Laboratory Strategies
Sensors and Appliances for Ubiquitous Services
Hakaru Kyuragi
Director of NTT Microsystem Integration Laboratories
The word “ubiquitous” has become extremely popular of late. We are certainly moving toward a worldin which it is possible to access information networks
such as the Internet at any time, from anywhere, butthere is still a long way to go before information truly
exists everywhere at the same time, as literally meantby ubiquitous. The ideal of a ubiquitous society is anenvironment that enables information to be accessed
instantly, as needed, from any object around us.
When that day comes, we will no longer even be conscious of being connected to a network.
Of course, if we were to collect information about
everything in the world, we would need to handle anenormous amount of data. So, in order to pursue
R&D efficiently we need to determine what information is most important and useful to us. In our efforts
to develop devices that collect information, we areworking on the development of sensors and appliances for ubiquitous services from two viewpoints.
• Sensors that can generate information that isvaluable to humans• Appliances that can generate new kinds of knowledge
The sensors will collect information that is essential and necessary for helping people manage theirlives more securely and safely—for example, medical and health sensors for measuring blood pressure
and blood sugar levels and preventing metabolic syndromes; biochemical sensors for inspecting foodproducts that are capable of high-sensitivity detectionof the pathogens that cause food poisoning; and structural imaging technology for diagnosing defects anddeterioration in buildings.
The appliances will enable new ways of communication and lifestyles. One example is devices basedon RedTacton, a technology for security and otherapplications that works through the natural body
movement of touch, making use of the human body asa medium for signal transmission. Another example
is single-chip fingerprint authentication modules thatcombine fingerprint detection and fingerprint patternverification functions on a single chip and are capableof biometric authentication of objects that are notequipped with a processor.
We are now focusing a large part of our sensor
development on applications in the promising areasof medicine, health, security, and disaster prevention.
The next step for us is to deliver added value to thesensors we develop, by connecting them to networks.
Examples of this include healthcare services built byconnecting our sensors and other commercial sensors
to networks. To achieve this goal, it is essential not
only to develop sensors, but also to put together all
the technology, experience, and expertise that wehave cultivated to date—through tie-ups among all
our research laboratories, enterprises, and groupcompanies. In other words, this is the goal that willallow us to take maximum advantage of the strengthsof the NTT Group.
Once we have the information infrastructure inplace to deliver ubiquitous services, it will be a simple matter to connect together different kinds of sensors that collect different kinds of information. This
will make it possible to utilize a greater variety of
sensor-captured data and combine different kinds ofdata to create new services. When this happens wewill surely be closer to a simple, convenient, andpleasant ubiquitous society.