August 2018 Vol. 16 No. 882018

https://www.ntt-review.jp/archive/2018/201808.html

Front-line Researchers
Hiroki Takesue, Senior Distinguished Researcher, NTT
Basic Research Laboratories

Feature Articles
NTT’s Artificial Intelligence
Evolves to Create Novel Services
Developing Artificial Intelligence Services that Satisfy
Customer Demands: Moving forward with Social
Implementation of corevo® Technologies
Efforts to Enhance Far-field Speech Recognition
Automatic Degradation Estimation of Manhole Covers
for Efficient Inspection via Vehicle-mounted Cameras
Artificial Intelligence-based Health Management System:
Unequally Spaced Medical Data Analysis
Biosignal Processing Methods Targeting Healthcare
Support Services
Advanced Learning Technologies for Deep Learning
Efforts toward Service Creation with Neural MachineTranslation
People Flow Prediction Technology for Crowd Navigation

Regular Articles
Cell Encapsulation and 3D Self-assembly Using Multi-layered Polymeric Thin Films
Multi-layer SDN Control Technology

Global Standardization Activities
Standardization by IETF and Discussion in Open Communities on Network Virtualization andUnified Method of Configuration

Front-line Researchers

Hiroki Takesue, Senior Distinguished Researcher,
NTT Basic Research Laboratories▼Overview

The pace of achieving further advancements in digital computers is slowing down,
but research and development of new types of computers is accelerating throughout
the world. NTT has achieved a coherent Ising machine that enables high-speed
computation based on phase transition phenomena in laser oscillators. Dr. Hiroki
Takesue, Senior Distinguished Researcher at NTT Basic Research Laboratories,
received the Nishina Memorial Prize in 2017, a prize awarded to researchers withoutstanding achievements in physics and its applications. We asked him about his
pioneering research results that could lead to solutions to a variety of problems
facing modern society and his mind frame as a researcher.

Feature Articles
NTT’s Artificial Intelligence Evolves to Create Novel Services

Developing Artificial Intelligence Services that Satisfy Customer Demands:
Moving forward with Social Implementation of corevo® Technologies▼Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are playing a steadily increasing role in supporting human work andsocial activities, such as in contact center operations and smart speaker implementations. This article
introduces NTT’s initiatives in developing AI technologies that are essential in providing services needed bycustomers in the real world, including the technologies needed for effectively utilizing AI in the real world,such as AI applications for household voice communication systems and medicine. Technologies foraccelerating processing speed to collect more extensive data from the real world and improve the accuracyof AI are also introduced.

Regular Articles

Cell Encapsulation and 3D Self-assembly Using
Multi-layered Polymeric Thin Films▼Abstract

Multi-layered thin films are spontaneously folded to form three-dimensional (3D) geometries. In this study,
we demonstrate that polymeric thin films are self-folded to encapsulate cells. The films consist of two typesof polymers with different mechanical stiffnesses; thereby, the rolled-up 3D tubular architectures with
controllable diameters are fabricated based on the strain engineering. A batch release of sacrificial layers
forms the multiple cells wrapped in rolled-up films, leading to artificial reconstruction of fiber-shaped cellular
3D constructs with the intrinsic morphologies and functions of living tissues. This system can potentiallyprovide 3D biointerfaces that are necessary for the reconstruction and assembly of functional tissues andimplantable tissue grafts.

Multi-layer SDN Control Technology▼Abstract

Practical Field Information about Telecommunication
Technologies
Case Study of Problem in Multifunction Telephones Connected to a Business Phone System

To cope with the transition of fixed and mobile networks to fifth-generation services and the further spreadof cloud services, NTT Network Technology Laboratories is developing multi-layer software-definednetworking (SDN) control technology to achieve integrated control of the IP (Internet protocol) and opticallayers, on-demand support, and automatic network operations. In this article, we provide an overview ofmulti-layer SDN control technology and describe a technical verification test.