NTT Technical Review

February 2020 Vol. 18 No. 2

View from the TopTsuyoshi Kitani, Executive Vice President and Director, Head of Technology and Innovation
General Headquarters, NTT DATA

Front-line Researchers

Junji Watanabe, Senior Distinguished Researcher, NTT Communication Science Laboratories;
NTT Service Evolution Laboratories (Concurrent)

Feature Articles: Keynote Lectures at NTT R&D Forum 2019Jun Sawada, President and Chief Executive Officer, NTT

Katsuhiko Kawazoe, Senior Vice President, Head of Research and Development Planning
Department, NTT

IOWN (Innovative Optical and Wireless Network)Initiatives to Achieve the IOWN (Innovative Optical and Wireless Network) Concept

Regular Articles
Self-folded Three-dimensional Graphene for Biointerfaces

Global Standardization Activities


Report on Fourth ITU-T Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG)
Meeting

Practical Field Information about Telecommunication Technologies


A New Method for Repairing Steel Lifting Conduits

Information


Report on NTT R&D Forum 2019

External Awards/Papers Published in Technical Journals and Conference Proceedings

View from the Top

Taking on Challenges with Three
Strategies: Expansion, Evolution, andMaximization for the Global Top 5
Tsuyoshi Kitani
Executive Vice President and Director, Headof Technology and Innovation General
Headquarters, NTT DATA
Overview

NTT DATA ranked ninth in “Brand Finance IT Services 15 2019” published by Brand Finance in 2019, showing its brand value to the world [1].
The company is striving to expand its business globally across 53 countries.
We asked Tsuyoshi Kitani, NTT DATA executive vice president and director, about the medium-term management plan announced in May 2019 andhis attitude toward work.
Keywords: strategy, global, center of excellence

Understanding people and cultures and foresight
into social needs are key—Can you tell us about NTT DATA’s medium-term
management plan?
Regarding our medium-term management planannounced in May 2019, in addition to further accelerating digital transformation to maximize value
provided to our clients, we want to increase global
synergy within the NTT Group based on the following three strategies: (i) expanding global digital offerings, (ii) delivering greater value to clients based onregional needs, and (iii) unleashing our employee’s
potential that maximizes organizational strengths.
Through these strategies, we aim to achieve net salesof 2.5 trillion yen and an operating income margin of
8% in fiscal year 2021, ending March 31, 2022.
This is a pretty challenging goal. At the same time,
we are aiming to break into the global top 5 in termsof sales in the information technology (IT)-service
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industry. Although we are currently in eighth placeand our competitors are quite strong, we want toexpand our business in North America and Europe tofurther increase our overseas sales ratio to reach the
top 5. This target is also a challenge; even so, we wantto spread our brand as an innovative company trusted
by clients worldwide.
Regarding the first strategy, expanding global digital offerings, I think it would be easier to understandif you consider our offerings as solutions. These solutions can be used both in Japan and globally. Focusing
on finance, insurance, cars, distribution, healthcare,and life science industries, we intend to create thesesolutions in collaboration with domestic and international team members and provide them to clients.
For the second strategy, delivering greater value toclients based on regional needs, companies weacquired have been providing IT services in eachregion, and even from a global perspective, there is nosuch thing as a uniform business. Our clients’ businesses also vary, so it is necessary to adapt to the1View from the Top

characteristics of each region. For example, the current scale of business in the US—which focuses on
outsourcing—is about 400 billion yen. Outsourcing
in this case refers to IT outsourcing, namely, provision of total services from the development of business applications and maintenance and managementof software to take charge of infrastructure-related
operations such as server computers and networks,
and business-process outsourcing. To achieve further
growth, we have begun to develop automation tools
and organize processes and will continue to develop
and execute business strategies according to regional
characteristics.
Finally, the third strategy, unleashing our employee’s potential that maximizes organizational strengths,
means maximizing organizational strengths byenhancing the capability of employees globallyaccording to our common values—namely, clientsfirst, foresight, and teamwork. We are currently training employees to improve their digital and technicalskills. By fully taking advantage of these skills, we
can not only propose new services to clients but also
improve our productivity. I believe these benefits willlead to the reforming of work styles. We will alsoestablish an appropriate governance system to prevent unprofitable projects from continuing andstrengthen information security governance.
Regarding information security, we and our clients
may be subject to various attacks; accordingly, we
have launched a project called “ZEN” to protect corporate organizations and data and are promoting it
globally by skillfully applying new security measuresand IT mechanisms.
—What is the key behind these strategies?
I think it is understanding people and cultures andhaving the foresight into the needs of society.
The NTT DATA Group currently has about 130,000
employees, and those overseas account for about
90,000 of this total. The number of employees outside Japan is the largest, and sales outside Japanaccount for about 41% of totals sales, so this naturally infers that clients outside Japan are increasing in
number. Under these circumstances, we must consider strategies not only from the Japanese perspective but also from those of other countries. Eachregion and country has a different cultural background, and businesses are established on the basis ofsuch background. A strategy can only become global
through understanding each other’s cultural backgrounds, and the NTT DATA Group can work togethNTT Technical Review

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er as a united global company to grow our business.
I believe that by promoting cutting-edge technologies and innovations and using them effectively, we
will be able to meet the expectations of society andreach the targets in our management plan. This is theforesight I mentioned previously. Being in charge oftechnologies, I’m in a position to plan and executetechnology and innovation strategies for the entire
group while promoting technologies—and theirapplications and development—that should draw theattention of the group. It is necessary to introduce
new technologies to clients in a way that is easy tounderstand and clearly explain how they can be useful; to that end, it is important to understand clientneeds, create the technologies required to meet thoseneeds, and provide them to clients in a stable manner.
To promote this strategy globally, appropriate technical skills are required. In particular, I make sure new
employees thoroughly study technologies then gain
experience through on-the-job training.
The artificial intelligence (AI)-related business is
growing rapidly; thus, we are focusing on it. Amongthe fields in which AI is used, healthcare is a particular focus of ours. An easy-to-understand use case is
AI analysis of medical images. For example, X-ray,magnetic resonance imaging, and computed-tomography-scanned images are analyzed by specialists
such as radiologists to diagnose diseases, and AI isused to assist such analysis. Since the accuracy of AI
is quite high, it is also useful for addressing the shortage of doctors as well as reducing the rates of misdiagnosis. We have increased our efforts concerning
deep learning and are collaborating with partners
abroad. To that end, we have launched a center of
excellence (CoE) that is tasked with nurturing technical skills and spreading the associated knowledge
through leadership positions. As an organization for2

View from the Top

consolidating technical knowledge for NTT DATA asa whole, the CoE is collecting good practices andmethods, supporting client projects, and providing
training for employees. The CoE represents a pretty
significant move for us.
We also are developing software at home andabroad, and it is very important to improve the productivity of that development. With that importancein mind, we are currently working on automating
software development. Major initiatives are automatically generating and running source code ofprograms from design information and providing adevelopment environment containing a wealth ofdevelopment tools on the cloud.
Spare time for communication—What do you value when carrying out these tasks?
I value communicating, which is the key behind ourstrategies as I mentioned earlier. Ways of thinking
and cultures worldwide and even within Japan naturally differ; thus, it is very important to understandthose differences. To attain such understanding, it isbest to meet in person and speak as much as possible.
However, such meetings are often difficult, so I frequently exchange emails and make phone calls in aneffort to understand others. My schedule is usually
full from morning until night, and even if I can talk to

people during meetings, I cannot travel to far-away
places. Therefore, I have to rely on emails and phone
calls, and such communication may not be timely. As
a result, I try to make as much time as possible andcommunicate in various ways. Through these actions,
I feel that I have gained people’s trust when theycome to me in regard to various consultations andproposals. I think that’s because I gradually built relationships through daily communications.
I myself have been blessed with supportive superiors who have often listened to me. I started my careerat the NTT Group as a researcher. When I transferredto NTT DATA, there were times when my research
activities were not going as well as before. I was worried and finally told my boss, “Let me leave the company and go to graduate school.” In fact, I was alreadypreparing to leave the company and go to a university
in the United States. My boss, however, said, “If you
want to go on to graduate school, why not let thecompany send you there?” So, I ended up going to auniversity in the US for two years without having toleave the company. I’m convinced that being allowed
to go to a US university at that time has helped me in
my current position.
My work during those valuable two years was on
natural-language processing based on text analysis,
which is an area that is currently regaining attention.
In addition to that research, I communicated withmany people in the US and was exposed to US culture, and such research and experience are very usefulfor my current work. The importance of communication is definitely embodied in that experience.
My study abroad was triggered by a deadlock in
research activities at the company, which can becalled a setback. There are always small setbacks,
disappointments, and regrets. However, I think that
although such feelings can be forgotten over time, it
is important to remember the events that occurred asfacts. Failure to do so will result in repeated failuresand setbacks. Therefore, I think we should convey thefacts that should be told to those around us, and forgetthe rest. If your emotions have a lasting effect, thatcondition will affect other business.
Check the facts and forget the rest
—How have you accumulated facts so far?
I’ve been writing and storing notes, including
memos for meetings, in notebooks for more than ten
years, but I have stopped writing them on paper. The
reason is that they cannot be taken outside the company.

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View from the Top

These important memos contain client informationand confidential company information, so it would bea serious problem if I dropped them in a public placesuch as on a train. Therefore, instead of using paper
memos, I have switched to electronic memos, which
are encrypted and stored safely. Even if a memo islost, it is in a state in which it cannot be easily read.
Also, by keeping records on the computer, I can perform searches that were difficult on paper. I haveabout ten notebooks that I used in the past, which are
stored in a safe place.
Looking back on my past memos, I see that I wasworking on various initiatives. Since I am in the position of overseeing and supporting technical development, I don’t work directly with clients on large
projects. Even so, I noted that over the past two years,
young members of my team started various types ofbusinesses in Japan and overseas. I am happy thatthey have taken that path.

top in their respective fields. Achieving the top levelmeans producing results through daily studies andprojects. Society is full of varied information, so it isimportant to carefully scrutinize it as well as gather
and examine new information.

—What does work mean to you? And do you have amessage for our engineers?
I enjoy my work. I enjoy experiencing new things.
One of the most enjoyable endeavors recently is our
CoE. It is a lot of fun because it gathers a variety of
information from around the world and uses it to support many people and things. Since we belong to acompany, performance and figures are indispensable,
and we need to increase sales and profits. That is also
one of the joys. The sense of achievement regarding
performance and figures not only applies to me but
also pleases my team members. However, contributing to society is also important. Contributing to thecompany will also contribute to society. In addition to
doing business, we are actively engaged in corporatesocial responsibility activities such as picking up litter at Tokyo’s Toyosu Station and nearby areas. These
activities are fun because they lead to the realizationthat we are contributing to society.
I tell our engineers that they should aspire to beexperts. We are in a competitive market, so I wantthem to increase their expertise and aim to become

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Reference[1]

Press release issued by NTT DATA, “NTT DATA Is Ninth Most Valuable IT Services Brand, Says Brand Finance,” Feb. 28, 2019.
https://www.nttdata.com/global/en/media/press-release/2019/february/ntt-data-is-ninth-most-valuable-it-services-brand-saysbrand-financeInterviewee profile
Career highlights
Tsuyoshi Kitani joined Nippon Telegraph andTelephone Public Corporation (now NTT) in
1983. In 2012, he became vice president and headof Research and Development Headquarters of
NTT DATA. In 2016, he became executive vicepresident, concurrently serving as the head ofTechnology and Innovation General Headquarters,
System Engineering Headquarters in Technology,
and Innovation General Headquarters. He has
held his current post since June 2017.

