Keysight Introduces Radar Scene Emulator Solution To Accelerate Path To Full Vehicle Autonomy

* Provides automotive OEMs with full-scene emulation to lab test complex, real-world scenarios

Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: KEYS), a leading technology company that delivers advanced design and validation solutions to help accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world, has introduced the Radar Scene Emulator, which enables automakers to lab test complex, real-world driving scenarios, accelerating the overall speed of test. Keysight will demonstrate the new Radar Scene Emulator for the first time at CES 2022, Booth #4169, Las Vegas Convention Center, West Hall.

Full-scene emulation in the lab is critical to developing the robust radar sensors and algorithms needed to realize advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS)/autonomous driving (AD) capabilities. Keysight's full-scene emulator combines hundreds of miniature radio frequency (RF) front ends into a scalable emulation screen representing up to 512 objects and distances as close as 1.5 meters. 

Automotive companies understand how complex it is to test autonomous driving algorithms, and the safety issues at stake. Using full scene rendering that emulates near and far targets across a wide continuous field of view (FOV), Keysight's Radar Scene Emulator enables customers to rapidly test automotive radar sensors integrated in autonomous driving systems with highly complex multi-target scenes.                                                                    

Keysight's Radar Scene Emulator allows customers to lab test driving scenarios as complex as the real-world, while emulating up to 512 radar objects and distances as close as 1.5 meters. 

Keysight's Radar Scene Emulator employs patented technology that shifts from an approach centered on object detection via target simulation to traffic scene emulation, offering automotive OEMs the following key benefits:

See the big picture: The Radar Scene Emulator allows radar sensors to see more with a wider, continuous FOV and supports both near and far targets. This eliminates the gaps in a radar's vision and enables improved training of algorithms to detect and differentiate multiple objects in dense, complex scenes. As a result, autonomous vehicle decisions can be made based on the complete picture, not just what the test equipment sees.

Test real-world complexity: Testing radar sensors against a limited number of targets provides an incomplete view of driving scenarios and masks the complexity of the real-world. Keysight's Radar Scene Emulator allows OEMs to emulate real-world driving scenes in the lab with variations of traffic density, speed, distance and total number of targets. Testing can be completed early for common to corner case scenes, while minimizing risk.

Accelerate learning: Keysight's Radar Scene Emulator provides a deterministic real-world environment for lab testing complex scenes that today can only be tested on the road. Its test approach allows OEMs to significantly accelerate ADAS/AD algorithm learning by testing scenarios earlier with complex repeatable high-density scenes, with objects stationary or in motion, varying environmental characteristics, while eliminating inefficiencies from manual or robotic automation.

Improved scene resolution: The ability to distinguish between obstacles on the road needs to be tested for a smooth and fast transition towards vehicle autonomy (i.e., Level 4 and 5 autonomy as designated by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)). Keysight addresses this technology gap with point clouds (multiple reflections per object), which improves resolution for each object.

"Keysight's Radar Scene Emulator offers automotive OEMs a breakthrough solution that will bring the road to the lab through full scene rendering," said Thomas Goetzl, vice president and general manager for Keysight's Automotive & Energy Solutions business unit. "The vision of fully autonomous vehicles is rapidly approaching, and we're thrilled to be accelerating this vision into a reality."

Keysight's Radar Scene Emulator is part of the company's Autonomous Drive Emulation (ADE) platform, created through a multi-year collaboration between Keysight, IPG Automotive and Nordsys. The ADE platform exercises ADAS and AD software through the rendering of predefined use cases that apply time-synchronized inputs to the actual sensors and subsystems in a car, such as the global navigation satellite system (GNSS), vehicle to everything (V2X), camera and radar. As an open platform, ADE enables automotive OEMs, and their partners, to focus on the development and testing of ADAS/AD systems and algorithms, including sensor fusion and decision-making algorithms. Automotive OEMs can integrate the platform with commercial 3D modeling, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) systems and existing test and simulation environments.

"Automotive companies understand the complexity involved with testing autonomous driving algorithms and the quality issues that can result if that testing falls short," said Cheryl Ajluni, director of Automotive Solutions Marketing at Keysight. "Keysight's new Radar Scene Emulator, with its unmatched level of resolution, represents a significant leap forward for ADAS/Autonomous driving developers who value safety first."

