NASA representatives completed visits with Delta Air Lines facilities and the Auburn Radio Frequency Identification Laboratory at Auburn University in February to further the collaborative exchange of knowledge between the three organizations. The Auburn RFID Laboratory has a strong relationship with NASA and Delta Air Lines that stems from mutual determination to garner innovation within their unique industries, and is rooted in research, technology, and collaboration. Delta Air Lines has successfully implemented different RFID technologies across their entire business model, and these strategies have the potential to aid NASA here on Earth and with future missions to the Moon and beyond. Bianca Rhym, Research and Technology Studies Manager for NASA’s Gateway Deep Space Logistics, is a vital part of this innovative relationship and will be speaking at the lab’s annual RFID Conference in April.  

The 2025 RFID Conference and Source Tagging Workshop hosted by the Auburn RFID Lab is quickly approaching. This year’s conference will take place April 8th through the 10th and is open to end users and tag suppliers alike. Industry leaders and guest speakers will lead sessions covering the growth of RFID and new exciting developments within the field. Representatives from companies such as Carters, NASA, and FedEx will be hosting mini-tracks and participating in panels to answer any questions guests may have about their experience with RFID and how their companies have benefitted from the technology.

Whether you are new to the RFID industry, or have been a proud member for decades, there will be plenty of opportunities to learn and connect within the RFID Industry. There will be chances for anyone interested to tour the Auburn RFID Lab and get a closer look at the groundbreaking work of our staff and students. The Auburn RFID Lab is very excited to host all our guests, and we are looking forward to seeing everyone in April! 

The Auburn RFID Lab is excited to announce the 2025 Source Tagging Workshop! The workshop will be held in Auburn, AL from April 8th through 10th, 2025. We are thrilled to announce that John Furner, President and CEO of Walmart U.S., will be delivering the keynote address at the conference! The conference features sessions from companies HanesBrands, Delta Air Lines, UPS, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Carter’s, and more, and will focus on alignment across industries for the future of RFID and other sensor solutions.Auburn RFID Lab Industry Conference topics will include: Retail, Aerospace, Logistics, and Data

Source Tagging Workshop Sessions will focus on Supplier source tagging and Label and packaging provider resources. Please visit the link below to register

Our next senior spotlight features Gavin Hardgrave, an upcoming December graduate who has been with the lab for over four years. Gavin is currently the team lead of the Lab’s A-Team and has had many different responsibilities over his time at the lab; some of which include leading lab tours, in-lab testing, and out of lab testing. Gavin’s contribution to A-Team is invaluable and his teammates are the first people to agree. Brandon Huff, an additional A-Team member, looks to Gavin as a mentor, saying “He’s a great leader who, over the course of my time at the lab, has become a close friend.” 

Over the summer Gavin spent 12 weeks as an inventory analyst for Target, in his time as an intern he gained many useful skills that have helped with his position at the lab as well as future job opportunities. Gavin is currently studying information systems management and plans to enter the workforce upon graduating in December. When asked what he will miss most about the lab, Gavin said the people and all around culture that comes with working for the lab. 

Our first student spotlight features Camden Davis, who has worked for the lab for over two years and Graduated from Auburn University in May of 2024. During Camden’s time at the lab, he has been part of the Data Team, specifically focusing on the front and back-end development for the lab’s supply chain management web application. Specific tasks Camden completes include designing and building clean and functional UI as well as creating algorithms to sort and organize data while managing said data in a database. 

Camden graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and is currently looking for job opportunities in the data and networks field. When asked what he will miss most about working at the Auburn University RFID Lab, Camden said, “I will miss working with fellow students. It was nice knowing that most of the people I work with are all taking similar classes at the same college alongside me.” Camden has been an irreplaceable asset during his time at the lab and his coworkers and peers are very proud of his many accomplishments.

As the Auburn football team prepares to play against the University of Arkansas, there is no better time to look back at the lab’s history and growth over the past two decades. While the lab has been connected to Auburn University since 2010, it was originally founded by Bill Hardgrave at the University of Arkansas in 2005. During his time as a professor at Arkansas, Hardgrave, along with his then graduate student Justin Patton and Senthil CP, created the RFID Research Institute. When Patton and Senthil graduated, they continued with the lab and followed along as Hardgrave became Dean of the Harbert College of Business in Auburn. In a span of five years, the lab transitioned fully to Auburn, and as Hardgrave worked on growing the business school, Patton served as the Lab Director and Senthil as Technical Director. Since 2014, when the lab was completely transitioned to Auburn, the amount of growth in the RFID field has been immeasurable, but Hardgrave, Patton, and Senthil credit the University of Arkansas not only for their education, but also for the support needed to create the RFID Lab in the first place. 

While the Lab is located in Auburn, there is a team from the lab based in Bentonville, Arkansas that works with industry partner Walmart. These hands-on developments happening at Walmart headquarters are vital to the success and growth of the lab and its partnerships. When asked about his time spent in Arkansas, Justin Patton said “My time as a graduate student at the University of Arkansas changed my life. Without Arkansas I would have never met Bill Hardgrave or helped create the lab. I cannot imagine a different path for my life and I am forever indebted to that school and town.” The opportunity to move the lab opened many doors for Hardgrave, Patton, and Senthil to expand their dream and become a powerhouse in the RFID world. Everyone here at the lab is very appreciative of the University of Arkansas for creating the foundation for the Auburn University RFID Laboratory, and in regards to the football game on Saturday…War Eagle and Go Tigers! 