4

Front-line Researchers

Imagination of CollectivenessImproves Our Well-being
Junji Watanabe
Senior Distinguished Researcher, NTT
Communication Science Laboratories;
NTT Service Evolution Laboratories(Concurrent)
Overview
The rapid advancement in digital technology, such as artificial
intelligence and virtual reality, is changing the way society works,
including the way we work. In Japan, a “super-aging” society, it
is said that the population will decline to about 110 million in
2040, and the population over the age of 65 will reach about 30%of the total; in other words, an unprecedented population structureis expected. In such a situation, how will technology affect our lives? We asked Junji Watanabe, a seniordistinguished researcher at NTT Communication Science Laboratories, who conducts research on tactile
information technology and nonverbal communication, about our well-being and his initiatives toimprove it.
Keywords: well-being, sports social view, workshop

Seeking “something” created by collectivenessgoes beyond information transmission—Could you tell us about your current research?
I’m mainly engaged in research and development
on tactile sensation and communication, but I’m also
involved in workshop-based initiatives on humanwell-being. Recently, I’ve become interested in how
embodied communication works to improve people’s
well-being. Much research on sensation is centeredon sensory communication, namely, transmitting
information from A to B. However, I’m interested incollective physicality, which infers that something iscreated between the physical interaction of people
and goes beyond information transmission.
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Regarding sports broadcasts, for example, the place
where spectators gather to watch an event, such as a
stadium or public-viewing venue, interests me.
Research on “Ba” (places where people gather) is
extensive; however, I wanted to take another look at
it in the context of watching sports. In other words, I
wanted to learn what we can do when we think ofsports as a way of connecting people. I wanted toreconsider “being with others” from emotional experiences such as the uplifting feeling we get when we
witness a great performance together, a sense of unity
when people’s excitement coincide, and the feelingthat it was nice to watch sports with someone.
One example of my research on watching sports isthe project called Sports Social View, jointly conducted by Akiko Hayashi, a senior researcher at NTT
5

Front-line Researchers

Service Evolution Laboratories, and Asa Ito, an associate professor from the Tokyo Institute of Technology [1]. This project aims to extract the essence of asports event, transform it into a different physicalexperience, and share it with the visually impaired. In
judo for example, two normally sighted people, acting as judo players, pull against each other while
holding both ends of a piece of cloth mimicking thepulling on each player’s judo uniforms, while thevisually impaired person grasps the center of thecloth. By doing so, the visually impaired person cansense the strategy of how judo players use theirstrength during a Judo bout. The interesting aspect of
this project is that spectators (two sighted people andvisually impaired) do not need to be completely passive; they can play an active part as well. That is, eachsighted person has to move along with the movementof the judo players, while the visually impaired person follows the pulling action with his/her hands so as
not to let go of the cloth. It might be more apt to saythat the sighted and visually impaired individuals areeither recreating the judo bout or creating a new bout.
In this project, this experience is called generative
viewing.
For my current research, I began to think about collectiveness in a place to eat. Eating meals with someone is a collaborative physical activity we experience
every day. For example, if you go out to eat the Japanese dish sukiyaki, you’ll see not only the people who
eat the food on one side but also see, on the other side,
the griller grilling the meat with the skill of a crafts­
person and serving it with perfect timing. The griller
not only provides meals but also interacts with customers to create a pleasant dining experience. The
general flow of a sporting event and the contents of ameal are fixed. Even so, we should not watch such an
event by just passively listening to audio or eat by just
waiting for the meal to be served; instead, I believe it
is important for us to proactively engage in these
activities and create a place that leads to autonomous
satisfaction in the company of others.
It is possible to expand this concept to research ininformation and communication technology (ICT).
By connecting people in distant locations via telecommunications, watching sports together remotely,
and creating a system that allows us to recognize thatsomeone is eating a meal or even to feel the sensation
what another person feels when eating a meal, we cancreate a new form of “Ba.” Naturally, this form will
also include being with someone in cyberspace inwhich people, things, and events are digitized.

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Fig. 1. Book cover of “Information Umwelt” [2].

—What is the meaning of working with people inresearch?
In April 2019, we published a book titled “Information Umwelt” (Fig. 1), which summarizes the resultsof earnest discussions on the theme information
umwelt [2] among 17 experts from various fields,
including researchers, artists, and designers, and therelated workshops held over five months. Five people
who attended a public talk at NTT Intercommunication Center (ICC) [3] in Shinjuku, Tokyo, became
core members, and each member invited others withwhom they thought would be interesting to carry out
the research together. These core members participated in a total of ten meetings held over five months.
Various workshops were held over that period. In
these workshops, participants recognized the differences in each other. The flow of a workshop is asfollows. Each participant puts a piece of paper that
describes three factors that constitute their well-being
into a box. Each participant comes on stage, draws apiece of paper from the box, and talks about the threefactors according to what is written on that paper as if
he or she were the person who wrote it. In this way,
the speakers verbally express unexpected sense ofvalues, and those who heard their factors spoken
about by others will have a different interpretation.
The above-mentioned discussions, including these6Front-line Researchers

workshops, were compiled as a single book. The term
Umwelt is a German term that refers to the uniqueworld of perception and movement experienced by aliving organism. Taking ticks as an example, weknow that they have little visual or auditory sense andlive by choosing what is important to them using theirsense of smell and temperature. That which can becreated by the link between perception and movement is the tick’s Umwelt. People too live in their own
different worlds, but because those worlds are different, I think we can create something new between
them.
Sense of balance between being subjective
and objective—You seem to be researching with a focus on thehuman mind and the individual.
In research on science and technology, experiments
are conducted, papers presenting the results of thoseexperiments are written, and the applications of theresults are easy to understand. On the contrary, manyof my current activities may be difficult to understandfrom the outside. Therefore, in addition to making
sense of the results from social standards and external
norms, it is necessary to express them from a perspective of internal norms while maintaining as muchobjectivity as possible; convincing people of researchvalue while becoming a research communicator. I
think it is important to incorporate these internal andexternal norms in a balanced manner.
A similar balance exists regarding research on wellbeing. It is important to balance subjective satisfaction (internal) with data or rating (external). We mustfirst consider what well-being is. It may be easy tounderstand if you look at the “Workshop Manual fora Life of Well-being” [4], which was compiled as partof a project that I am involved in called “Development and Dissemination of Information Technology
Guidelines for Promoting Japanese-style Well-being”
in the research area called Human-Information Technology Ecosystem (HITE) initiated by the ResearchInstitute of Science and Technology for Society(RISTEX) of the Japan Science and Technology
Agency (JST). The aim of this project is designing
well-being by focusing on not only subjective wellbeing—in an individualistic Western manner—but
also the value system unique to Japan and how toincorporate ICT in this design. We have also been
exploring how ICT can be used in addressing wellbeing issues unique to Japan.
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The manual contains the results of a question asked
to 1300 college students, “What are the three main
factors that determine your well-being?” The factorsthat contribute to our sense of well-being can bedivided into three main categories, I for individuals,
we/society for relationships with others, and universethat goes beyond the other two types of factors. I factors include, for example, the autonomy that makes
us feel able to make decisions and act and the senseof competence related to our ability. We/society factors include consideration and appreciation as well as
good relationships within organizations and companies. Universe factors include the way the world
looks from an overall perspective beyond our specificrelationships, sense of peace and meaning of life, andsocial responsibility. I divided the factors given by the1300 students into these three categories. While thestudents who gave all three factors as I, accounted for
37% of the respondents, most of the rest gave morethan one factor as we/society. These results indicatethat relationships with other people is important in
the well-being of Japanese students.
—If your relationships with others lead to well-being,
how you interact with people seems to be important.
The workshop manual also describes a workshopthat considers well-being in our daily lives and aims
to solve problems based on a sense of well-being(Fig. 2). It contains various scenarios from friction athome to product development. In this workshop, participants first try to loosen tensions between people inplaces and, as an icebreaker, take part in a task called“heartbeat picnic”—in which a device vibrates insync with the heartbeat, and participants feel theirown and other’s heartbeats through their hands. Thistask is aimed at stopping the making of “good” or“bad” judgments and to focus on what is happening
on the spot through physical sensations. After that,the participants work on a partiality map/pain map toverbalize one’s likes and dislikes. At the same time,
the participants listen to others speaking of their likes
and dislikes and immediately recognize the diversity
among them. What the participants are feeling is thenabstracted as the three above-mentioned categories.
Then, problems dealt with in the workshop will betackled in accordance with the factors that have been
conceptualized. During the “vision boot camp” task,
feedback is repeatedly received and given many times
in a short time to determine the direction of an idea tosolve problems in terms of well-being. Then in a fourframe storyboard, participants witness the creation of7

Front-line Researchers

Fig. 2. Flow of well-being workshop [4].

an unexpected story by four people drawing eachpanel. In “future world chowder,” participants discuss
the feasibility of ideas from various perspectives
through discussions in which members are changing.
The steps in this series of workshops aim at focusing on well-being, sharing the story of each participant’s well-being as discussion materials on the spot,
and solving problems. This is very different from anapproach that focuses on a problem and trying tosolve it efficiently. We are planning to experimentally
implement such well-being workshops not only inJapan but also in countries with different cultures andvalues and develop a community base (living lab) for
social design centered on well-being.
How to be collective and generative inresearch activity?
—Where did these ideas come from?
Rather than having a strong and clear will, an inner
voice may say, I feel as if “You might want to do this.”
Even if you didn’t intend to do it at first, you may
notice that it matters to you as you continue yourwork. For example, I did not intend to be involved inresearch on eating, but the opportunity arose in which
I had no choice. When I started getting involved insuch research, I came to realize that it was deeply
related to tactile sensation and well-being. In my
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case, I don’t start research with an explicit goal;
instead, if I feel something about a particular research
topic, I will start it. Then, I think back about what was
the something I had felt.
—Please give a few words to younger researchers.
Above all, make sure you have good peers. I can saythat the book “Information Umwelt” was publishedbecause I could worked with the four co-authors andenjoyed it. You need to find peers with whom you cantackle large challenges. In addition, your research
field doesn’t need to be close to your peers’ research
fields. I also think it is necessary for your peers to beable to explain your work. It takes time to properly
convey research to outsiders. Even if you can’t
explain well what you do, letting people know thatwhat you do is significant will open up other possibilities. If you have difficulty speaking, it’s a goodidea to create printed material.
Lastly, I think it is important to conduct research
and work without being passive and feeling you areforced to do something. If you look at yourself andothers from the perspective of controlling someone
versus being controlled by someone (like being madeto do something) or investing in someone versus getting a return from someone (like doing something but
getting no reward), that something (new value createdby collectiveness) will not be born between you and8Front-line Researchersothers. Although research is based on the abilities ofindividuals, something new is created in collaboration with other researchers, peers from different
fields, and society. This mindset is necessary for pursuing your research.
References
[1]