About Keysight Technologies 

Keysight delivers advanced design and validation solutions that help accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world. Keysight's dedication to speed and precision extends to software-driven insights and analytics that bring tomorrow's technology products to market faster across the development lifecycle, in design simulation, prototype validation, automated software testing, manufacturing analysis, and network performance optimization and visibility in enterprise, service provider and cloud environments. Our customers span the worldwide communications and industrial ecosystems, aerospace and defense, automotive, energy, semiconductor and general electronics markets. Keysight generated revenues of $4.2B in fiscal year 2020. For more information about Keysight Technologies (NYSE: KEYS), visit us at www.keysight.com.

Acer Announces Mega Sale On December 16-17 Exclusively On Brand Online Store

Highlights:

* Acer India brings the biggest sale on laptops and peripherals to its consumers - laptops on select models starting at Rs. 23,990 and discounts up to 67% on gaming devices & accessories

* The sale is on December 16-17, 2021

* Sale applicable exclusively on Acer online store

* Offers – up to Rs.40,000 off on gaming laptops, monitors starting at Rs. 7690, No cost EMI, 2 years extended warranty, 1-year accidental damage protection, and exchange offers

Acer India, the global PC brand has announced its biggest year-end sale- Loot Our Store Sale (L.O.S.S). The offers on products are in trend with the changing shopping trends. Offers will be available on select products between the 16th – 17th of December 2021.

With laptops and gadgets being an integral part of our lives during the hybrid model of work and education, there is no better occasion than now to gift yourself and your loved ones the power and usability of an Acer Device. To end 2021 happier and better Acer has curated offers on their online store, enabling their customer's great benefits across all the categories of laptops, monitors, tablets, and accessories. 

Choose from a wide range of products with offers like laptops starting at Rs. 23,990 and enjoy discounts up to 67% on gaming accessories and up to Rs. 40,000 off on gaming laptops, free Nitro headset with purchase of Acer tablet and monitors starting from Rs. 7690. The limited-time sale also has offers like no cost EMI with 2 years of extended warranty and 1 year of accidental damage protection. During the sale, customers can also avail the exchange offers.

Acer’s range of laptops, tablets, Air Purifiers, monitors, projectors and more gives customers a gamut of choices to meet their technology requirements, and the exciting offers are an added delight to the festive shopper’s spirit.

Collegedekho.com Forays Into Ed-FinTech Vertical Offering Financial Solutions At Zero Percent EMI For Students

* Aims to provide end-to-end financing support for students studying within India or even abroad 

* The facility covers almost1000 colleges across India and aims at covering 2500+ colleges in the upcoming academic year ensuring access to even the smallest towns  

CollegeDekho, India’s largest college admissions and higher education services platform has recently forayed into the Ed-FinTech vertical. The foray into a new vertical makes CollegeDekho India’s first and only EdTech company offering end-to-end financial solutions at zero percent EMI for students studying either within India or abroad. This is a single digital journey for students who have their documentation available online as the web-based loan marketplace covers the entire loan sanction process and helps them get instant approval and disbursal within one day.  

The company will look to cater to the financial needs of students and parents across India to help them achieve their educational goals. Initially launched as a pilot, CollegeDekho worked closely with Colleges and students to make the Ed-FinTech solution inclusive and easy to apply for. This service today covers almost 1000 partner colleges and is aiming to extend to 2500+ colleges by the coming academic year which will cover 80%+ of the well known Colleges in India.  

Commenting on the launch, Ruchir Arora, Co-Founder & CEO, CollegeDekho said optimistically, “We aim to make the loan process as easy as possible for all the students applying for higher education. The main highlight of our vertical is the zero percent EMI facility for students applying for studies in India or even abroad. This puts us as a front-runner in the Ed-FinTech vertical keeping with our mission of simplifying the higher education journey for students by bringing a positive change.”  

This unique zero interest financial offering is already available with CollegeDekho’s partner colleges and is aimed to ease the financial burden of the students as they have to pay back only the principal amount in fixed installments.  CollegeDekho Consultants will also be helping students and parents throughout the loan application process, especially in scenarios where entire data is not readily available or the applicants have their documentation in a physical format. In this case, guidance is provided in terms of the application process along with loan sanctions through follow-ups with the respective NBFCs. This facility covers colleges across India which ensures that even the smallest town or city in the country can avail this feature. 

Leaving no stone unturned, the company has partnered with multiple financial partners to increase approval rates. This feature allows the company to underwrite and successfully service different kinds of borrower profiles. The borrower profiles covered are a wide range starting from the salaried, self-employed, farmers and even Gold loan aspirants among many others. Finally, the working capital product for colleges provides an unsecured working capital loan to a college based on their past performance. This benefits the college as it can increase its capacity utilization without any extra cost being incurred. 

