Panasonic 3.0 - Manual (Page 56)

EchoMap v3.0
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Washington State. The fifth GES is located in Curacao, French Antilles in
Central America.
Gateway Earth Station (GES)
ORBCOMM's GESs link the ground segment with the space segment from
multiple locations worldwide. The GESs provide the following functions:
•
Acquire and track satellites based on orbital ephemeris data
•
Transmit and receive packets to/from the satellites
•
Provide connectivity between satellites and NCC (GCC)
•
Monitor status of local GES hardware/software
•
Monitor system level performance of satellites "connected" to the NCC
(GCC)
The GES is redundant in that it has two steerable high-gain VHF antennas
that track the satellites as they cross the sky. The GES transmits to each
satellite at a frequency centered at 149.61 MHz at 57.6 KBPS with a
nominal power of 200 watts.
The GES receives 3-watt transmissions from the satellite at 137-138 MHz
range.
Network Control Center (NCC)
The NCC is responsible for managing the ORBCOMM network elements
and the U.S. gateways through telemetry monitoring, system
commanding and mission system analysis. It provides network
management of ORBCOMM's satellite constellation and is staffed 24 hours
a day, seven days a week by certified controllers. The NCC performs the
following functions:
• Monitor real-time and back-orbit telemetry from ORBCOMM satellites
• Send real-time and stored commands to the satellites
• Provide the tools and information to assist engineering with resolution of
satellite and ground anomalies
• Archive satellite and ground telemetry for analysis
• Monitor performance of the GESs
• Monitor status of the U.S. based ORBCOMM Message Switch (OMS) and
related software
• Monitors connection to and status of the EFMS
Echo Flight Message Switch (EFMS)
The Echo Flight Message Switch receives a continuous, worldwide
weather feed. The EFMS continually processes weather to reply to in-
flight weather requests. All data is sent or received directly through the
EFMS center via a dedicated high-speed frame relay line with an additional
dial-up line as backup.