[2]
[3]
[4]

A. Hayashi, J. Watanabe, and K. Shimizu, “Sports Social View:
Method of Inclusive Sports Appreciation Extracting and Sharing the
Essence of Sports through the Sense of Touch,” NTT Technical
Review, Vol. 18, No. 3, 2020 (to appear).
J. Watanabe, A. Ito, D. Chen, H. Ogata, and A. Tsukada, “The Information Umwelt: A Guidebook for Playing between the Body and AI,”NTT Publishing, 2019 (in Japanese).
NTT ICC, https://www.ntticc.or.jp/en/
JST RISTEX HITE, “Workshop Manual for a Life of Well-being,”
Development and Dissemination of Information Technology Guidelines for Promoting Japanese-style Well-being (CC:BY4.0), http://
wellbeing-technology.jp/

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Interviewee profile
Junji Watanabe
Senior Distinguished Researcher, HumanI n f o r m a t i o n S c i e n c e L a b o r a t o r y, N T T
Communication Science Laboratories; NTT
Service Evolution Laboratories.
He received a Ph.D. in information science andtechnology from the University of Tokyo in 2005.
His academic work has been published in scientific journals in the field of neuroscience andinterface technologies. He has also presented his
work at technology showcases, science museums,
and art festivals such as at SIGGRAPH (2006–
2009, 2014) and Ars Electronica (2002, 2004,
2007–2017, 2019). His research is focused on
cognitive science and communication devices
with applied perception.

9

Feature Articles: Keynote Lectures at NTT R&D Forum2019

Towards the Era of IOWN
Jun Sawada
President and Chief Executive Officer,
NTT
Overview

This article presents a lecture given by Jun Sawada, NTT President andChief Executive Officer, at NTT R&D Forum 2019 held on November
14th and 15th, 2019. The lecture introduced the concept of the Innovative
Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN), which was announced by the
NTT Group in 2019.
Keywords: IOWN, All-Photonics Network, Digital Twin Computing,Cognitive Foundation

1. Characteristics of Japan through history
In this lecture, I’ll talk about a new information andcommunication infrastructure called the Innovative
Optical and Wireless Network, or IOWN. Before
introducing this new concept, I’d like to look back on
the history of Japan. Since many international visitors
are here today, I’ll explain to you what kind of country Japan is.
1.1 Japan in ancient times (around third century)
Japan was introduced in the “Gishi-wajinden”—afirst history of Japan, which was written in China during the Three Kingdoms Period (220–280 CE)(Fig. 1). At that time, Japan was called “Wa,” and it
was written that “Wa produces pearls as well as sapphires and cinnabar that can be mined from the mountains of Wa.” Sapphire is said to have been abundantly harvested in present-day Toyama and Nara.
Cinnabar, also called vermilion, is a compound called
mercury sulfide. Although it is very poisonous, it wasused as a preservative and in various medicines andpaints at the time. Mercury sulfide was mined in Narain large quantities and Oita and Tokushima. Therefore, we can see from the China’s history book thatJapan was a rich resource-producing country.

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1.2 J apan during the Edo period (17–19th centuries)
In the 17th century, although Japan was mostly aclosed society, it actually traded extensively with the
Netherlands. For example, in a picture painted by the
Dutch painter Vermeer, geographers and astronomers
are wearing Japanese-style kimonos, which are said
to have been very prized in Europe [1].
Research has shown that 30% of the silver in theworld during that time was produced in Japan. The
Netherlands imported a considerable amount of silver
from Japan through Dejima in Nagasaki. According
to Yoshihiko Amino’s book “A History of Japan 00:
What is ‘Japan’?” [2], 40% of peasants were engaged
in various businesses, such as crafts, as opposed tofarming. It seems that crafts produced by these skilledindividuals were exported to Europe.
Let’s compare Japan with Europe during the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution was a
revolution in energy. For example, in London, labor
was being saved, and while capital was being consolidated, energy was being invested in with the aimof spurring economic growth. In contrast, by concentrating labor and saving capital, Edo (present day
Tokyo) had become a city with a population of one
million with recycling-oriented eco-infrastructures
such as a sewerage system. If we compare the two, we
10Feature Articles

Japan was a land rich in resources (Gishi-wajinden [Dongguan legend])
Wa produces pearls as well as sapphires
and cinnabar that can be mined from themountains of Wa.
(pearl)(sapphire)

Pearl

Sapphire(cinnabar)

Mercury sulfide(cinnabar)

Source: Gishi-wajinden and colorants (in Japanese),https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/shikizai1937/75/7/75_330/_pdf

Fig. 1. Japan in ancient times (around the 3rd century).

Societal structure formed where economy and nation coexist; now moving into an era of division
17th century –Economy20th century

21st century

Free trade movement
Acceleration of globalism
Rise of protectionism

Peace of
Westphalia (1648)

NationNationalism

Brexit vote (2016)
Trump presidency (2017)

Fall of the Berlin
Wall (1989)
Socialism
vs.
Democracy

Protectionism
Move to an eraof division
Globalism

Fig. 2. Structure of modern society (division on national level).

can clearly see that the two cities had opposite outlooks.
By looking back on history in this way, we can saythat Japan was a rich resource-producing country andinfluenced the world through exports, and Edo was
one of the world’s largest eco-metropolises (with apopulation of one million).
1.3 Structure of modern society
Let’s look at the structure of modern society interms of economy and the nation (Fig. 2). From an
economic point of view, as we have seen in the examples concerning silver and kimonos I mentioned
before that free trade existed much earlier than we
previously thought. At the national level, the concept
NTT Technical Review

Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020of the nation was born after the Peace of Westphalia
Treaty in 1648, and after the conflict between socialism and capitalism during the 20th century, divisions
between countries due to the rise of protectionism,
such as the current US-China trade war, are now
expanding. In addition, the flood of information due
to big data and information filtering using artificial
intelligence (AI) will provide only information that isbiased to individual preferences, and this division
between individuals will become more apparent.
Next, looking at modern society dualistically, we
see contrasting concepts such as “global versus local”
and “centralized versus decentralized” (Fig. 3). Telecommunications has transformed from an analog
world to a digitized one, which has greatly changed
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GlobalLocal

Centralization

Decentralization

Tradition

Creation

Corporation

Community

Independence

Collaboration

Obedience

Self-reliance

Fig. 3. Structure of modern society (dualism).

Moving toward a society where we recognize diverse values by connecting contradictory concepts

Centralization

Decentralization

Network

Terminal

Centralization

Decentralization
Paraconsistent

Connect

Fig. 4. Societal aspirations (paraconsistent management).

society. It was a process of integrating services andvarious types of information. However, the recent
emergence of edge computing has created a situationin which services and information are integrated anddistributed. Although computers have been downsized from mainframes and become widespread, they
are also becoming re-centralized through the cloudand decentralized again through edge computing. In
other words, we can consider a situation in whichcentralization and decentralization currently co-exist.
In the past, there were many issues involved inchoosing between centralization and decentralization. Today, however, to handle such conflicting concepts, it is necessary to develop a paraconsistentworld by connecting both concepts while allowing
for such contradictions and to build a society thatrecognizes diverse values (Fig. 4). Specifically, I
believe that sustainable growth can be achieved byreconciling the characteristics of the economic
expansion of modern European societies with therecycling society of Edo (Fig. 5).

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1.4 From electronics to photonics
Extreme global weather events, such as intense
heatwaves in Europe and strong typhoons in Japan,
have been occurring more frequently. Experts say thatthese events are due to global warming. To achievesustainable growth, I believe that certain technicalissues must be overcome. First, the use of the Internetof Things, big data, AI, etc. is progressing rapidly,
and power consumption tends to increase with theprocessing of large amounts of data. What’s more,issues regarding the end of the semiconductor evolution are also being raised. To address these issues,
NTT has been researching signal processing using
photonics-electronics convergence technologies,
which introduces photonics technology into chips,
instead of using conventional electronic technology.
In April 2019, we announced the development of an
optical transistor that operates with the lowest energy
consumption in the world [3]. In addition, Intel, Sony,and NTT have announced the establishment of the
IOWN Global Forum in the United States as an international initiative to promote photonics-related
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Reconciliation of economic growth with recycling society
Building a sustainable society through innovation

Economic expansion(disposable society)

Recycling society(economic stagnation)

Europe: Industrial Revolution

Japan: Edo period

HybridLabor-saving

Labor-intensive

Capital-intensive

Capital-saving

Energy dissipation-type(high consumption)

Recycling-type(low consumption)
Innovation

Source: Heita Kawakatsu, “Bunmei no kaiyou shikan (Marine historicalperspective on civilization),” published by Chuko Bunko (in Japanese)

Fig. 5. Innovation.

research and development using photonics-electronics convergence technologies [4]. Photonic devices
using photonics-electronics convergence technologies are the basis of IOWN, and we want to use suchdevices to expand the capabilities of terminals, devices, and applications supported by networks.
2. What is IOWN?
IOWN consists of three elements: (i) the All-Photonics Network, which introduces photonics technology from the network to terminals; (ii) Digital Twin
Computing, which enables future predictions by integrating the real world with the digital world; and (iii)
Cognitive Foundation®, which controls informationand communication technology (ICT) resources byconnecting everything.
2.1 All-Photonics Network
In current networks, it is necessary to convert optical signals into electrical signals at routers for switching paths, etc. In contrast, the All-Photonics Network
achieves low power consumption, high quality, large
capacity, and low latency by introducing photonicsbased technologies for everything from optical fibers
to transmission equipment and semiconductors aswell as from networks to terminals (Fig. 6). We havebegun discussions on wireless technologies for
IOWN to increase transmission capacity. We havealso announced the beginning of joint research withJapan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to
expand the use of outer space through, for example,
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application of satellite MIMO (multiple-input andmultiple-output) technology to increase the capacityof communications between low-earth orbit satellites
and ground stations. Moreover, we want to develop
wireless connection technology for dynamically allocating optimal radio frequencies to users. The creation of the All-Photonics Network will expand therange of optical transmission from end to end,
enabling quantum communication by transmitting
quantum-entangled states. We want to build a quantum-communication-based platform that will enable
quantum cryptography on which eavesdropping cannot occur.
2.2 Digital Twin Computing
Digital twin is a concept that accurately represents
real-world objects and people in cyberspace so thatpredictions and optimal proposals can be made(Fig. 7).
The second element of IOWN, Digital Twin Computing, is an extension of the conventional concept ofdigital twin. We believe that a new world beyond thereal world can be created by multiplying various
digital twins. By duplicating, fusing, and exchanging
digital twins that even digitize people’s minds such as
emotions and values, it will be possible to build a newworld in cyberspace and feed back simulation resultsfrom that world to the real world.
In the meantime, concrete problems concerning
what to do to achieve Digital Twin Computing will
become apparent. Such problems include configuration and expression of digital twins, interaction with13

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Game-changing optic-based information processing foundation

TargetFrom optical fiber to transmission equipment and semiconductors
From network to terminal

Technology

Comprehensive introduction of photonics-based technology

Low power consumption

High quality/large capacity

Low latency- OpticElectronic conversion
unnecessary- Photonics-electronics
convergence devices- Wavelength allocation to allservices- Non-IP-based transportation- Data compression and queue
processing unnecessary

Power efficiency: 100 times*1

Transmission capacity: 125 times*2

Latency: 1/200*3*1 Target value for power efficiency of photonics technology portions. *2 Target value for transmission capacity per optical fiber.
*3 Target value for end-to-end delay in image traffic no longer requiring compression processing within same prefecture.