Tenzin Thargay, SVP & Head Fintech vertical added, “Our motive is to create a platform which connects students, colleges, Banks and NBFCs to create a seamless borrowing experience. We are using the power of data to help lenders improve risk assessment and hence improve end pricing. This is a space where currently lenders are not able to access meaningful data beyond the top 100 colleges and only a platform like CollegeDekho can bring the stakeholders together.” 

About CollegeDekho –  

India’s largest Ed-Tech platform for higher education services. Since its inception in 2015, CollegeDekho has counselled more than 2 million students and has helped almost 1000 colleges with their student recruitments. With more than 100 million sessions on its website in 2020, CollegeDekho is also proud of owning India’s largest common application form platform (CAF) which has serviced more than half a million applications by 2020. CollegeDekho also offers a full range of Study Abroad services from discovery to admission. The latest introduction of Ed-Fin-Tech offerings are powered by a simple vision to help each student get access to higher education of their choice. (www.collegedekho.com)  

TECNO Launches The All-New SPARK 8T With Segment Breaking 50 MP AI Dual Rear Camera & 6.6” Full HD Display

* Available in four new exciting colors including Iris Purple, Atlantic blue, Turquoise Cyan & Cocoa Gold, the all-new SPARK 8T can be purchased on Amazon Specials starting 15th Dec, ‘21.

TECNO, the global premium smartphone brand, is back to doing what it does best – break the mould with segment first features that have enabled the company to consolidate its position among top 5 smartphone players in the 5-10k segment. Launching yet another all-rounder smartphone under its most popular ‘Spark series’ portfolio, the all-new Spark 8T is priced at an aggressive Rs. 8,999. Equipped with disruptive features such as a segment-first 50MP AI Dual Rear High-resolution camera,  6.6 FHD Display, Helio G35 Processor which is specially created for gaming, and a massive 5000 mAh battery. SPARK 8T is designed to give an all-rounded entertainment experience to its Gen Z customers across India.

Smartphones in the SPARK series are known for their superior camera, display, and overall smartphone experience in the affordable segment. The TECNO Spark 8T is a major upgrade of the Spark 7T, the introduction of this new smartphone will further elevate the entertainment quotient of TECNO smartphones. The all-new Spark 8T becomes the first in this segment to offer 50MP AI Dual Rear Camera with Quad Flash a premium camera design with Integrated FP sensor for HD Clear Photography with features like 1080P time lapse and 120fps Slow motion for a professional photography experience. Along with that Spark 8T flaunts a 6.6FHD+ Display, with 5000mAh battery and an 8MP Selfie Camera, all this packed in a premium attractive design in vibrant colors.

Commenting on the launch, Arijeet Talapatra, CEO of TRANSSION India, said, “At TECNO, we are constantly pushing the boundary to make cutting-edge mobile camera technology available to everyone at affordable prices. With the SPARK series, our strategy is to continue to focus on smartphones that disrupt the budget and mid-budget segments with industry-leading specifications at unmatched price points. The latest Spark 8T has been designed keeping in mind the need of the hour requirements of the Gen Z. We are confident with the all-new Spark 8T we will be successful in meeting the entertainment needs of the aspirational Bharat. “

Spark 8T will be available in four new colors namely Iris Purple, Atlantic blue, Turquoise Cyan and Cocoa Gold

Key USP’s of SPARK 8T:

Segment breaking 50MP High Resolution Camera

The rear camera of the SPARK 8T is equipped with a segment-first 50MP AI Dual Rear Camera with F1.6 aperture which can click super clear shots even in low light. It features various professional photography and videography modes such as Video Bokeh, Smart Portrait, AI Beauty, AR Animoji and Stickers, Google Lens, Time-lapse, Slow Motion and many more

6.6" FHD+ Perfect display

Spark 8T features a big 6.6" Full HD+ display which is quite handy. The 500 nits brightness resolution makes the screen vibrant and better for day light. The 91.3% screen to body ratio gives you a near bezel less experience

Flaunt your style with New metal coding design

The perfect blend of the bold, appealing and energetic, sleek, youth centric design of the Spark8T makes one feel like a fashion icon. The Integrated rear camera design and thinner side lines bring higher visual recognition and product value. The visually slim Spark 8T with cutting edge NCVM coloring process gives it a further unique and premium feel.

