June 27, 2011 
Unique Solutions Ltd. to use body scanning data to enhance clothing fit and health
RICHLAND, Wash. - Battelle has granted an exclusive license for a technology that will help clothing shoppers find better fitting clothes easily and quickly, as well as assess their overall fitness.
Unique Solutions Limited projects to revolutionize the apparel industry by introducing scanning kiosks near retail locations that provide quick and accurate sizing information. The kiosks will inform shoppers - at no cost - on the best fitting and most flattering styles from many of the biggest brand name apparel lines. Unique Solutions has launched this service at the biggest retail shopping mall in the U.S. - King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania. Additional installations are planned around the country and ultimately Unique Solutions is expected to have the biggest database of body measurements in existence.
The 3-D body holographic technology employed in the kiosks is based on scanning technology initially designed to protect air travelers. The technology, which was developed at Pacific Northwest National Lab in Richland, Wash., utilizes harmless millimeter waves that penetrate clothing and reflect off of the body, sending signals back to a transceiver. The transceiver then sends the signals to a high-speed computer, which then can reconstruct them to create a visualization tool for security applications or compile a detailed series of body measurements for clothing fitting and health/wellness applications.
The PNNL-developed technology was previously licensed by Battelle for use in security applications and is currently being deployed by the Transportation Security Administration in airports across the United States, where it can rapidly identify hidden objects - including plastic, ceramic and other non-metallic weapons. It has its roots in three-dimensional holograph imagery created at PNNL in the 1970s for nondestructive evaluation of nuclear reactors. In 2004, the technology won the prestigious R&D Magazine's Editor's Choice Award as "Most Promising New Technology."
The scanning systems can also be used to quickly and accurately collect useful and relevant body measurement data during the scanning process. This data can then be used by the customer for a variety of purposes, including clothing fitting, but also eventually for helping individuals track their fitness and wellness goals.
For more information about the scanner, visit PNNL's Accessible Technologies website.
Unique Solutions is headquartered in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, with offices in Long Beach, California and manufacturing sites in the United States.
Battelle is the world's biggest independent research and development organization with 22,000 employees in in excess of 130 locations worldwide. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Battelle manages or co-manages 6 national labs for the D.O.E., including Pacific Northwest National Lab.
Tags: National Security, Technology Transfer and Commercialization, Commercial Partnerships
Pacific Northwest National Lab is a D.O.E. Office of Science national Lab where interdisciplinary teams advance science and technology and deliver solutions to America's most intractable problems in energy, the environment and national security. PNNL employs 4,900 staff, has an yearly budget of nearly $1.1 billion, and has been managed by Ohio-based Battelle since the lab's inception in 1965. Follow PNNL on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
