KPM Analytics has released UCAL 5, a near-infrared (NIR) calibration platform for its SpectraStar XT Series analyzers. A patent-pending guided workflow takes users from a KPM calibration library to a published calibration for their own products in four steps, while the software reviews the work against recommendations from ASTM E1655 and ISO 12099.
That review falls to UCAL Insight. At each step it checks whether there are enough samples, how well the laboratory values cover the required range, and whether new samples confirm the calibration. Each point is marked green, yellow, or red with an explanation of what to check. The marks are suggestions, and the user makes the call.
UCAL Autopilot adds a second opinion. With it switched on, the software tries several methods, builds its own calibration from the same data, and lists every setting that differs from the user's choices. After validation, the user compares the two calibrations property by property and decides which to publish. For QA managers and lab analysts who maintain NIR calibrations without formal chemometrics training, that comparison is the practical change. Fifteen in-software lessons cover what a calibration is, how it is judged, and why calibrations go wrong.
"Most calibrations do not fail because the math is wrong," said Yuegang Zhao, President of KPM Lab Solutions and Chief Commercial Officer at KPM Analytics. "They fail because the samples did not cover the range, or because nobody checked the calibration against new samples before it went on the instrument."
The four steps are collecting data, cleaning it and building the calibration in the Workbench, validating against samples the model has not seen, and combining results into one published file. Every adjustment is saved apart from the original files. Users can start from any of the more than 250 calibrations in the KPM Analytics Web Store for food, feed, and agricultural products, sold by property or in one of 15 bundles. A calibration library bought with its spectra opens directly in UCAL 5.
UCAL 5 comes in three editions. Lite is included with new SpectraStar XT analyzers and offers four calibration methods and up to 500 samples from the user's own files, with no limit on KPM library files. Pro offers 18 methods, including Modified PLS and three neural networks, plus tools for sample selection and instrument standardization, with no sample limit. Enterprise runs Pro on a company server through a web browser and is licensed per user, with projects set as private or shared. UCAL 5 opens UCAL 4 files directly, and UCAL 4 users can upgrade to Pro at a discount.
A 30-day free trial of UCAL 5 Pro, Lite licenses, and calibrations are available now to current SpectraStar XT users through the KPM store. Pro and Enterprise licenses are sold by KPM Analytics and its authorized distributors. Finished calibrations can be loaded onto every connected analyzer in an organization through KPMLink cloud-based management software, and all editions ship in 11 languages.