Fig. 6. All-Photonics Network.

Individual use of digital twins
Autonomous
driving

Robot control

Digital Twin Computing

Medical care

Exchange/expansionof capabilities

Multi-faceted individual
decision making

Forecast/control
spread of disease

Traffic jam

Digitaltwin
Transportation
environment

Urban spaces

Digital twin duplication/fusion/exchange

Digital
twin

Goods

Humans
Goods

HumansFig. 7. Digital Twin Computing.

the real world, precise future prediction via digital
twins, and construction of a new world view (socialscience considerations). I believe that some of these
problems will include social-science issues that cannot be dealt with using technological theory alone.
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Accordingly, we started a collaborative project with agroup led by Professor Yasuo Deguchi of Kyoto University. In this project, we will investigate an inclusive parallel world view as a new viewpoint of thereal and digital realms based on the philosophy of an
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End-to-end
coordinationof virtualized ICT
resources

Rapid deployment
and optimizationof ICT resources

Connection ofvarious systems
and networks

From automation to autonomy and self-evolution

Fig. 8. Cognitive Foundation®.

Eastern self-view. To put that more concretely, we
will consider the world created by digital technology
in parallel and inclusively with the real world andstudy the purpose of life, ethics, and social systems inthat digital world.
2.3 Cognitive Foundation®
Cognitive Foundation can centrally execute construction, configuration, management, and operationof, for example, the ICT resources of users (Fig. 8). It
enables rapid deployment of ICT resources and optimization of configurations of such resources in multidomain, multi-layer, and multi-service/multi-vendor
environments. In the future, it will evolve into fully
automated, autonomous, and self-evolving operations.
The current version of Cognitive Foundation has
been commercially deployed in Las Vegas, USA. Codeveloped with Dell Technologies, it uses the orchestration function from NTT Comware, which implements software by UBiqube (based on the virtualization software of VMware). It allows data to be collected from various systems without being bound byformat, and the city can be provided with solutions
based on those data to enable reactive responses andproactive predictions. We are planning to expand
Cognitive Foundation to other cities.
2.4 A roadmap for IOWN
I’ll first describe the roadmaps for each of the threecomponents of IOWN. Regarding the All-Photonics
Network, starting with miniaturizing optical transceivers in a few years as devices incorporating photonics-electronics convergence technology, we aim toenable inter-chip optical transmission in the medium
term, and in the long term, enable on-chip opticaltransmission. Also in the medium term, we plan toestablish technologies to allocate wavelengths toeach service and speed up satellite communications.
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Regarding Digital Twin Computing, we plan toestablish zero-latency media technology for enabling
immediate interaction in the short term then build a
new world view based on social-science considerations and create digital twins of people (i.e., modeling people’s minds). Finally, from the results of theseplans, we aim to develop ultra-high-speed futureprediction technology for driving a virtual society.
Regarding Cognitive Foundation, from the level ofpredictive maintenance in a single system (such as
anomaly detection based on deep learning), we areaiming to advance into optimal wireless connection
through multi-wireless control technology, autonomous operation of multiple systems, and finallyautonomy that uses cooperative autonomous control
technology. As 5G (fifth-generation mobile communications) becomes more advanced in parallel withthese technological developments, base stations will
become software based by working with the OpenRadio Access Network (ORAN) in the wirelessaccess section. In core networks, we believe thatwhite-boxing of hardware will be promoted by the
Telecom Infra Project (TIP) and other organizations.
The founding members of the IOWN Global
Forum, which I mentioned earlier, are Intel, Sony,and NTT, and 65 other companies are currently considering to participate in it, including Orange, Verizon, Microsoft, and Chunghwa Telecom. This forum
is expected to receive applications from many organizations in the future, and we want people with knowledge of the humanities and social sciences to join us
and study the new world together.
3. Concluding remarks
Although the NTT R&D Forum introduced exhibitions focused on the keyword IOWN, IOWN is currently evolving and may change periodically into the
future. NTT is currently promoting the business
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model B2B2X (business-to-business-to-X) to create asmart world. The main players are the second “B” inthis model (service providers), and NTT’s role is toassist customer transformation as an enabler (namely,a catalyst and supporter). While strengthening ourefforts toward a smart world, we hope to simultaneously develop new infrastructure.
References[1][2]

H. Tanaka, “Vermeer and Japan that No One Talked about,” Bensei
Publishing, 2019 (in Japanese).
Y. Amino, “A History of Japan 00: What is ‘Japan’?”, Kodansha, 2000

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Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

[3]

[4]

(in Japanese).
Press release issued by NTT, “Realization of an Ultra-energy-saving
Electro-optic Modulator and Highly-efficient Optical Transistor,”
Apr. 16, 2019.
http://www.brl.ntt.co.jp/E/2019/04/latest_topics_201904161802.
html
Press release issued by NTT, “NTT, Intel and Sony Establish New
Global Forum Dedicated to Realizing the Communications of the
Future,” Oct. 31, 2019.
https://www.ntt.co.jp/news2019/1910e/191031a.html

Trademark notes

All brand, product, and company/organization names that appear in thisarticle are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

16

Feature Articles: Keynote Lectures at NTT R&D Forum2019

What’s IOWN? - Change the World
Katsuhiko Kawazoe
Senior Vice President, Head of Researchand Development Planning Department,
NTT
Overview

This article presents a lecture presented by Katsuhiko Kawazoe, NTT
Senior Vice President, Head of Research and Development Planning
Department, at NTT R&D Forum 2019 held on November 14th and 15th,
2019. The lecture introduced NTT’s latest research and development
activities, focusing on Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN).
Keywords: IOWN, All-Photonics Network, Digital Twin Computing,Cognitive Foundation, smart agriculture

1. Diverse value judgments and umwelts
The title of my presentation today is “What’s
IOWN? - Change the World.” Last year, I spoke hereon the subject: “Making the World Smart and Technology Natural.” This year, I’ll be introducing specific implementations of that theme; namely, Innovative Optical and Wireless Network, or IOWN. I’ll
explain the significance of IOWN from a slightly different perspective from that of the previous presentation.
1.1 Creating innovation through learning fromliving things
Imagine we are suddenly away from the city. We
are in the middle of a pleasant green meadow. Beautiful wildflowers are blooming all over the meadow. If
I close my eyes, I can sense the fragrance of various
flowers. Let’s get closer. This yellow flower is anevening primrose. It’s beautiful (Fig. 1(a)). Now,
look at this image (Fig. 1(b)). This is the same primrose flower captured by Bjorn Roslett, a Norwegianscientist, from the perspective of living things that are
not human beings. The yellow primrose that wehumans see looks like this to those organisms.
They are honeybees. Honeybees can see ultraviolet
rays, which humans cannot. The flower looks yellow
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Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

to human eyes. But, if you could see ultraviolet rays,
you could detect that there is pollen and nectar in thecentral part of the flower. For honeybees, a flower
looking beautiful is of no value. However, information about where they can collect nectar and pollen isvery valuable to them.
Let’s go under the sea. There’s something in thegloom. It’s a squilla. It is said that squillae have thebest visual system of any animal. They have receptors
that can discriminate as many as 12 different colors.
Humans discriminate intermediate colors based on
three primary color (red, blue, and green) receptors
and information processing in the brain. In contrast,
squillae sense things extremely rapidly with their
12-color receptors and minimal information-processing (Fig. 2). What’s of value to them is a high-speed
response to capture animals moving in the water. In
the case of honeybees, what’s remarkable is that they
can see what humans cannot. What is notable aboutsquillae is that they have a mechanism for directly
processing information.
For a long time, humans have created innovation
through learning from other living things, especiallyby mimicking them. The designs of jet planes andtrains are examples of using such a mimicry approach.
We want to take it a step further. Every animal species
has its unique sensory world in which it lives. Jakob
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(a)

(b)
Photo by Bjorn Roslett/Science Photo Library (Aflo)Fig. 1. Flower as viewed by humans (a) and honeybees (b).

Fig. 2. Comparison between the ways in which humans
and squillae see something.

We believe that if we regard the world as a field that
holds diverse values, and if we can use information
hitherto unused due to the apparent absence of any
value in it, we will be able to create new values that
we could have never previously imagined. A connected car is an obvious example. What is vital for
drivers is the ability to confirm, instantaneously andaccurately, that the road ahead is safe. Getting a clear
image of the road using 4K or 8K is less important
than exhaustively capturing information that can beused to determine if the road surface is icy or if there
are any dangerous objects on the road.
2. IOWN

von Uexküll, a German biologist, called this interpretation “umwelt” to signify a self-centered world,using the German term for “environment.” It meansthat how things look varies depending on the viewer.
Accordingly, the type of information a species transmits and the way it processes information varydepending on the value judgment of that species.
1.2 T echnology to capture diverse value judgments
An example of diversity in value judgment can beseen in the recent developments in smartphones. For
example, the latest models have multiple camera sensors with different focal lengths and exposures andincorporate technology for taking photos that best
suit the needs of the user.
One of the basic research projects exhibited in thisR&D Forum is the optical meta-surface. Its minute,nano-sized structure makes it possible to manipulate
wavelength, polarization, and phase of light at will.
We are hoping that this technology will enable us to
produce sensors comparable to the eyes of honeybees.
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2.1 Aims of IOWN
The conventional motivations for developments in
information and communication processing havebeen to increase speed, capacity, and efficiency using
digital signal processing. For example, the Internet
has proven useful for many services and businessactivities through adoption of common protocols toprovide an inexpensive network based on the “besteffort” principle. However, if we are to evolve technology to simultaneously capture the diverse values
that exist in the world, we need to penetrate new technical domains. Both the umwelt of honeybees andthat of squillae actually exist in this world. However,these types of worlds are missing from the current
world of the Internet protocol (IP) or the digitalworld. We want to convey sufficient information,
process it appropriately based on diverse values, andprovide benefits naturally. This is innovation that canbe achieved through IOWN (Fig. 3).
With IOWN, we aim to create an innovative information processing base that will process a greatly
expanded volume of information than is currently
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IOWN
Innovative Optical and Wireless Network
IOWN helps to create a smart world in which anyone,whatever his/her personal or cultural values,
can benefit from technology naturally.

