science

Personal Car Communicator

Personal Car Communicator 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 Personal Car Communicator rather than just read about it. In short: A Personal Car Communicator (PCC) is a remote-control key fob system developed by Volvo Cars to provide information about a vehicle's lock and alarm status. The system was introduced as a security feature on the second-generation Volvo S80, and Volvo stated that it was also available as an option on the V70 and XC70.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

A Personal Car Communicator (PCC) is a remote-control key fob system developed by Volvo Cars to provide information about a vehicle's lock and alarm status. The system was introduced as a security feature on the second-generation Volvo S80, and Volvo stated that it was also available as an option on the V70 and XC70.

Background Volvo had previously presented a related system, the Volvo Personal Communicator (VPC), as part of its safety technology development. The VPC concept used two-way communication between the car and a remote control unit and included functions such as passive unlocking, personal settings and a heartbeat sensor intended to warn if someone was inside the vehicle. The production Personal Car Communicator was promoted with the all-new Volvo S80. Volvo described the PCC as an optional pocket-sized remote control that could provide information about whether the car was locked, whether the alarm had been triggered, and whether somebody might be inside the vehicle.

Operation The PCC uses two-way communication between the car and the remote key. When the owner presses the information button, the remote key can display the vehicle's lock and alarm status through indicator lights. Volvo stated that the PCC could provide status information at a range of up to about 100 m, and could retain the most recent information when the owner was outside the communication range. The system uses different indicator lights to show vehicle status. A green light indicates that the car is locked and that nothing abnormal has occurred, a yellow light indicates that the car is unlocked, and a red light indicates that the alarm has been activated. Two flashing red lights indicate that a person may be present in the car. Contemporary coverage by Wired described the PCC as providing lock, alarm and intruder-status information at a range of about 60 to 100 m, using a heartbeat sensor to help detect whether someone was inside the vehicle.

Availability and recognition Volvo stated in 2007 that the PCC was available as an option on the all-new Volvo S80, V70 and XC70. The system received the Innovation Award at the 2007 British Insurance Car Security Awards, announced at Thatcham, the Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre. A syndicated version of Volvo's 2007 announcement was also carried by Cision, giving an additional archived source for the award announcement.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Personal Car Communicator

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Personal Car Communicator 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 Personal Car Communicator 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 Personal Car Communicator 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 Personal Car Communicator

In research: Personal Car Communicator 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 Personal Car Communicator 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: Personal Car Communicator is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Automotive accessories, Automotive technologies, Locks (security device), so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Personal Car Communicator 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 Personal Car Communicator in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Personal Car Communicator 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 Personal Car Communicator out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Personal Car Communicator in simple terms?

Why does Personal Car Communicator 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 Personal Car Communicator?

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 Personal Car Communicator.