JRC REVIEW No.72 2021 Technical Reports

Special Issues : Infrastructure & Safety

JRC's Initiative for Supporting Social Infrastructures

- Special Issues : Infrastructure & Safety -

Social issues that have been attracting attention in recent years include abnormal weather, declining birthrate and aging population, depopulation, and deterioration of social infrastructures and some measures have been mentioned to solve various problems caused by these issues. Also, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been shown as an international goals. Furthermore, digitization by IoT and AI is progressing toward the realization of Society 5.0 (a human-centered society that is compatible with economic development and solution of social issues through a system that highly integrates cyberspace and real space), therefore the social environment is changing drastically. In response to these social situations, JRC is trying to solve social issues such as disaster prevention and disaster reduction measures, flood control measures for rivers, and aging measures for public infrastructure maintenance facilities. Also, to create value for the customers, JRC offers them a large number of solutions that apply new technologies such as “communication and network technology”, “sensing technology”, “data analysis technology”, and “AI and IoT”, which are JRC’s strengths.

Noriyuki Hori
Hiroyuki Inokuchi
Hiroshi Shimada
Noboru Kawahara

Technical articles

Development of Next-Generation Infrastructure System Utilizing Millimeter-Wave Communication Technology

- Technical articles -

In the event “Takanawa Gateway Fest” for the purpose of fostering expectations of community developments in the Shinagawa development project, a simulated experience program for touchless services of the near future was planned. JRC has developed the radio system used in the “service utilizing millimeter-wave communication technology” featured in the program. In this development, JRC introduced new technologies that enable “formation of limited communication area”, “instantaneous personal authentication” and “high-speed data download”, which were difficult with conventional technologies. In order to provide an opportunity to experience new services, JRC is working on the development of a demonstration system using “radio technology centered on millimeter-wave antenna technology and 60 GHz band high-speed near field radio communication technology”.

Shotaro Nagai
Satoru Yokono
Hideaki Yoshida

Development of Ultrasonic Portable Gas Leak Detector (MoLeTELL®)

- Technical articles -

Hydrogen energy, which contributes to global warming countermeasures and ensuring energy security, is positioned as the ultimate clean energy. In Japan, efforts toward a hydrogen society are promoted by the Strategic Energy Plan and the Basic Hydrogen Strategy [ref.(1)]. In order to support a safe and secure hydrogen society, the hydrogen gas sensor that quickly detects hydrogen gas leaks is indispensable [ref.(2)]. Existing hydrogen gas sensors adopt methods such as “contact combustion type” and “semiconductor type” that detect hydrogen by chemical reactions, however, these have several problems such as slow detection speed and catalyst deterioration [ref.(3)]. JRC solved these problems by applying ultrasonic waves to the sensor and has developed an ultrasonic portable gas leak detector (MoLeTELL® [ref.(4)]) that has a fast detection speed (0.5 seconds or less) and does not use any catalysts.

Yoshifumi Shinfuku
Yasuhiro Toriyama
Katsuyuki Matsubayashi
Tomohiko Ito
Osamu Sakaguchi

Development of New Doppler Speed Log

- Technical articles -

The Doppler Speed Log (ship speed through water and distance measuring equipment) is equipment that measures the ship speed through water and trip distance using ultrasonic waves. JRC has developed a new model (hereafter referred to as this equipment) that has improved in measurement accuracy which was a problem with conventional Doppler speed logs while realizing improvement the user interface. As for this equipment, JRC has improved the measurement accuracy of ship speed through water and the ship speed tracking performance by adopting the digital signal processing technology, which is one of our strengths. In addition, it is equipped with JRC’s original bubble detection function, which informs the operator that the accuracy of ship speed measurement has deteriorated due to the inflow of bubbles into the sensor surface, and the incorrect diagnosis leading to unnecessary maintenance and check work is avoided. Furthermore, it enables remote diagnosis by the remote maintenance function and supports from large-sized ships to small ships by various equipment configurations.

