Auburn University Launches Aviation and Aerospace Research Lab
In early March Auburn University launched a new Aviation and Aerospace ID Lab targeted at developing technologies to offer supply chain industry solutions. The lab is part of Auburn’s Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Lab which also includes retail, supply chain, and manufacturing. Guided by a public-private partnership, the lab will be equipped for various types of research using sensor technology, including Bluetooth and low-energy computer vision. Lab Design News spoke to Tom Rogers, the managing director of Aviation & Aerospace at Auburn University about the new research facility.
Credit: Auburn University Office of Communication Services
Q: Could you start by telling me a bit about yourself, and the work that you do?
A: My background is in aviation. I've been in the aviation industry for over 10 years. I started out as a pilot. I worked in flight training operations for a long time. That's been the majority of my career, working with training pilots all the way from private pilot through commercial multi-engine standards. I've worked with both domestic and international airlines, training pilots to go overseas and here domestically as well.I was the chief pilot for a flight school in the Atlanta area for a while, and then I also worked in business development for other flight schools.
Credit: Auburn University Office of Communication Services
I've been in the flight training space for most of my career. In that experience, I've worked with a lot of airlines and industry partners, so I'm very familiar with the operational side of the aviation industry.
Now I am with the RFID lab. I started here about six months ago and using that operational experience and applying it to the technology side of what these industry partners are looking for.
So just overseeing and managing our industry partnerships, we're on soft funding here at the lab. We rely on contracts and industry partnerships with both commercial aviation and aerospace. Just overseeing and managing those relationships is primarily what I'm focused on now, but also managing the research projects and the students that we have working for us here in the lab as well.
Q: It was mentioned that the lab is made to help promote the implementation of serialized identification technologies. Could you speak a little bit about how the design or how the lab would help support that mission?
A: I know that we're [currently] called the RFID lab, but we're actually in the middle of transitioning to an institute model. We're breaking it out into different divisions. I'm over the aviation and aerospace division. We also will have a food and beverage division and a retail division. Retail has been the primary application for RFID technology over the last five to 10 years but there are a lot of use cases and implementation [potential within other industries].
In the aviation aerospace industry, what we're focused on really is not just RFID. We're looking for any sort of sensor technology that we can put together to utilize for certain applications in commercial aviation, [and] aerospace. We use computer vision, LIDAR, Bluetooth, [and] camera vision. RFID and anything that we can put together and utilize to help create more efficient, safer operations on both sides of the [aviation and aerospace] industries, that's what we're trying to do.
Q: When the lab was first designed, what was the vision?
Credit: Auburn University Office of Communication Services
A: The RFID lab started in 2004 at the University of Arkansas. Then in 2014, they moved here to Auburn, so the RFID lab has been here at Auburn since 2014. As I mentioned earlier, they have been primarily focused on just RFID technology in the retail space. Walmart has been a big customer for years. That was a big reason that the lab grew a lot in the early years, but now [we have] grown so much. I started here about six months ago, so they brought me on to the team to oversee aviation and aerospace and we want to build out these different divisions, and not just be solely focus on retail anymore. When they brought me on my vision for the lab is that I would like for Auburn to be the go-to institute in the industry when it comes to sensor technology. I want [all industry partners] to come to us when they're looking at implementing any sort of sensor technology. I want us to be the authority on that. We have a lot of programs here in the lab already that are very influential [in] the RFID industry already. All the manufacturers and suppliers and people who are utilizing the RFID tags themselves, have to send them here to the lab to be validated. In a lot of ways, the industry kind of runs through Auburn, and [we’re] not the only one who do this type of thing, but we are probably the biggest one. We've created a pretty good reputation in the sensor technology space thus far and focusing on just aviation aerospace, I want to take everything that the lab has been good at when it comes to sensor technology and take that and apply it to what we're doing in aviation and build upon it. My vision is to be able to bridge that gap between space and commercial aviation. So that's what I'm working on right now is creating these relationships on both sides of the industry. Bringing those people together and figuring out how we can port this technology between the two.
Q: How does sustainability inform your lab performance?
A: Sustainability is very big; every industry is focused on sustainability now. In manufacturing the tags, a lot of what we do on the validation side here is we figure out what tags are best to use on certain products and cases of where to place the tag on the product. A lot of the manufacturers are really focused on the sustainability side. When it comes to the lab, we're more of an application lab. We focus more on the business case and the use cases for how we can utilize the tags. The manufacturers are really the ones who supply that sustainability side of it, but we do want to take that from the manufacturers and provide that to our suppliers and anybody who's utilizing the technology. We want to take that and pass it on to our users as well.
Q: What, if any, are some standout design features or unique elements of the lab?
A: There are a lot of unique things about this lab. The most unique thing in my division with aviation and aerospace is we have [a] test bed. We are the only people in the industry who have a test bed like [this], that we can utilize for use cases and actual RFID testing. The test bed itself is a full-scale mockup of roughly the same size as a Boeing 737 or an Airbus A320, and it's also the same dimensions as the lab modules on the ISS. As far as I know, we're the only people who have a test bed like this, so we've had a lot of interest from [industry partners] and people on both sides of the aerospace and aviation industries that [are] very interested [in] utilizing that test bed for all sorts of different applications. We can install a passenger deck that mimics your standard commercial airliner, we can take that deck out and we can install a cargo deck, which is the same height as the aircraft that [cargo carriers] are flying around when they're flying packages and cargo, and then we can take all the stuff out of it and we can turn it into an ISS lab module. We're the only people who have that sort of capability right now and we have that test bed that we can utilize for those sorts of applications. I would say that that's probably the most unique thing about my division of the lab is being able to provide that real-world application for research and development that a lot of other people don't have.
Q: What is your favorite part about the lab?
Credit: Auburn University Office of Communication Services
A: My favorite part about the lab is the innovation. I mentioned my background as a pilot. I love technology, flying, and aviation, but I personally never really wanted to be an airline pilot. I've always been more focused on the business side of aviation and aerospace, and I've always been really interested in new technologies, innovation, [and] how we take those things and make [the] industry more efficient and safe. There's a lot of potential for this technology to allow for that, to create more efficiency [and] safety for what these operations are doing. My favorite part about the lab is I feel like I've learned more in the last six months than I have in the last 10 years; just being immersed in this technology and what we're doing here in the lab.
Q: Is there anything else that you'd like to add or mention?
A: On September 14th, we will be hosting the AeroID Summit at Kennedy Space Center. The purpose of the event is to bring everybody together in one room. We have an agenda of speakers from both aerospace and commercial aviation, and we want to bring those speakers together to talk about how commercial aviation is utilizing the sensor technology for their applications, and how [aerospace companies] are utilizing the technology for their applications. Putting those two together and sharing that information, research, [and] experience is going to be really good. That's going to [be the] kickoff event for my division of the lab. Prior to that, we were already working on different work streams with some of these companies, but that event at Kennedy Space Center in September is going [to be] good for us, and we're inviting a lot of people from both sides of the industry down [to KSC] for the event.