcomm program to develop satellites and ground infrastructure, and Orbcomm became a wholly owned subsidiary of Orbital. In 1995, Orbcomm was granted a full license to operate a network with up to 200,000 mobile Earth stations (MESs).
Orbcomm began procuring gateway Earth station (GES) locations and contracted with a division of Orbital Sciences, located in Mesa, Arizona, to develop and build four sets of GESs and associated spares. Land for the four GESs was procured or leased in Arizona, Washington, New York, and Georgia.
After the 1992 WARC approval, Orbcomm signed contracts with three modem developers and manufacturers: Kyushu Matsushita Electric Company, a division of Panasonic; Elisra Electronic Systems, an Israeli company with expertise in electronic warfare systems; and Torrey Science & Technology, a small San Diego–based company with long ties to Orbital Sciences. Panasonic provided the first Orbcomm-approved MES in March 1995. Elisra followed with the EL2000 in late 1995, and Torrey Science provided the ComCore 200 in April 1996.
During equipment development, Orbcomm also pursued licensing and regulatory approvals in several countries. By 1995, Orbcomm had obtained regulatory approval in 19 countries, with several additional countries well into the regulatory process. Orbcomm was also in initial negotiations with groups in Indonesia, and Italy for becoming Orbcomm licensees and GES operators in their respective regions.
During the conceptual stages of the LEO satellite communications system, Orbital Sciences purchased a small company in Boulder, Colorado, specializing in small-satellite design. This company built the first three satellites in the Orbcomm system: Orbcomm X, Communications Demonstration Satellite (CDS) 1, and CDS 2. Orbcomm X was lost after a single orbit. To validate the feasibility of commercially tracking and communicating with an LEO satellite, Orbital built an additional communications payload and flew this payload on an SR-71 in 1992. These tests were successful, and work on CDS 1 and 2 continued. CDS 1 and CDS 2 were launched in February and April 1992, respectively. These satellites were used to validate the design of the network further and were showcased in Orbital's plans to sign up an equity partner for the completion of the Orbcomm System.
In June 1992, Orbital created an equal partnership called Orbcomm Global L.P. with Teleglobe Mobile Partners (Teleglobe Mobile), an affiliate of Teleglobe Inc., for the design and development of the LEO satellite system. Teleglobe Mobile invested $85 million in the project and provided international service distribution. Orbital agreed to construct and launch satellites for the Orbcomm system and to construct the satellite control center, the network control center, and four U.S. gateway Earth stations.
Two satellites (F Plane) were launched in April 1995, and the Orbcomm global mobile data communications network was tested in the summer. Teleglobe Mobile invested an additional $75 million in the project that year and joined Orbital as a full joint-venture partner in Orbcomm. In February 1996, Orbcomm initiated the world's first commercial service for global mobile data communications provided by LEO satellites. Orbcomm also raised an additional $170 million. In October 1996, Orbcomm licensed Malaysian partner Technology Resources Industries Bhd. (TRI) to sell Orbcomm's global two-way messaging service in Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei. TRI became the owner of a 15% stake in ORBCOMM, Teleglobe owning 35%, and the rest held by Orbital.TRI Acquires License to Sell Orbcomm Messaging Service.
In December 1997, Orbcomm launched eight satellites (A Plane). In 1998 Orbcomm launched two satellites (G Plane) in February, eight satellites (B Plane) in August, and eight satellites (C Plane) in September. After a short hiatus, Orbcomm launched seven more satellites (D Plane) in December 1999.
With the launch and operation of the C Plane satellites, Orbcomm became the first commercial provider of global LEO satellite data and messaging communications services. Orbcomm inaugurated full commercial service with its satellite-based global data communications network on November 30, 1998. In March 1998, the FCC expanded Orbcomm's original license from 36 to 48 satellites.Orbcomm Communications Satellite Network .
In January 2000, Orbital halted funding of Orbcomm, and Teleglobe and Orbital signed a new partnership agreement with 67% ownership to Teleglobe and 33% to Orbital.Orbcomm Communications Satellite Network . In May 2000, Teleglobe ceased funding ORBCOMM. Like its voice-centric competitors Iridium and Globalstar, it filed for Chapter 11 protection, in September 2000.
