Why the Condition College, PA space is a sensor technologies warm location

November 1, 2023 Audrey

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You don’t notice them, but they’re always there — measuring, monitoring, helping you live a safer, more convenient life. Sensors have become widely used in manufacturing and are now commonplace in homes and personal items, from smartphones to cars to smart-home devices like robot vacuums, lights, thermostats, cameras and more. Sensors now track human health data, just like they track the health data of heavy equipment and machinery in factories.

In Happy Valley, sensors play a role in our research and business ecosystem, with extensive sensor research taking place at Penn State and several established sensor companies growing or starting up in the area.

Here’s why some local experts believe Happy Valley has an affinity for sensor technology and how they see them changing the world for the better.

Why Happy Valley is a sensor technology hot spot

For KCF Technologies, the “why” behind the company’s Happy Valley headquarters is clear. This is where the company got its start and there were never plans to grow anywhere else.

As Sean Buda, vice president of marketing, explained, KCF Technologies came out of Penn State research more than two decades ago. At that time, the company’s three founders, all Penn State researchers, including current CEO Jeremy Frank, were working on wireless vibration sensors for various government agencies.

As the sensors proved applicable in a broad range of applications, KCF’s reach expanded to more industries. As the company grew, it relied on adding more Penn State talent.

“When I started with KCF two-and-a-half years ago, I would say at least 70% of our company was from Penn State. Now, that continues to diversify, coming out of [the COVID-19 pandemic], as we become more of a global player,” Buda noted. “We’re operating on six different continents, with over 600 manufacturing locations, as we scale our business.”

Still, its global reach doesn’t tempt KCF to relocate. The company is deeply embedded in the Penn State community, through athletics sponsorships, internship programs and high quality of life for its employees. Buda has an optimistic outlook on continuing to grow as a global business from central Pennsylvania.

“Every June, we hold an industry-wide manufacturing event in Happy Valley and, last year, we had 250 people attend from around the world,” he said. “State College is becoming an easier place to do business, with some great venues… If we were to do this… 10 years ago, it wouldn’t have been quite as easy.”

Another sensor innovator with a strong Penn State connection is Larry Cheng, Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State. We’ve covered Dr. Cheng’s research many times in the past, including his work on wearable sensors that could change health care for good.

Cheng credits Penn State’s unique interdisciplinary approach to research in aiding him

Holograms, AR technologies and RFID tags: The retail outlet of the future is getting condition

June 15, 2023 Audrey

Retail improvements which includes outfits with RFID tags, digital mannequins and seamless checkouts are eradicating the friction in the procuring working experience — and exceeding Gen Z’s expectations.

Makes which includes Uniqlo, Zara and H&M are introducing in-retailer retail solutions that use these new systems to aid item discovery, buyer test-on and a seamless checkout practical experience.

According to Might 2023 insights from a Klara study involving Gen-Z and millennials, 44% of Gen-Zers think they will attempt on garments in the identical way in the foreseeable future as currently. In the meantime, 40% claimed they anticipate to use digital dressing rooms, 18% mentioned they’ll use augmented reality, and 23% will rely on artificial intelligence to suggest on which apparel greatest healthy their body and manner design and style.

Lots of makes are already switching their retail outlets to integrate these systems. In May possibly 2022, H&M Group model Cos piloted intelligent mirrors in its Beverly Hills keep. Through the use of RFID tags, the mirrors permitted shoppers to order merchandise to test on with no leaving the switching place. RFID, or radio frequency identification, is a variety of wi-fi technologies that utilizes electromagnetic engineering to track their location.

Net3 manufacturers together with 9dcc and RSTLSS, meanwhile, are equipping apparel with NFC, or “near-field communication,” tags. These tags bring capabilities to phygital items and facilitate updates on drops. NFC tags can also be utilized to build digital authenticity wallets or to display the composition or resources origin of clothes and add-ons in stores.

With labels and tags turning out to be digitized, they are supplying ways to make the retail practical experience speedier and extra seamless. Quick Retailing started to exam RFID know-how in its suppliers in 2013, and all of its makes — including Uniqlo, Concept and Helmut Lang — began applying it in selling price tags in 2017. With them, products can be tracked for merchandising needs. In 2019, Quickly Retailing brought RFID-enabled self-checkouts to Uniqlo merchants. The checkouts figure out the tags in the outfits and, with out manually scanning, costs are calculated. All of its North American stores and new openings now have them.

“We produced self-checkout employing RFID technology to assistance clear up a agony level that all customers have seasoned: waiting in extended traces,” said Masahiko Nakasuji, Quick Retailing Team world wide marketing and advertising executive officer. “We designed it from the standpoint of the consumer: What would make the checkout course of action much easier for them?” So far, RFID self-checkout has lowered checkout times by 50%.

Before this yr, Zara’s owner, Inditex, declared that it is introducing a new security technological know-how through chips sewn into garments, phasing out challenging anti-theft tags in outlets this year. The removing of anti-theft tags at checkout has become a agony point for the brand, with the procedure being slow and making queues. In accordance to Inditex, the new tags will slash checkout periods by up to 50%.

In its renovated merchants, H&M Team is also testing

Crush of purposes crashes UC, Cal Condition laptop or computer devices

December 9, 2021 Audrey

The College of California and California State College extended their admissions deadlines Tuesday immediately after the two techniques faced connectivity difficulties as a crush of college students raced from an 11:59 p.m. deadline to post their programs.

UC has prolonged its deadline to 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 1, but students will have to have begun an software by Tuesday to be recognized into the program. Cal Condition Fullerton, Extensive Seashore and San Luis Obispo also prolonged their application deadlines to 11:59 on Dec. 1, and Cal Condition Fresno, Los Angeles, Pomona, San Diego and San Jose prolonged their deadlines to Dec. 15. Other campuses experienced previously established later submission deadlines.

Equally school systems described the complications on Twitter as connectivity difficulties.

“Due to an unusually significant selection of consumers making an attempt to entry the internet site at the exact time, some future college students may well have seasoned challenges in distributing applications, and we apologize for any inconvenience,” Cal Condition spokesperson Toni Molle reported.

AT UC, administrators “learned of some circumstances of connectivity difficulties connected to our undergraduate admissions software Monday night.” Candidates ended up supplied information about the difficulties by means of the UC Software Middle and on social media. “We apologize for any inconvenience this may perhaps have triggered,” UC spokesperson Ryan King stated.

It was not straight away very clear if the breakdown in the Cal State Implement method and the UC equivalent ended up because of entirely to an overload in traffic or if a diverse technical issue experienced influenced every single.

The pc procedure woes triggered stress amongst college students and mothers and fathers, who voiced considerations on Twitter in an attempt to get clarity. Zaid Argand, 20, mentioned it took him two hrs to submit payment inside the Cal Condition technique soon after distributing his software.

“Multiple glitches transpired when it was processing, but it lastly labored,” Argand said.

Even immediately after the college systems announced an extension, learners ongoing to voice fears that one a lot more working day wouldn’t be plenty of, as they ongoing to get bumped from the software portals Tuesday night.

“A deadline extension does not make a difference if the web page doesn’t do the job thoroughly,” one applicant wrote.

Tweets in all caps, pleas for clarity and sobbing emojis loaded the universities’ responses — as did gratitude for the extension.

However, others questioned irrespective of whether an extension would make a variation if the servers weren’t confirmed to manage the inflow.

Both of those systems’ portals to fill out programs opened on Aug. 1.

UC admissions officers have been urging pupils for months not to hold out till the final moment to post their apps, noting that laptops can die or Web accessibility can minimize out.

The UC method observed record-placing apps for drop 2021, with improves amongst