science

Orbcomm

Orbcomm is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Orbcomm rather than just read about it. In short: 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.

Key takeaways

Orbcomm belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Orbcomm to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Orbcomm from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

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, 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, 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 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.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Orbcomm

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Orbcomm claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Orbcomm before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Orbcomm ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Orbcomm

In research: Orbcomm appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Orbcomm in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Orbcomm is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2006 initial public offerings, 2021 mergers and acquisitions, Communications satellite operators, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Orbcomm outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Orbcomm in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Orbcomm means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Orbcomm out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Orbcomm in simple terms?

Why does Orbcomm matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Orbcomm?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Orbcomm.