New ownership In 2001, a group of private investors purchased Orbcomm and its assets out of an auction process, and Orbcomm LLC was organized on April 4, 2001. On April 23, 2001, this group of investors acquired substantially all of the non-cash assets of Orbcomm Global L.P. and its subsidiaries, which included the in-orbit satellites and supporting U.S. ground infrastructure equipment that the company owns today. At the same time, Orbcomm LLC also acquired the FCC licenses required to own and operate the communications system from a subsidiary of Orbital Sciences Corporation, which was not in bankruptcy, in a related transaction. Orbcomm issued a public offering of stock in November 2006. The company sold 9.2 million shares of common stock.
In September 2007, Orbcomm Inc. was sued for its IPO prospectus containing inaccurate statements of material fact. It failed to disclose that demand for the company's products was weakening. In 2009, a payment of $2,450,000 was agreed upon.
In September 2009, Orbcomm signed a contract with SpaceX to launch Orbcomm's next-generation OG2 satellite constellation.ORBCOMM and SpaceX Reach Deal to Launch Satellite Constellation.
Orbcomm launched its commercial satellite Automatic Identification System (AIS) service in 2009.ORBCOMM Announces First Global AIS Distribution Agreement. AIS technology is used mainly for collision avoidance and maritime domain awareness, search and rescue, and environmental monitoring. Orbcomm leased the capabilities of two additional satellites, VesselSat-1 and VesselSat-2, launched in October 2011 and January 2012, respectively, for its AIS service from Luxspace.
On July 14, 2014, Orbcomm launched six next-generation OG2 satellites aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
In December 2015, the company launched eleven OG2 satellites from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida with the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. This dedicated launch marked Orbcomm's second and final OG2 mission to complete its next-generation satellite constellation.ORBCOMM Announces Launch Window for Second OG2 Mission.
In September 2021, the company announced the completion of its acquisition by GI Partners in an all-cash transaction that values Orbcomm at approximately $1.1 billion, including net debt. As a result, Orbcomm is a privately held company, and its common stock is no longer listed on the Nasdaq stock market.ORBCOMM Announces Completion of Acquisition by GI Partners.
Acquisitions Since 2011, Orbcomm has acquired several companies including:
StarTrak Systems PAR Logistics Management Systems MobileNet GlobalTrak SENS Asset Tracking EuroscanORBCOMM Acquires Euroscan, Europe’s Leading M2M Provider of Refrigerated Transportation Solutions InSync Software SkyWave Mobile CommunicationsORBCOMM Completes Acquisition of SkyWave WAM Technologies Skygistics Inthinc Blue Tree SystemsOrbcomm acquires Blue Tree Systems; expands in-cab and trailer telematics offeringsFMCSA ELD Implementation Timeline
After the acquisition of companies such as SkyWave, some of Orbcomm branded product offerings are based on Inmarsat's geostationary satellites instead of Orbcomm's own LEO satellites.
Satellites
The first-generation OG1 satellites each weigh . Two disc-shaped solar panels articulate in 1-axis to track the sun and provide 160 watts of power. Communication with subscriber units is done using SDPSK modulation at 4800 bit/s for the downlink and 2400 bit/s for the uplink.
Each satellite has a 56 kbit/s backhaul that utilizes the popular TDMA multiplexing scheme and QPSK modulation. Orbcomm is the only current satellite licensee operating in the 137-150 MHz VHF band, which was allocated globally for "Little LEO" systems. Several such systems were planned in the early to mid-1990s, but Orbcomm was the only one to launch successfully. In the continental United States, Orbcomm statistically relays 90% of the text messages within six minutes, but gaps between satellites can result in message delivery times of 15 minutes or more. Orbcomm reported during an earnings report call in early 2007 that 50% of subscriber-initiated reports (messages of six bytes in size) were received in less than one minute, 90% in less than 4 minutes, and 98% in less than 15 minutes. With the current constellation of Orbcomm satellites, there is likely to be a satellite within range of almost any spot on Earth at any time of the day or night. Every satellite has an onboard GPS receiver for positioning. Typical data payloads are 6 bytes to 30 bytes, adequate for sending GPS position data or simple sensor readings.