Yusuke Yagi
Hideki Horiuchi
Masayuki Morishita
Koji Kasai
Kenji Kodama

Prefectures Disaster Prevention Administrative Information and Communication Network

- Technical articles -

Conventionally, in a multiplex radio system, it has been necessary to mount an interface according to the purpose of use on a communication terminal (terminal equipment) and set communication path information. In recent years, IP (Internet Protocol) has become generalized as an interface for communication terminals, and there has been a demand for IP-based multiplex radio systems in line with this. In addition, in order to improve disaster resistance, looping of multiple line networks, and redundancy using optical lines (arrangement of back-up lines in case of failure) have been required. In order to respond to "securing highly available communication means in the event of a disaster," which is essential for conducting disaster countermeasure activities, JRC is contributing to disaster prevention and disaster reduction through the disaster prevention radio system (multiplex radio system, Local Authorities Satellite Communications Network, and prefectures / municipalities digital mobile communication systems) that constitutes a comprehensive disaster prevention information and communication network and the maintenance of disaster prevention information systems. When maintaining infrastructure and building each system, JRC feeds back issues from past disaster cases, implement IP based system in accordance with recent communication infrastructure conditions, improve disaster resistance, and increase availability in the event of a disaster.

Sadaharu Hashimoto
Yukinori Umetsu
Yoshiyuki Ogawa
Toshio Murata
Yutaka Suenaga

Development of VTS Remote Training System

- Technical articles -

VTS (Vessel Traffic Services) has become indispensable for the safe navigation of merchant vessels. The VTS system operator performs an offer and passage control of the information necessary for the safe passage of vessels and improves the safety of maritime traffic. The number of merchant vessels operating around the world is increasing at a rate of 1.5-2% per year*1, but the risk of marine accidents is increasing these days due to the shortage of VTS system operators. Under these circumstances, JRC has developed a VTS simulator and a remote training system that trains operators to support the safe and smooth passage of vessels. By simulating communication between vessels and land using this system and conducting repetitive training, it is possible to efficiently train operators who meet the international standards stipulated by IALA (International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities). This system equips with an e-Learning system for learning passage related regulations and standard marine communication phrases (SMCP) used in calls between VTS and vessels.
*1: It is based on the statistical data of The Japanese Shipowners' Association.

Masahiko Sasai
Hidenobu Arai
Noriaki Matsui

Research and Development of Target Classification Technology Based on 79 GHz Radar Data

- Technical articles -

Technological development for realization of autonomous driving attracts attention because of the expectation for reduction of traffic congestion and prevention of the occurrence of traffic accidents. The realization of autonomous driving requires the sensing technologies to recognize the surrounding environment on behalf of a driver autonomously. Among the sensing technologies, the radar is advantageous for its ability to measure distance and for its tolerance against heavy rain, fog, etc.; therefore, it has been expected to be applied to collision prevention sensing in the outdoors. However, the radar is disadvantageous in target classification based on shape recognition, since the radar deals with longer wavelength than visible light. JRC has developed the target classification technology based on artificial intelligence (AI), in order to classify the chronological variation pattern of velocity components obtained from the sensor information from the radar, such as distance, azimuth, and velocity of the target. As the result of our evaluation, we have confirmed that our new radar technology is able to distinguish between pedestrians and vehicles.

Masahiro Hoshi
Yukinobu Tokieda
Kuniaki Yano
Masahisa Konno

Group Companies Technical articles

Application of Secure Communications Protocol to IoT Platform

- Group Companies Technical articles -

Information security measures are very important in IoT (Internet of Things) systems that collect information about things and equipment via the Internet. In response to the need for strong security measures in IoT systems, which are rapidly utilized in industrial uses, encryption of transmitting data in the communication path in the system and protocol (EAP-TLS) that executes mutual authentication by exchanging digital certificates are applied, the IoT radio terminal (specified low power radio terminal) with enhanced security against threats of information leakage, data tampering, and spoofing has been developed. The IoT radio terminals can cover a wide area by using radio waves in the Sub-GHz band with a long propagation distance (1 GHz or less), the base of a secure IoT system that can be applied to networks such as public infrastructure has been established.

Akira Nakamura
Yutaka Tsuchiya
Kazuya Obinata
Kenichi Matsubayashi
Akihiro Kubota

Application Examples of Technology Making It Wireless in the Medical Field

- Group Companies Technical articles -

The cables connecting medical equipment in the medical field are factors that cause problems such as restricting the action and posture of patients, restricting the mobility of equipment, and imposing a burden on hygiene management, therefore the needs for wireless use to reduce the number of cables is increasing year by year. In recent years, medical equipment that uses the electric waves in the unlicensed band and ISM band (industrial, scientific and medical band) has become widespread, but when applying wireless technology to medical equipment, it is important to select an appropriate frequency band according to the application and usage environment, and it is an issue to meet both wireless standards and safety standards required for medical electrical equipment. UJRC has solved the above issue based on the high wireless technology cultivated through the development of industrial wireless equipment over many years and is tackling positively the development of products that apply wireless technology to the medical and healthcare fields.

Shuichi Takahashi

Other Technical Information