Meet the Auburn University RFID Lab’s VR team! Based in one of the lab’s off campus locations (nicknamed the Little Lab), the VR team’s main focus is to successfully combine RFID sensors and virtual reality to create a seamless transition from the real world to the virtual. The Buzz team sat down with a few members of the VR team on Monday, July 1st and got some exciting information on their current projects.

The RFID Lab VR team was first created right after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down regular lab operations in 2020 and their first project was creating Lab Tour, a virtual tours of the lab when in-person interactions were not possible. The lab’s original goal for creating Lab Tour was a success, but the team was quick to work towards ideas for the future.

The second focus for the VR team was to create a virtual reality that could be used in the lab to represent RFID waves in a visual way that did not exist beforehand. Now, the team is not only working on content for people who cannot physically visit the lab, but has plans to include enhancing in-person lab tours by incorporating the VR technology into our existing demonstrations. Lab director Justin introduced the idea of turning Lab Tour into a multiplayer experience, but there was not an easy answer for this request. “One of the biggest issues that Lab Tour ever faced was transitioning from a single player project to a multiplayer project,” said Team Lead Harper. The creation of single player and multiplayer VR systems are two very different experiences so the team had to face some trial and error over the course of this entire project. Even though it was a tedious process, the team made the shift successfully and is now working to fine tune their projects to create an exciting environment for the lab’s VR users.

With many new projects and ideas on the horizon, the VR team shared some of the most important points they have learned over their differing times at the lab. A popular answer for this question was that it was very important for the team to create the most visually appealing VR possible. A big goal of the team is to “wow” visitors of the lab and an important aspect of that is the visual soundness of their technology. When asked about adjusting to new technology and the VR world in general, team member Daniel felt that “It took quite a lot of studying and being guided through what we already had to make adjustments without messing anything up.” This team works in a uniquely hands-on environment every day that changes with the needs of the lab and the projects they are currently working on. This learning experience includes gaining new information on coding, 3D animation, new software and hardware systems, and answering the question of what will draw consumers into the VR demonstrations of the lab’s RFID process.

The VR team is looking forward to the work they will be doing in the future, one of their main projects being the creation of a new and improved Lab Tour. The original Lab Tour was a huge success for not only the VR team, but the lab as a whole. It is with that knowledge of how useful Lab Tour was that the team wants to create a new and improved system that will further aid the lab in any way possible. The team will take a sanded down version of the original VR technology and meticulously change and improve different aspects. This “RF Playground” will be built from the ground up by the lab’s VR team, and will feature the best parts of past systems with the incorporation of exciting new ventures.

The team is excited at the prospect of this new project and how they will be able to incorporate their hard work from previous projects into future endeavors. The team cannot wait to get new programs up and running so more people can gain hands-on learning experience with RFID technology.

This week, the Lab was thrilled to receive new products to use for testing from Zebra! We are very thankful to Zebra for their generous donation, and we are excited to put all of these items to use.  

Our teams have been very excited to get their hands on this equipment! The A-Team, Alec, and Chamber teams will be using these products to explore supply chain optimization and inventory management. We look forward to all of the advancements this equipment will help our teams achieve, and are excited to hear more about the projects this equipment will be used for in the upcoming weeks.  

We are very thankful for Zebra’s generosity and their continued commitment to the advancement of RFID, and the education of the student workers in the lab.  

Meet Laura Reeder! Laura is the newest member of the RFID Lab and is joining the ARC team as a Program Manager. She graduated from UAB in 2011 with a degree in Excercise Science. After working as a Vet Tech, she moved to Auburn in 2014 and joined the School of Veterinary Science as a K9 instructor. There she worked on the Research and Development Team where she trained bomb sniffing dogs. After her work with the School of Veterinary Science, she began working at Publix, where she found her passion for managing people. She is now pursuing an Executive MBA at Auburn Univeristy, where she is honing her leadership skills and expanding her passion for working with people.

As Program Manager, Laura oversees the student operations of the ARC program. She organizes student schedules and makes sure that testing is running efficiently to ensure that the team is making good use of Auburn’s two testing chambers. Additionally, Laura makes sure that all of the various projects are adhering to their timelines and provides support to the student employees where needed. For Laura, each day looks a little different, but she is always working to ensure that the ARC Program is running smoothly.              

Laura and Kim have been married for six years and are proud pet parents. They have four dogs, peanut, Loulou, Bo, and Idgie, and one cat, Kya. In her free time, she likes to upcycle old furniture, camp, and spend time with her family. Laura’s go-to gas station snack is a bag of Gardettos Rye Chips and a Diet Coke. Her favorite Auburn tradition is the eagle flight before football games. We are so excited to welcome Laura to our team and can not wait to see the impact that she will have on the lab!

Meet Ann Lilly McDaniel, the team lead for our BUZZ team! Ann Lilly is a senior studying Apparel Merchandising and Supply Chain Management from Florence, Alabama. Ann Lilly has been working at the lab since August 2022. One of her favorite things about working in the lab is the opportunity to learn about retail technology daily! She also likes being able to work with people from different areas of Auburn’s Campus that she might not have met otherwise! After graduation, Ann Lilly hopes to work for a corporate retail company as either an inventory analyst or a buyer/planner. A fun fact about Ann Lilly is that she was actually raised an Alabama fan and chose to come to Auburn for school (she says it was the best decision ever, and we agree!) Her go to gas-station order is a pack of Sweet Tart Ropes and a Propel! We are so thankful for Ann Lilly and all the hard work that she does for the lab, and we hope you enjoyed getting to know her! Make sure to check back soon for more lab employee spotlights and other blog posts!!