Electronics to Photonics

Digital to NaturalFig. 3. IOWN.

possible, thereby bring about an innovative means to
break out of conventional technical constraints, suchas power consumption limitations. Wouldn’t you
agree that, these days, the Internet is used for almost
everything? For example, there is no need for everything to be connected to the Internet, but Internet ofThings (IoT) is taken for granted. IOWN is our initiative for mustering the courage to shift from the logic
of sheer numbers, the logic that supports our attachment to the Internet, to the logic of values. For thispurpose, we are pursuing a transition from digital tonatural and, equally important, from electronics tophotonics, which is necessary for overcoming technical limitations. Through these two transitions, we aim
to provide ultimate safety, security, and reliability,
enable sustainable economic growth in an environmentally friendly manner, and achieve local andglobal optimization that is tolerant of diversity.
2.2 IOWN Global ForumOn October 31, NTT, Intel Corporation (Intel), andSony Corporation (Sony) announced the establishment of a new industrial forum called IOWN Global
Forum for the purpose of cooperating with global
partners in driving research and development (R&D)
for IOWN. During my presentation, Ms. Asha Keddy
from Intel and Mr. Masayuki Hattori from Sony, bothheading up IOWN projects in their respective companies, were invited to come to the podium to speak
about their expectations for IOWN.
2.3 Elements of IOWNIOWN consists of three elements.
•	All-Photonics Network, which is aimed at dramatically enhancing the potential of the information processing base.
•	Digital Twin Computing, which is aimed at creNTT Technical Review

Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

ating a new environment for services and applications.
•	Cognitive Foundation®, which is aimed at optimally harmonizing all information and communication technology (ICT) resources.
I will explain these elements in more detail and conclude by focusing on the “W” (wireless technology)
in IOWN.
3. All-Photonics Network
The first element is the All-Photonics Network. The
intent of all-photonics is not necessarily to replace allelectrical components with optical parts but, rather, touse optical technology everywhere.
3.1 Photonics-electronics convergence technology
Optical technology was first applied to long-distance transmission. The fact that Japan is a leading
country in the penetration of FTTH (fiber-to-thehome) owes much to NTT’s optical technology. However, information processing components, such asCPUs (central processing units), are fabricated using
electronic technology called complementary metaloxide semiconductor (CMOS).
IOWN applies optical technology not only to networks but also inside semiconductors in terminals
and servers. The intent is to expand the use of photonics technology. The basis for achieving all-photonics
technology is photonics-electronics convergence,
which makes it possible to process light and electricity on a single chip. This technology is already beginning to be used in network interfaces called coherent
optical subassembly (COSA). Silicon photonics technology is used to fabricate tiny optical transceivers
and an optoelectronic converter on silicon chips. The
left photo in Fig. 4 shows an initial 40-Gbit/s optical
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Source: QSFP-DD MSA QSFP-DD Hardware Specification for QSFP DOUBLEDENSITY 8X PLUGGABLE TRANSCEIVER, Rev 5.0, July 9, 2019 [1].
http://www.qsfp-dd.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/QSFP-DDHardware-rev5p0.pdf

Transmitter
ReceiverAn initial 40-Gbit/s opticaltransmission device

COSA (coherent optical subassembly)

Fig. 4. COSA.

Photonic layer

Electrical layer
Inter-chip opticalconnection

Processor using
photonics-electronics
convergence technologies

Source: QSFP-DD MSA QSFP-DD Hardware Specification for QSFP DOUBLEDENSITY 8X PLUGGABLE TRANSCEIVER, Rev 5.0, July 9, 2019 [1].
http://www.qsfp-dd.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/QSFP-DDHardware-rev5p0.pdf

Co-packaged optics
COSA

Fig. 5. Photonics-electronics convergence technologies.

transmission device that did not use photonics-electronics convergence. The device in the right photouses COSA. The respective sizes of the two devices
are dramatically different [1].
This photonics-electronics convergence technology
will be applied even to information processing parts(Fig. 5). Initially, optics will be brought close tochips. This stage may be called “co-packaged optics.”
Then, optics will be applied to communication
between chips. IOWN aims at achieving the fabrication depicted in the right figure to dramaticallyreduce power consumption. Optical input/output
functions are directly fabricated on CMOS chips to
produce a photonics-electronics convergence processor in which optical processing and electrical processing converge.
NTT was the first to develop an optical transistor
based on photonics-electronics convergence that canoperate at high speed with extremely low power consumption [2] (Fig. 6). In April 2019, a paper on thisNTT Technical Review

Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

transistor was published in Nature Photonics in theUK [3]. This invention reduces power consumption
by about two orders of magnitude in comparison tothat of a transistor based on conventional photonicselectronics convergence. The invention of this opticaltransistor capable of operating with the world’s
smallest energy consumption was, in fact, the seed forthe birth of the IOWN concept.
3.2 Values of the All-Photonics Network
In the All-Photonics Network, it is conceivable thata function or service can be assigned to each wavelength. For example, let us consider critical services,such as automated driving and remote medical operations. It is difficult to eliminate misgivings about thesafety of medical operations conducted via the Internet because the latter operates on the “best-effort”
principle. However, with IOWN, it is possible,
depending on the service used, that, instead of converting data into IP packets, we could provide a20

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Press release on April 16, 2019 [2]Ultra-low-energy and high-speed optical transistor
Nature Photonics, Vol. 13 [3]Nano receivernpNano modulatornpAuFig. 6. Ultra-low-energy and high-speed optical transistor.

dedicated ultra-low-latency circuit with its bandwidth
guaranteed by its large-capacity wavelength, a circuitthat is dedicated to each individual function. This issimilar to the mechanism whereby squillae use 12
types of receptors to achieve a rapid response withminimal information processing.
What other things will a photonics network enable
us to do? Currently, NTT is collaborating with Professor Katori of the University of Tokyo to connect
optical lattice clocks, which he invented, throughNTT’s photonics network. An optical lattice clock
has achieved 10−18 level of total uncertainties of clock
frequency. This is about 1000 times more precise thancan be obtained with a conventional cesium-based
atomic clock. It is so accurate that its degree of error
will be less than a single second, even 30 billion years
from now. What could we do with such a clock? For
example, do you think time at the summit of Mt. Fuji
advances at exactly the same rate as time down on
Tokyo Bay? According to Albert Einstein’s general
theory of relativity, the higher a place is, the fastertime elapses. By connecting optical lattice clocks atthese two locations via a photonics network, you
could measure the difference in altitude between thetwo places in real time, even if the difference is as
small as a centimeter. If this can be done, you could
measure volcanic activity and crustal movements anduse the measurements to provide safety informationor manage infrastructures.
4. Digital Twin Computing
Next, I want to talk about Digital Twin Computing.
There are two major points. The first is creation oflarge-scale and diverse cyber worlds that perceive the
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entire world based on the umwelts that I mentioned
earlier and on various value judgements. The other isself-awareness for leading a contented life.
4.1 Cyber worlds that perceive the entire world
Today, digital twin technology is attracting attention across a wide range of industrial fields. However,most current approaches are focused on creating asingle umwelt in cyberspace, which is simply a copyof the real world. However, as can be seen in theexamples of the umwelts of bees and squillae, ourworld is full of various types of information thathumans cannot perceive. Thanks to technical innovation, humankind will be able to go beyond its own
umwelt and access all types of available information.
We are aiming to capture everything in the real world
and re-present it in cyberspace so that we can createtypes of values previously inconceivable to humans(Fig. 7).
4.2 Self-awareness for leading a contented life
However, we believe that there are issues that cannot be resolved through technology alone. They haveto do with ethics. When our lives expand beyond thereal world to embrace cyberspace, issues will arisethat cannot be measured based on conventional value
judgements, issues that relate to new value judgments, ethics, and morals. Even today, unethicalstatements are posted on Internet message boards,
and the posters are protected by anonymity. In theworld of computer games, you can easily take the lifeof an opponent’s character. At a time when our lives
are extending into cyberspace, and what happens
there becomes a part of everyday life, can we remaincomplacent about the current state of ethics in21

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Cyber world

Real world

Fig. 7. D igital Twin Computing that captures the entire world.

Cyber world
Cy
C
rld
d
Cyber world
Cyber
world
Cy
Cyb
C
y
Real worldSelf-as-we
Common intent to pursue a better society

Fig. 8. Parallel universes in which the real and cyber worlds embrace each other.

cyberspace?
Let me explain a little about the joint research withProfessor Deguchi of Kyoto University, which President Sawada referred to. Being a philosopher, Professor Deguchi propounds a philosophical concept that
he calls “self-as-we.” His idea is that an individual
does not exist in isolation but, rather, exists in conformity with the objective or intent of the world related
to him or her. For example, the mindset to pursue abetter society. If this mindset could be shared as acommon intent and used to link the real world withcyberspace, we would be able to realize a more contented society. In other words, in a world made possible by IOWN, the real world and cyberspace are
independent but share the same intent. We define thisintent as “self.” This is our concept of a parallel worldin which the real and cyber worlds embrace eachother (Fig. 8).
4.3 Avatar and digital twin
Since my talk has become somewhat abstract, letme give you a specific example of a simulation ofmyself. This is a very simple example. The camera
there is filming me. An image of myself is extracted
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from the captured image to create my avatar. However, what you see is but a copy of me. In the future,
once IOWN has been implemented, it will be possible
to create an avatar that shares my sense of values.
Both his image and his voice can be synthesized toappear and sound almost exactly as I look and speak.
However, this is not simply a copy of me. He canthink and speak on his own.
My avatar-cum-digital twin will do a lot of things
on my behalf. For example, suppose there’s a phone
call for me while I’m making a presentation. He canrecognize my whisper and answer the call for me. He
can provide additional information. For example, heestimates the time remaining in my presentation andtells the caller when I can call back.
Furthermore, since my twin is closely linked tosociety via cyberspace, he can obtain information that
I cannot perceive. For example, he can measure thedegree of excitement of the audience and give me
advice about improving my presentation style orinformation that broadens my perspective. He canalso predict my future state of health based on the
medical data of many people and the trends of various
technologies and industries that are not necessarily
22

Feature Articles

Self-evolving
service lifecycle management
Autonomous operation

Optimized deployment ofmaintenance equipment
and resources

Manualnetwork operation

DesignDeployment

Operation

Testing

Fig. 9. Self-evolving service lifecycle management.

confined to the healthcare field. He may give me asense of enjoyment by virtually experiencing anadventure that I would not dare to undertake in thereal world and conveying his excitement to me.
Several necessary basic technologies are alreadybeing developed. The technologies for recognizing
whispers and synthesizing a person’s voice havealready reached a practical level. As part of its healthdatabank service, NTT DATA provides a service thatpredicts the user’s likely rate of incidence of lifestylerelated diseases a few years from now based on past
health examination data of NTT Group employees.
We are also collaborating with a life insurance company toward developing this type of business.
If the real world and cyber world can have a good
relationship, a better future will come about. When it
does, people’s lives may change as follows [4]. For
example, while you take a day off, your twin in the
cyber world can hold a discussion with the twin of
another person and work according to your thinking
and knowledge; you only get involved in the discussion or work when it is necessary to make a criticaldecision. What is important is that the real you andyour twin share thoughts that each other most cares
about.
5. Cognitive Foundation®
Next, I’ll explain the Cognitive Foundation. The
Cognitive Foundation flexibly controls and harmonizes all ICT resources. Its key points are self-evolution and optimization.
5.1 Self-evolving service lifecycle management
Some months ago, Japan was hit by two powerful
NTT Technical Review

Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

typhoons: Typhoons 15 (Faxai) and 19 (Hagibis).
They had a tremendous impact on telecommunications services as well. I sincerely extend my sympathy to all those affected. NTT has been developing
technology for using AI (artificial intelligence) todetect failures based on logs issued by telecommunications infrastructure devices and to deal with themautonomously. We’ll move one step ahead of that.
We’ll enter into the Cognitive Foundation a wide
variety of information that cannot be monitored by
the network, such as weather prediction information
about the strength and path of an approaching
typhoon and information about planned events. We’llalso enter information about various umwelts, which
I described earlier. Based on the collected information, the system will optimize the network autonomously. It will plan and execute measures against adisaster before it occurs. It will make predictions andevolve itself accordingly. We are aiming at such selfevolving service lifecycle management (Fig. 9).
5.2 Cradio
We will also work on the development of the “W”
in IOWN; namely, wireless technology. Today, there
are various wireless systems. In addition to conventional 4G/LTE (fourth-generation mobile communications/Long-Term Evolution), there is satellite communication, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, LPWA (low power widearea) for IoT, fifth-generation mobile communications (5G), Local 5G, and so on. The world of wireless technology has become very complex. NTT is
studying technology for optimizing wireless accessso that the user can enjoy access best suited to his or
her situation without any need to be conscious ofwhat wireless system is used, how it is to be used, or23

Feature Articles

what network service is used. This is “Cradio.” Cradio proactively optimizes wireless connections basedon the location and predicted traffic congestion andquality.
For example, a person urgently wishes to send amessage to me at Tokyo Station, where Wi-Fi
throughput is low. It will become possible for thesender’s side to control the network to select a wireless access system that is optimal for reaching me.
The Cognitive Foundation will incorporate wirelesscontrol technology that enables the user to makewireless access optimal for his or her particular location, application, and situation, without needing toknow what wireless technology will be used or which
company will provide the service.

optical and wireless communication infrastructurethat can seamlessly connect outer space and groundstations. It will combine JAXA’s space-quality system configuration technology with NTT’s optical andwireless network technology and the IOWN concept
to establish a new social infrastructure in space. We
will start with joint research on developing unprecedented satellite MIMO communication between alow-orbit satellite and an earth station. Once this has
been implemented, we can contribute to the establishment of a space communication infrastructure thatenables ultra-high-speed and high-capacity communication in outer space.

5.3 Future development of wireless networks
When combined with the All-Photonics Network,
wireless access technology in IOWN will be able topenetrate new areas. A world is waiting in whichthings can be connected, quite literally, everywhere
through IOWN, whether they are under the sea, in theair, or in outer space.
We are undertaking R&D for this purpose. For
example, we are combining a physical quantity inquantum mechanics called orbital angular momentum with NTT’s space-division multiplexing technology that uses multiple antennas and a technology
called multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO).
Combining these, we are working on developingworld-leading large-capacity wireless transmission.
To date, we have achieved a wireless transmission
rate of 200-Gbit/s. We are seeking to achieve a wireless transmission rate on the order of terabits per
second, which is 100 times faster than that of 5G.
We are also studying undersea wireless communication that can be used by heavy machines and drones
in underwater situations. A drawback of conventional
visible light communication is that transmission distance is significantly reduced when water becomes
muddy. Instead, we have applied MIMO technology
to acoustic communication that uses ultrasonicwaves. We have achieved a transmission rate that is as
much as two orders of magnitude higher than that ofconventional acoustic communication. This communication system will make it possible to transmit
high-definition video.
We are also developing wireless transmission inouter space. NTT has concluded an agreement withJapan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on avision-sharing-type joint research project with theaim of developing an ultra-high-capacity and secureThus far, I have explained the three elements of
IOWN. Now, I want to introduce some examples of
how IOWN can be useful for industries.

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Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

6. World made possible by IOWN

6.1 Smart agriculture
The NTT Group has signed an agreement involving
a corporation, academic institution, and a city government; NTT, Hokkaido University, and Iwamizawa
City in Hokkaido. The aim of this project is to develop world-leading smart agriculture using cuttingedge agricultural robot technology and ICT. We havehere with us Professor Noguchi of Hokkaido University, who will work with the NTT Group on this project.
Kawazoe: Professor Noguchi, what is the biggest
problem confronting Japanese agriculture today?
Professor Noguchi: A big problem with Japanese
agriculture is the labor shortage. The number of farmers has decreased by 15% over the last five years. The
average age among farmers is 67. More than 65% of
all farmers are 65 or older. Aging of farmers is a serious problem.
Kawazoe: Are you finding NTT’s technology and
IOWN useful for your smart agriculture project,which was initiated in June of this year (2019)?
Professor Noguchi: Since the agreement was concluded, we are already commanding great attention.
We have been visited by the Cabinet Office, relevant
ministries, and delegates from the German Bundestagand have been interviewed by overseas media. It is agreat honor to work with the NTT Group on developing world-leading smart agriculture. Through thiscollaboration, we are conducting a test of remotemonitoring using an extremely precise positioning
service provided by NTT DOCOMO based on its
base stations and 5G (Fig. 10). The Japanese24Feature Articles

Fig. 10. Feasibility test of smart agriculture in collaboration with Hokkaido University and Iwamizawa City.

government is aiming at implementing robot farmingthat will be made possible by remote monitoring andautomated driving by 2020. I believe that our team is
the most advanced in pursuing these capabilities. The
ground resolution of monitored video is 2 mm whenfull high definition is used, and 1 mm when 4K isused. When such high-definition video becomes
available, it can be used not only for simple monitoring but also for surveying the growth rates of farm
products and identifying incidences of diseases. Thisis a very promising technology.
Kawazoe: One last question. Earlier I talked about
technology for achieving sensing capabilities likethose of bees and squillae. I think that this technology
would be particularly useful in the field of agriculture. What do you think?
Professor Noguchi: Yes, I totally agree with you.
Today, it has become important to reduce the use ofpesticides to maintain biodiversity. For this purpose,
biological prevention, that is, robot insects that havea mechanism whereby natural predators eat pest
insects, holds great potential.
Kawazoe: Thank you. Let’s work together to achievesmart agriculture. Thank you for making the time tojoin us, here.
6.2 Heart-warming elderly care
Finally, I’d like to introduce to you our activities forsupporting dementia sufferers. Today, there are
numerous research projects looking into ways to prevent the development of dementia. However, there isa paucity of research on ways to support people whohave already developed dementia. We are studying
technology for enabling people with dementia to leadrewarding lives. Please watch this concept video [5]NTT Technical Review

Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

(Fig. 11).
This person suffers from dementia and she seems tohave forgotten the name of her son. The son brings
her a cube-shaped device. To help her recall her
memories, her digital twin displays videos of hischildhood. Watching the videos, she tries her best torecall something. A pendant-like device that she iswearing senses her emotions and thoughts and finds apiece of music that can awaken her memory. She
seems to have recaptured something.
Her grandson comes in. This seems to be his birthday. Her digital twin records information about her
grandson as a new memory. We intend to pursue
R&D with the aim of bringing about a future in which
everyone can be connected to his or her memories, beconnected to other people, and enjoy a contented life
supported by mental and physical health.
7. IOWN for the future
IOWN is aimed at 2030 and beyond. Abnormal
climatic conditions, rising medical costs, the aging of
populations, and a greater demand for ensuring foodsafety—besides these known social issues that currently concern us, we will certainly be confronted
with risks that we have never previously experienced.
To meet these challenges, humankind will continue topursue technical innovation. It will be necessary tosurmount a high wall, unconstrained by stereotypes
or fear of taking risks.
To protect the global environment and ensure sustainable development, we should think outside thebox and pursue the welfare and prosperity of humankind with an enhanced zeal for technical innovation.
The IOWN concept represents our commitment to25

Feature Articles

Fig. 11. Heart-warming elderly care [5].

thinking deeply about and creating the future ofhumankind in cooperation with many other people
and organizations.
IOWN for the future: What I have introduced to you
today is but a tiny, tiny start that NTT has formulated.
We will expand this concept by working in collaboration with many people and organizations.
Thank you.
References[1]

QSFP-DD MSA QSFP-DD Hardware Specification for QSFP DOUBLE DENSITY 8X PLUGGABLE TRANSCEIVER, Rev 5.0, July 9,2019.
http://www.qsfp-dd.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/QSFP-DDHardware-rev5p0.pdf

NTT Technical Review

Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

[2]

[3]

[4]
[5]

Press release issued by NTT, “Realization of an Ultra-energy-saving
Electro-optic Modulator and Highly-efficient Optical Transistor,”
Apr. 16, 2019.
http://www.brl.ntt.co.jp/E/2019/04/latest_topics_201904161802.
html
K. Nozaki, S. Matsuo, T. Fujii, K. Takeda, A. Shinya, E. Kuramochi,
and M. Notomi, “Femtofarad Optoelectronic Integration Demonstrating Energy-saving Signal Conversion and Nonlinear Functions,” Nat.
Photonics, Vol. 13, pp. 454–459, 2019.
Concept video of a life with Digital Twin Computing,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DadSBk5-9Y
Concept video of heart-warming elderly care,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHzgX_kgtHo

Trademark notes

All brand, product, and company/organization names that appear in thisarticle are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

26

IOWN (Innovative Optical and Wireless Network)

Initiatives to Achieve the IOWN
(Innovative Optical and Wireless
Network) Concept
Shigeru Iwashina, Yosuke Aragane,
Kunihiko Minamihata, Katsushi Shindo,and Masakatsu Fujiwara
Abstract

NTT proposed the IOWN (/a n/: Innovative Optical and Wireless Network) concept, which is a futurecommunication infrastructure that uses leading-edge optical and information processing technologies tocreate a smart world. Beyond the limits of existing infrastructure, it will also enable the creation of anaffluent and diverse society. Together with Intel and Sony, NTT established the IOWN Global Forum topromote IOWN jointly with partners from various industries who have extensive knowledge and insight.
Keywords: IOWN, All-Photonics Network, Digital Twin Computing, Cognitive Foundation

1. Toward a new world
Important innovations, such as the Internet andsmartphones, have changed our society dramatically.
As a result, people’s values have also been affected
such as from ownership to usership. As computerization and informatization in our society accelerates,
the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet ofThings (IoT) will increase, such as for new financial
services with ICT (information and communication
technology) and automated driving through AI. It isconceivable that our lives will change drastically andthat diverse values will emerge [1].
1.1 Responding to diversity
What makes this new world diverse is the understanding of others. To deepen such understanding, it
is very helpful to see information and sensibilities
from the perspective of others. To build this world
through technology, it is necessary not only to obtain
more information by developing high-definition andhighly sensitive sensors but also to process information by taking into account the sensibility and subjecNTT Technical Review

Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

tivity of others. It is necessary to incorporate not only
science and technology but also the humanities andsocial sciences. We use the term natural for the condition that arises when humans enjoy the results oftechnology without stress. We also use the term natural harmonic for a world where people and the environment are in harmony. These will be our objectives.
1.2 Transcending the limits of the Internet
In such a world, transmitting and processing a hugeamount of information is required, and current information and communication systems cannot handle
such information. It is estimated that the amount ofInternet traffic in Japan will increase 190 fold from2006 to 2026 (From 637 Gbit/s to 121 Tbit/s) andglobal data volume will increase 5.3 fold in just 7
years (33 ZB in 2018 to 175 ZB in 2025) (Fig. 1).
If we try to mitigate such a situation using only current information communication systems, we will
face serious problems such as further increase incommunication volume, further complication of networks, and increase in delay due to congestion.

