Auburn U Partners with Plus Location Systems on IoT research
The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Lab at Auburn University in Alabama has partnered with PLUS Location Systems in an effort to advance research and development of internet of things (IoT) technologies.
The
RFID Lab at Auburn University "is a research institute focusing on the
business case and technical implementation of RFID and other emerging
technologies in retail, supply chain and manufacturing," according to
the lab's site. The lab contains 13,000 square feet of simulated
retail, grocery, warehouse and distribution center environments.
Faculty and students from Auburn's colleges of business,
engineering, human sciences and agriculture, as well as technology
providers and organizations, use the lab to study tracking and analysis
technology, tools and processes for the industrial internet of things
(IIoT).
PLUS Location Systems has installed its Real-Time
Location System (RTLS) in the RFID Lab to provide tracking of
personnel, assets and inventory throughout the lab. According to a news
release, the system includes ACTIVE RTLS tags, which can be worn by
people or attached to assets or inventory, and PLUS Readers, which
receive ultra-wide band (UWB) radio signals from the tags. Software
processes signals from the tags to identify the location of tags,
analyze the movement and interaction of tags, and provide data
visibility through dashboards, reports and application programming
interfaces (APIs). In the near future, PLUS Location Systems plans to
add Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-enabled tags, app-based mobile devices
and safety system elements.
"Having the PLUS systems installed
throughout the lab will enable our team to study and characterize
person and asset activity and utilization across a broad spectrum of
use-cases," said Justin Patton, director of the RFID Lab at Auburn
University, in a prepared statement. "We have a growing list of
research projects that the PLUS system will enable, resulting in new
insights related to technology integration and the optimization of data
collection and analysis tools and processes."
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].