5000mAh powerful battery with optimized Ultra Power saving Mode

Spark 8T offers a powerful 5000mAh battery that gives an uninterrupted smartphone experience for a long duration on a single charge. Its optimized power saving modes give you a step ahead battery backup. This huge battery gives a whopping 38 days standby, 122 hours of music playback and 40 hours of calling time

Helio G35 gaming Processor for smooth experience

Spark 8T is equipped with 2.3Ghz octa core Helio G35 gaming processor which is ample for robust usage. Its Hyperengine technology enhances users gaming experience and automatic super boost features ensures smooth and lag free operations for easy multi-tasking.

Enhanced audio experience with a DTS Sound SOPLAY 2.0

Spark 8T comes loaded with exciting audio features such as a DTS Sound SOPLAY 2.0 for music producer that supports Voice recording, Lyrics Writing and One-Click Ringtone and the best part is that it doesn’t even require internet! All this with HiOS 7.6 based on Android 11, the latest android with localized features such as Vault 2.0, Smart Panel 2.0, Kids Mode, Social Turbo Dark theme, Parental control, Digital Wellbeing, Gesture Call Picker and many more making Spark 8T a perfect buy for the Gen Z in the sub 10k segment.

Meta, CBSE Expand Partnership To Enable Over 10 Million Students To Embrace Immersive Technology

* This partnership will help equip our teachers with requisite skills to effectively use online tools for student engagement

Meta (formerly Facebook) on Wednesday said it will expand its partnership with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to provide a curriculum on digital safety and online well-being and augmented reality (AR) for over 10 million students and 1 million educators in the country over the next three years.

Additionally, in line with the government's vision of universalizing education, Meta and CBSE will democratise the high school curriculum by allowing students access to quality educational content online through modules which would be made available on CBSE's website.

The announcement was made by Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg at Meta's Fuel for India, 2021.

"I'm really excited about this partnership and I think it's a huge opportunity to (invest in) this entrepreneurial spirit and bring some of these tools around the metaverse, and training to the education system here in India,? he said.

The first phase of ?FB for Education' initiative was launched in June 2020, aimed at preparing students and teachers for the future of work and creating a safe online environment and learning experience.

It witnessed over 500,000 students show interest for digital safety and online well-being and more than 14,000 teachers apply for training in augmented reality.

The partnership will also aim to empower educators with new age tools and skills needed to nurture the Generation Z and Generation Alpha students into responsible digital citizens.

Aligned to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, Meta and CBSE will collaborate on content curation and development of curriculum integrating immersive technologies, AR and Virtual Reality (VR) that is relevant for the evolving digital landscape by introducing these as skills subjects for students.

By integrating AR experiences into the curriculum, students will be able to collaborate more actively and create using emerging technologies of the future. Immersive education will also enable students with different learning challenges and lack of access to lab resources to learn in an engaging manner.

CBSE will aim to empower students in the under-served regions of India through its community skill centers making these new age skills available to the youth and help them become creators in the digital economy through equitable access to resources.

Dr Biswajit Saha, Director (Skills Education and Trainings) at CBSE, said the pandemic has impacted lives all around.

The learning process has undergone an unforeseen shift. This drastic change has brought along a wall of challenges in facilitating the process of learning. With the assistance of Meta, we hope to build on our online teaching and curriculum capabilities and make them available to students across the country,? Saha added.

This partnership will help equip our teachers with requisite skills to effectively use online tools for student engagement, Saha noted.

Amazon Food Brings In The Third Chapter Of ‘Great Foodie Fest’ In Bengaluru From December 17–26, 2021

* 10 days of the biggest food fiesta with great discounts, cashbacks and rewards worth INR 60K up for grabs!

Amazon Food announces the third edition of the ‘Great Foodie Fest’ – a food gala starting December 17 - 26, 2021 in Bengaluru. This unique food festival offers customers an opportunity to enjoy great discounts and cashbacks on delicious orders from over 5,500 hygiene certified restaurants with convenient doorstep delivery. Customers will not be charged any packaging fees and Prime members can avail FREE delivery on every order.

Similar to the last 2 chapters, this time too, customers in Bengaluru can take part in the first ever inter-neighbourhood food face-off which they can enter by simply placing an order during the Great Foodie Fest. Customers across Bengaluru have been divided into 5 teams based on their location – Masthu WESTERN Munchers, Bombat EASTERN Belters, Sakath SOUTH Snackers, Namma NORTH Crunchers and Sooper CENTRAL Gobblers. The neighbourhood team with the maximum number of orders at the end of the food fest wins the face-off. All participants from the winning team will be rewarded with INR 1,000 cashback coupon, while Prime members will get INR 1,500 cashback coupon. Customers can redeem these coupons on their subsequent orders on Amazon Food.