27

IOWN (Innovative Optical and Wireless Network)

175 ZB180
160
140

90 times

(ZB)

120
100
80
60
40
20

2 ZB

0
2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

2022

2024

(Year)
Source: IDC, “November 2018 The Digitization of the World From Edge to Core”

Fig. 1. Global data growth.

1.3 Overcoming increases in power consumption
The explosive increase in the number of connected
devices due to advances in IoT not only increases
network load but also raises serious concerns about
energy consumption (Fig. 2). The increase in power
consumption of datacenters, which are essential for
providing cloud services, has become a global problem.
We are now facing the density limit of integrated
circuits. The degree of integration has been reduced
to nanometers, and manufacturing is running up
against physical limits. As power consumption
increases, the temperature increase in integrated circuits due to an increase in the rate of heat dissipation
is becoming evident, and the limit of processor clock
frequency is starting to be noticed.
2. Innovative Optical and Wireless
Network (IOWN)
To create an affluent and diverse society, NTT has
proposed the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) concept, which is a new communication infrastructure that can provide high-speed broadband communication and enormous computing
resources by using innovative technologies including
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Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

optical technologies. NTT also believes that these
innovative technologies can optimize society as awhole and individuals using all types of information.
IOWN uses three elements, All-Photonics Network,
Digital Twin Computing, and Cognitive Foundation®
to create a smart world, as shown below (Fig. 3).
•	Dramatic reduction in power consumption andbroadening of communication bandwidth canprovide enormous processing capacity for the
explosive increase in computational complexity.
•	By increasing the capacity and reducing thedelay of communications, it is possible to sharein real time huge amounts of information collected from various sensors, exceeding the fivesenses.
•	Dedicated use of optical wavelengths provides ahigh level of confidentiality and stability and canbe used for mission-critical services.
•	Multi-orchestration capabilities for centralized
management of various resources, enabling
resource utilization across industrial and regional domains•	The creation of a cyberspace that replicates andexpands the real world by combining various
digital twins and human models

28

IOWN (Innovative Optical and Wireless Network)

550

500

12 times(Billion kWh)

400

300

240

200

5 times
100

47

0
2006

2025

2050

(Year)
Source: “Green IT Initiative” by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (Dec. 2007)

Fig. 2. Power consumption of IT (information technology) equipment.

CTL

Cloud

Digital Twin
ComputingEdge
Overlay solutions

API

CTL

Provider A

Network services
Provider B

Provider C

CTL
Device

CTL

Agent

API

Multi-orchestrator

API

Cognitive Foundation®

API

CTL

API

All-Photonics Network

CTL

Transport
Public network

Processor
using photonics-electronics
convergence technologies

Private network

Terminal

API: application programming interface
CTL: controller

Fig. 3. Elements of IOWN.

2.1 All-Photonics Network
As the number of people and things connected to a
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network increase, advanced, complex, and largescale information processing such as for AI will
29

IOWN (Innovative Optical and Wireless Network)

Lower power consumption

High quality and high capacity

Low latency

Power efficiency:
100 times higher*1

Transmission capacity:
125 times higher*2

End-to-end delay:
1/200*3

Transmission media> Wavelengths (optical signal)

Optical fiber cables

Light
Independent

Transmission systems

Light

Light
A
B
C
D

Light/Light

Light (wavelengths) throughout

Wavelengths
Optical fiber

Information processing platform
Photonics-electronics
convergence devices

WavelengthA
Wavelength
B1000 [Tbit/s per fiber]*1 Target power efficiency for the photonics part

> Transmission per wavelength> No queueing> No data compression*2 Target communication capacity per fiber

High-capacity video(uncompressed)
No processing delay
Speech*3 Target delay for uncompressed video traffic within thesame prefecture

Fig. 4. Target performance of All-Photonics Network.

require a vast amount of power consumption. To
reduce such power consumption and meet mission
critical service requirements, NTT applies photonics
technologies to end-to-end environments for achieving ultra-low-power consumption, large-capacity,and low-delay networks. For example, NTT aims toincrease power efficiency 100 fold by developing
transmission devices that control optical wavelengths
and photonics-electronics convergence devices. NTT
also aims to expand transmission capacity 125 foldby increasing multiplexing in optical fibers andexpanding multicores in a fiber (Fig. 4).
2.2 Digital Twin Computing
A digital twin is an image of real-world objects,
such as production machines, aircraft engines, andautomobiles in factories, by mapping their shapes,
conditions, and functions into cyberspace andexpressing them accurately. Using digital twins
enables us to analyze the current situation, predict the
future, and simulate objects in cyberspace.
Digital Twin Computing is a new computing paradigm that makes it possible to reproduce and simulate
the interaction between things and people freely incyberspace by conducting computations such as
exchange, fusion, duplication, and synthesis for many
digital twins representing the real world [2].
2.3 Cognitive Foundation®
To achieve low-power-consumption, high-capacity,
high-quality communication networks and largescale interactions between people and objects, it isnecessary to select and use various resources approNTT Technical Review

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priately. The Cognitive Foundation is an infrastructure that provides a set of functions necessary to buildand operate services by using various methods of collecting, processing, storing, and communicating data
scattered throughout various locations.
3. Establishment of IOWN Global ForumTo enable IOWN, it is necessary not only to create
and combine many innovative technologies but also
promote these technologies for widespread use.
Major changes in information processing, communication, and network infrastructure are required, andextensive knowledge and insight is needed. NTT
Group alone cannot achieve this.
Accordingly, NTT, Intel, and Sony established the
IOWN Global Forum to achieve IOWN, and will
invite partners with a wide range of knowledge andinsight from various industries [3]. The purpose ofthis forum is to promote IOWN by creating and publishing specifications, frameworks, and referencearchitectures of new technologies in the following
fields.
•	Photonics-related research and developmentusing advanced photonics-electronics convergence technology•	Research and development related to distributed
computing•	Use cases and best practices to create a smart
world and research and development to achievethem
In the future, NTT, Intel, and Sony will select initialboard members to jointly operate the forum, establish
30

IOWN (Innovative Optical and Wireless Network)

References

a working group, and work with a wide range of partners to achieve IOWN.
[1]

We introduced NTT’s activities to enable the
IOWN concept and the efforts of the IOWN Global
Forum, in which various partners will collaborate. We
will create a new smart world by combining innovative technologies cultivated by NTT laboratories withtechnologies and knowledge from various partners.

[2]
[3]

J. Sawada, M. Ii, and K. Kawazoe, “IOWN: Beyond the Internet,”
NTT Publishing, 2019 (in Japanese).
Whitepaper on Digital Twin Computing, https://www.ntt.co.jp/
svlab/e/DTC/whitepaper.html
IOWN Global Forum, https://iowngf.org/

Trademark notes

All brand, product, and company/organization names that appear in thisarticle are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Authors (from left): Kunihiko Minamihata, manager, R&D Vision Group, NTT
Research and Development Planning Department; Katsushi Shindo, manager, R&D
Vision Group, NTT Research and Development Planning Department; Shigeru
Iwashina, senior manager, R&D Vision Group, NTT Research and Development
Planning Department; Masakatsu Fujiwara, VP and general manager, NTT Network
Technology Laboratories; and Yosuke Aragane, senior manager, R&D Vision
Group, NTT Research and Development Planning Department

NTT Technical Review

Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 202031

Regular Articles

Self-folded Three-dimensional
Graphene for Biointerfaces
Tetsuhiko Teshima, Koji Sakai, Hiroshi Nakashima,
and Yuko Ueno
Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) graphene-based electrodes have been gaining much interest regarding
applications in flexible electronics and biointerfaces. We propose a simple method of transforming twodimensional (2D) monolayer graphene into 3D structures that interface with biological samples. We
found that the transferred monolayer graphene tightly adheres to the polymer surface via π-π stacking
forces, resulting in the spontaneous folding of graphene/polymer bilayers (self-folding). Owing to thehigh biocompatibility of the materials and self-folding procedures, the self-folded bilayer films provide
a hollow and non-toxic environment to encapsulate and culture cells. The cells embedded in the rolled-up
architectures spontaneously form cellular 3D constructs with the intrinsic morphologies and functionsof living tissues. For instance, we demonstrate that neuronal constructs with 3D geometry contribute to
the construction of brain-like functional tissues such as functional integration with surrounding neuronal
networks via their extended axons. Our method can be used to potentially provide 3D biointerfaces
necessary for the reconstruction and assembly of functional tissues and implantable tissue grafts.
Keywords: self-folding, graphene, neural engineering, tissue regeneration

1. Introduction
Given its non-cytotoxicity, electrical/thermal conductivity, and mechanical strength, graphene is one of
the most promising two-dimensional (2D) materials
for applications in flexible bioelectronics [1]. Specifically, its large open-surface enables ions, molecules, and cells to be anchored and desorbed, showing its relevance to electro-chemical sensing [2]. For
practical application, the inherently planar geometries of graphene are curved, folded, and wrinkled toassemble three-dimensional (3D) structures andinterface with 3D objects. Conventionally, these 3D
geometries of graphene have been assembled byloading on flexible templates and applying externalmechanical forces [3]. However, this manual process
results in technical difficulties in constructing dimensionally well-controlled 3D structures. In addition,
the relatively poor adhesion of the transferred graphe­
ne leads to detachment and delamination from thesubstrates, resulting in difficulty in creating 3D graph­
NTT Technical Review

Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020ene architectures.
We propose a method for rapid and easy formationof microscopic 3D graphene structures by using origami-inspired self-rolling bilayer films [4]. We usepoly(p-xylylene) (parylene) as a flexible templatethat tightly adheres to graphene due to π-π stacking
sp2 hybridization. We discover the self-assembly
principle in which the graphene behaves as the driving force behind the transformation of parylene films
into tubular and spherical shapes termed a microrolls. Simply transferred monolayer graphene forms
graphene-laden bilayer films with heterogeneous
mechanical properties. Consequently, the differential
strain gradients inside the films trigger spontaneoustransformation into micro-rolls. To demonstrate thebiocompatible 3D graphene interfaces, we used thisgraphene-laden self-folded cylindrical structure as aninterface with neurons [5]. The self-folding graphenefilm encapsulates neurons inside its folded cylindricalstructure, reconstitutes the intrinsic cellular morphologies and functions, and forms functional connections
32

Regular Articles(a)Step 1Parylene-C

Step 2(b)

Before adding EDTA

Boundary of graphene

Calcium alginate(sacrificial layer)

Graphene
Silicon dioxide
substrate
Step 3EDTA
Oxygen plasma

100 µmStep 4After adding EDTA

Photoresist

Fig. 1. (a) Fabrication process of self-foldable thin film. Three layers of graphene, parylene, and Ca-alginate gel arelaminated then processed using lithography to form an arbitrary 2D micro-pattern. (b) Self-folding process ofgraphene/parylene bilayers. The Ca-alginate gel layer is removed with EDTA to release the thin film from thesubstrate.

with surrounding neurons. This is potentially applicable to creating 3D bioelectrodes and biointerfaces
for applications such as the reconstruction of functional tissues and implantable tissue grafts.
2. Materials and experimental methods
2.1 Preparation of materials
Owing to tight π-π adhesion with graphene, weused poly(chloro-p-xylylene) (parylene-C) as amechanically stable, biocompatible, and aromaticring-rich polymer [6–8]. We adhered the multi-layered films composed of parylene, polycrystalline /single-crystal monolayer graphene, to the underlying
sacrificial layer. While polycrystalline monolayer
graphene chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-grownon copper (Cu) foils was purchased from Graphene
Platform Corp., large-scale single-crystal graphene
was synthesized on the Cu foils with an atmosphericpressure CVD process by using a mixture gas ofmethane (CH4) and hydrogen (H2) [9]. The sacrificial
layer consists of calcium (Ca) alginate hydrogel thatis dissolved instantly by adding chelating agents suchas ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) or sodium citrate solution. To examine the biocompatibilityof self-folded structures, we used primary hippocampal neurons that were dissociated from the hippocampi of Wistar rat embryos.

