Auburn research labs team up with NASA

Two Auburn research labs have established a formal partnership with NASA to study inventory technologies for space missions.

Under a Space Act agreement, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) will collaborate with Auburn’s Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Laboratory and Construction Automation, Robotics and Visualization (CARV) Laboratory to advance research in inventory management for orbital facilities supporting astronauts.

Housed within the Harbert College of Business and headed by Lab Director and Professor of Practice Justin Patton, members of the RFID Lab research the use of wireless technologies and the transfer of data in retail, aviation, supply chain and manufacturing. 

“This partnership builds on previous collaborations to explore exciting opportunities for applying advanced serialized inventory management in innovative ways,” Patton said. “It allows new possibilities in an industry we’ve only just begun to explore.”

The partnership builds on a previous working agreement between RFID and Johnson Space Center to research a radio-frequency identification enabled autonomous logistics management (REALM). Organized in 2018 by Auburn research engineer Timothy Allen, NASA Chief Technologist Patrick Fink and electrical engineer Danny Rodriguez, the collaboration opened the door for new opportunities with other Auburn labs.

The CARV Lab, located in the College of Architecture, Design and Construction, is overseen by Director and Associate Professor Eric Wetzel. CARV researchers focus on automation, artificial intelligence, robotics, computer vision and machine learning in the built environment.

"The CARV Lab is delighted to work with NASA and the RFID Lab on this initiative,” Wetzel said. “The project allows us to apply our automation and robotics research in a space exploration context, and we look forward to contributing to the technical work."

The collaboration dates to March 2022 when members of the RFID and CARV labs met with KSC Director Janet Petro, KSC Associate Technical Director Jennifer Kunz and Mark Wiese, the manager of NASA’s Deep Space Logistics team.

“This work helps NASA take a practical look at how we manage and move cargo for orbiting laboratories and long-duration missions,” Wiese stated. “Many of the logistics challenges we face in space also exist on Earth, so this kind of research can inform more efficient and sustainable systems that benefit both.”

The coordinated effort between groups in Alabama, Texas and Florida represents the advantages of public-private partnerships in which multiple NASA Centers, Auburn University and other potential industry partners share a goal of advancing technologies related to logistics reduction, autonomous logistics management, technologies promoting mass reduction, recycling and repurposing and in situ resource utilization.

Together, NASA, CARV and RFID will explore the feasibility of a system capable of scanning and transmitting supply-inventory data to support future orbiting laboratory and logistics operations.