During the ‘Great Foodie Fest’, customers can order and enjoy great deals from top brands like Freshmenu, Baskin Robbins, Ovenstory amongst others as well as city favorites such as Beijing Bites, Meghana Foods, Anand Sweets and many more.

Great Foodie Fest intends to recreate the experience of food carnivals that customers can enjoy from the comfort of their home. Apart from the inter-neighbourhood face-off, customers can play games and win coupons, watch chefs reveal secrets behind Bengaluru’s most iconic dishes and much more during the 10-day fest. Additionally, customers have an opportunity to grab rewards worth Rs. 60,000!

Amazon Food can be accessed on the Amazon.in app by clicking on the ‘Food’ icon on the homepage or by simply searching for ’Amazon Food’. 

India’s Leading Payment Technology Platform - Juspay - Raises $60 Million in Series C funding Led By SoftBank Vision Fund 2

* Juspay processes 300 million online transactions per month with gross value of over $5 Billion; has highest number of payment SDK installed across 250 million mobile phones

Juspay Technologies, the pioneers of 1-click frictionless digital payments in India, today announced USD 60 million in Series C funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 with participation from existing investors VEF and Wellington Management.

Founded in 2012, Juspay is on a mission to build a robust payments operating system for India. It has played a pivotal role in improving the user experience for billions of payment transactions for leading merchants like Amazon, Flipkart and Swiggy. Today, the bulk of mobile payments in India go through Juspay’s platform. It processes 11 million transactions per day, one of the highest in India, with best-in-class reliability.

Juspay’s solutions have transformed the 3 important layers of payments: customer experience, payments integration, and the foundational bank infrastructure. Its notable inventions include Juspay Safe - world’s first payment browser that simplifies payment authentication, HyperSDK - the largest payments SDK distribution installed across 250 million mobile phones, and Express Checkout - India’s leading payments orchestration platform to boost transaction success rates.

On this occasion, Vimal Kumar, the founder & CEO of Juspay said: “?Juspay has been in the forefront, building foundational infrastructure by unifying and enhancing hundreds of diverse payment options in a neutral way. We believe in ecosystem innovations like UPI and OCEN (Open Credit Enablement Network) and have built a deep value-driven culture to support such initiatives. This funding will help us scale up our mission in India and expand globally.”

Speaking about the funding, Vishal Gupta, Director, SoftBank Investment Advisers, said: “Juspay is one of the most innovative deep tech companies in India’s fast growing digital payments market. It is solving the complex needs of an evolving fintech ecosystem. We believe in Juspay’s vision to simplify payments for billions of people globally and deliver higher revenue at lower cost for merchants.”

Juspay, one of the earliest proponents of UPI, has a suite of UPI products for merchants, banks and ecosystem players. Its flagship product “UPI In a Box'' offers a highly reliable UPI stack which powers Amazon, Cred, Swiggy & others. It also offers On-Cloud UPI PSP which powers the UPI stack for banks like Axis Bank and Yes Bank. Juspay is also a strong contributor to improve the financial ecosystem for India. It was the key development contributor of BHIM App, GeM SAHAY (offers credit facility for Government eMarketplace) and BECKN protocol (community initiative to create open digital commerce networks).

Juspay intends to invest the funds in technology and product development to scale its business in payments and product adjacencies like credit - both in India and globally. Avendus Capital has advised Juspay in this funding round.

About JUSPAY: Founded in 2012, Juspay offers an intelligent technology platform that unifies payment gateways to give merchants a seamless, secure, reliable, end-to-end, enterprise-grade payment stack to achieve higher revenue at lower cost. Its products include Juspay Safe - world’s first payment browser that simplifies payment authentication with features like OTP auto-read and device based authentication for fast and secure payments, HyperSDK - the largest payments SDK distribution that enables merchant agility with instant app update capabilities and a fully customisable native payment experience, Express Checkout - India’s leading payments orchestration platform with over hundreds payment options and smart routing systems to boost transaction success rates for merchants, UPI in a Box - a highly reliable UPI stack for merchants and a first of its kind, On-Cloud UPI PSP (Payment Service Provider) to power large transaction volumes for banks. Juspay counts Amazon, Flipkart, Cred, Swiggy, Tata, Airtel, Vodafone, Jio, ICICI Prudential, BigBasket, Pharmeasy, Ola, Uber, MPL, UrbanCompany, Digit, Acko, MakeMyTrip, RedBus, BookMyShow, PhonePe and Unacademy among others as its customers.