Center at NDSU Contributes to Product Featured on Henry Ford's Innovation Nation

Newswise — Ever lose track of things like your phone, keys, laptops or other essentials? A product from California-based start-up company Phone Halo, LLC called TrackR bravo which allows you to keep track of things via your smartphone is scheduled to be featured on Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation with Mo Rocca on CBS stations on Saturday, Nov. 8.* Developers from the Center for Sensors, Communications and Control (CSCC) at North Dakota State University played a role in the product’s development. *Check your local TV listings for airtime. Scheduled air on KXJB-TV, Fargo, 10 a.m. CST. CSCC located at NDSU assisted in developing TrackR bravo through the North Dakota Economic Development Centers of Excellence (COE) program. The state’s COE program partners research and development hubs across North Dakota’s university and college campuses with private companies to stimulate technology-led economic development. The project team at NDSU over the past two years included John Asperin, Andrew Jacobson, Matt Noah, and James Walsh, in addition to NDSU computer science and electrical and computer engineering undergraduate students Chris Barnick, Hazen, North Dakota, Dominic Marks, Tyndall, South Dakota, and graduate student Usman Shahid, Muldan, Pakistan. An NDSU senior design team comprised of electrical and computer engineering undergraduate students Daniel Bitzan, Moorhead, Minnesota, Nathan Groenner, St. Cloud, Minnesota, and Ruisi Ge, HengYang, China, is also working on a different project with Phone Halo as part of their senior design project. The Santa Barbara-based company makes small tracking devices and software for retail and enterprise markets. The CSCC provides expertise in sensor integration, systems engineering and software applications. The majority of the project with Phone Halo dealt with smartphone software research and development. Companies that have participated in the COE program match $2 for every $1 provided by a grant through North Dakota’s Economic Development Centers of Excellence program. With 52 approved Centers of Excellence, the COE program has contributed $691.1 million in estimated economic impact to North Dakota’s economy, according to the state’s Department of Commerce. “Expertise available at NDSU through the Centers of Excellence program provides opportunities to showcase technology talent available in the state, as well as offer unique opportunities for students to participate in product development,” said Kelly A. Rusch, vice president for research and creative activity at NDSU. ABOUT NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY and CSCCThe NDSU Research and Technology Park and Technology Incubator are home to fast-paced, high-growth companies that promote technology-based economic development in North Dakota. At the 55-acre NDSU Research & Technology Park, faculty, staff and students work with private sector researchers on leading-edge projects. NDSU, Fargo, North Dakota, USA, is notably listed among the top 108 U.S. public and private universities in the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education’s category of “Research Universities/Very High Research Activity.” The Center for Sensors, Communications and Control is a North Dakota Centers of Excellence center located at North Dakota State University, as part of the Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering. ABOUT PHONE HALO and TrackR TrackR is a consumer electronics company that creates small, coin-sized item-tracking devices for your keys, pets, wallet, and more. There are 2 TrackR devices on the market now - Wallet TrackR, which has a slim profile and can easily slip inside your wallet or purse; StickR TrackR, a button-sized device that can latch on to any device or item as well as stick with an adhesive pad; and TrackR’s latest device, TrackR bravo, which releases in January. TrackR bravo recently raised $1.25 million on Indiegogo, making it one of the most successful projects on the site to date. All devices use low-energy Bluetooth and Crowd GPS technology to locate your lost items in seconds. Users can ring their TrackR to find it, get separation alerts when their items get too far, and even make their phone ring on silent when they press the button on their TrackR. When items go beyond Bluetooth range, users can get GPS updates on their item’s location via TrackR’s Crowd GPS Network, which is the largest in the world with over 5.3 million users.