The world is converging toward the development of global systems of identification for every object. Just as computers on the Internet are uniquely identified by IP addresses, people and items will be recognized through biometric, smart card, RFID, or bar code identifiers. The initial benefits of auto-id technologies are the “accurate and timely identification and data collection”.

However, the ability, ease, and low cost of collecting masses of data in real time, for example through the EPC networks, should enable organizations to produce unprecedented levels of business intelligence. The Laboratory for the Study of Automatic Identification at Arkansas State University seeks to expound upon and to extend the applications of various automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) technologies through academic curricula, technology transfer, and applied research.

AIDC technologies are vastly used in various industries and government agencies and their applications are spreading. However, academia has widely ignored these technologies from a curriculum and/or research perspectives. The Department of Computer & Information Technology at Arkansas State University has designed and offered an AIDC course, "Automatic Data Capture", since 2000. The subject is also covered in some graduate courses.