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2.2 Device fabrication and cell encapsulation
Figure 1(a) shows the process used to fabricate
micro-patterned graphene/parylene bilayers. After Ca
alginate was spin-coated on silicon dioxide (SiO2)
substrates, both single-crystalline and polycrystalline
monolayer graphene were transferred using the conventional poly(methyl methacrylate)-assisted method. Subsequently, parylene-C was deposited using a
CVD process and covered with photolithographically
micro-patterned photoresist. The triple-layered film
was finally etched with oxygen plasma to create a
micro-patterned film array. After suspending the neurons, an array of micro-patterned films was released
from the substrate by dissolving Ca-alginate sacrificial layers via immersion in EDTA solution.
3. Results
3.1 S elf-folding of 3D graphene-polymer
architectures
The dissolution of the sacrificial Ca-alginate layer
with EDTA resulted in simultaneous batch self-folding of the graphene-laden parylene bilayers intocylindrical micro-rolls (Fig. 1(b)). Interestingly, thebilayer was bent in the direction of the substrates
while maintaining the bottom parylene on the inward
side. At this time, the loaded graphene appeared to be
exposed to tensile force; thus, causing it to cover the
inner parylene from the outside. We confirmed thatthe curvature of the micro-rolls is controllable with33

Regular Articles(a)

Before self-folding(b) G-band

2D-bandSingle-crystalline graphene 10 µm
After self-folding

After folding

 G
1500

1550 1600 1650
Raman shift (cm−1)

Before folding
Intensity (arb. units)

Single-crystalline graphene

Intensity (arb. units)

Before folding

After folding

 2D
2600 2650 2700 2750
Raman shift (cm−1)

Fig. 2. (a) Schematic of transferring and micropatterning for generating single-crystalline graphene-laden micro-rolls (left),and snapshots highlighting the bilayer films of single-crystalline graphene and parylene in the flat and folded states(right). White dotted lines indicate the grain boundaries of hexagonally shaped graphene. (b) Raman spectra ofmonolayer graphene-laden micro-rolls before and after self-folding. Enlarged G and 2D peak regions for graphene.

the thicknesses of parylene (tp) and the number ofgraphene layers (tg). Given the transferred monolayer
graphene, a thinner tp leads to a smaller micro-roll;stacking multi-layered graphene makes the microrolls much tighter when tp is constant. Both reducing
the thickness of the parylene layer and sequentiallystacking multi-layered graphene decreases the bending rigidity, thereby improving machining controllability of a fine 3D structure. These results indicatethat the underlying mechanism of self-folding is thestiffness mismatch in the bilayer, following the trend
predicted by the bimorph beam theory [10].
While the self-folding orientation of polycrystalline graphene-laden bilayers was random, one of thesingle-crystalline graphene-laden bilayers was relatively uniform. Figure 2(a) shows that two adjacenthexagonally shaped-single graphene domains caused
the subsequent unidirectional self-folding to form atubular shape with a uniform curvature. This difference is attributed to a patchwork of relatively smaller
single-crystalline grains separated by grain boundaries within the polycrystalline graphene. Since one
might expect a single domain of graphene to have thesame elastic energy, which induces an isotropic tensile force for folding, the uncontrollable folding orientation originates from domains inside the CVDgrown graphene [11]. In contrast, when the domain
size is larger than one sheet of micro-patterned film,
the crystalline orientation of graphene would certainly affect the orientation of self-folding.

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3.2 Electrical properties
The strain in outer graphene during self-folding
was estimated by characterizing shifts in G peaks(∆G) and 2D peaks (∆2D) from the original modes
with Raman spectroscopy (Fig. 2(b)). The blue-shifts
in both ∆G (~8 cm−1) and ∆G (~16 cm−1) stem fromthe distorted graphene lattice and altered interatomic
distance, which determines the strain of 0.18%. Thisestimated strain within the graphene is almost inagreement with the predicted value in the 0.16–0.18%
range that is theoretically rationalized with thebimorph-beam theory [10]. Therefore, grapheneloaded on parylene will not only longitudinally elongate but also contract transversely with uniaxial tension.
The structural alteration of hexagonal-shaped graphe­
ne is critical in terms of changing the electronic structure. Therefore, we newly micro-patterned bilayersthat were hinged and partially pinned down and measured their drain current (Id)–voltage (Vd) characteristics before and after self-folding at room temperature.
While flat graphene exhibits linear behavior, the selffolding process greatly alters the electrical propertyof loaded graphene to non-linear (Fig. 3(a)). The
resistance increased from 17.9 to 38.0 kΩ when measured at 0 mV. When applying back-gate voltages(Vg), both positive and negative back-gate voltages
modulated the non-linear resistance of micro-rolls(Fig. 3(b)). This result indicates that the self-folding
process never leads to the exfoliation or rupture ofgraphene and behaviors as a p-type semiconductor inboth flat and folded states. We attribute the altered34

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(a)

(b)

 = 60.9 µm

−300

−200

−100

30

12

20

6

10

0
100

200

300

−6

Current (Id, µA)

Current (µA)

18

0
−30

−20

−10

10

20

30

−10

flat (200 × 800 µm2)−12

 = 220.4 µm−20

 = 172.5 µm−18

 = 47.8 µm
 = 20.4 µm

Voltage (mV)−30flat (200 × 400 µm2)
Vd = 400 mV
Vd = 400 mV
Vd = –400 mV

Voltage (Vg, V)

Fig. 3. Electrical properties of graphene-laden micro-rolls. (a) Non-linear Id–Vd curves of self-folded 200×800 Id–Vd m2 films
with different curvature radii, ρ. (b) Corresponding non-linear Id–Vd curves of self-folded 200×400 Id–Vd m2 films
where ρ = 60.9 µm by varying Vg.

charge carrier densities even at room temperature to
the uniformly compressed graphene-unit hexagonalcell. This modulatable property makes it possible todevelop switching transistors.
3.3 Encapsulation of cells in porous micro-rolls
To apply graphene micro-rolls to biointerfaces, weinvestigated their biocompatibility by encapsulating
the primary hippocampal neurons inside them [5].
After exposure to EDTA, the cells on the 2D film
surface were encapsulated inside the micro-rolls
through the self-folding of the bilayer (Fig. 4(a)).
Both self-folding and encapsulation were sufficiently
gentle to avoid cell damage, which allows the encapsulated cells to migrate inside the micro-rolls during
incubation. Since the curvature radius and length ofthe micro-rolls are controllable, the number of encapsulated cells can be easily controlled with the celldensity and volume of the micro-rolls. The high biocompatibility and transparency of the micro-rolls
enable stable culturing of encapsulated cells.
To enable long-term cell culture, we incorporated
the tiny pores with several different diameters tofacilitate reagent delivery to the encapsulated cells.
Importantly, these numerous pores inside the bilayer
have no effect on the curvature radius of the microNTT Technical Review

Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

rolls. The pores have two additional characteristics toenable long-term cell culture. First, they allow theneurites to grow across them and extend outside themicro-roll. Time-lapse images of neuron-laden
micro-rolls over 5 days show that the neurites from a
porous micro-roll protruded beyond the micro-roll
2 h after folding and became longer with an average
growth rate of approximately 3 µm/h (Fig. 4(b)). Second, they enable us to load biological probes andpharmacologically stimulate the encapsulated cells.
Although a major advantage of cell encapsulation ishomogenous cell distribution, long-term culturecauses changes in the distribution depending on thecell type and its adhesive and migration properties.
The results indicate that porous micro-rolls help
encapsulated cells maintain their positions withhomogeneous distribution.
To further investigate the morphology, the neuronladen micro-rolls were characterized with immunocytochemistry by using two neuronal markers: MAP2
(dendrite/cell body marker; red) and tau1 (axon/cellbody marker; green). Figure 4(c) shows that MAP2positive neuronal cell bodies were sustainably locatedin porous micro-rolls and greatly extended theiraxons (tau1-positive) around the micro-rolls ( Φ =3 µm). We verified that porous self-folding film
35

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Neuron(b)+ EDTA

Day 5

Day 1

Film
Micro-roll
(c)
Film

100 µmMicro-roll

MAP2 / Tau1 / Hoechst
100 µmFig. 4. (a) Schematic and snapshot images of cell encapsulation. Dissociated cells are seeded on the self-folding film. The
folded film encapsulates seeded cells and forms a cell-laden micro-roll. (b) Time-lapse images of neurons
encapsulated within micro-rolls with φ = 5 µm pores for 5 days. Neurons extend their axons (black and whitearrowheads) around the micro-roll. (c) Immunocytochemical images of neuron-laden micro-rolls with φ = 3 µm pores.
The cultures are stained with antibodies for the dendrite/neuronal cell body marker MAP2 (red) and the axon/
neuronal cell body marker tau1 (green) for 6 days in vitro. Nuclei are visualized using Hoechst staining (blue).

enables us to isolate axons from neuronal cell bodies
cultured in a 3D tubular structure. It is well recognized that a 3D tubular structure is useful for guiding
neurite outgrowth. When neurons are encapsulated,the confined structure not only arranges neurons but
also guides axons in the single direction as the longaxis. Also, incorporated pores on the surface allow
both control over the cell distribution and axon guidance in multiple directions. Thanks to the axon guidance in multiple directions, a porous neuron-laden
micro-roll can potentially be used as a building blockfor constructing a complex neuronal network andcreating a brain-like network.
3.4 R econstruction of functional tissue-likestructures
The key challenge with cell-laden micro-rolls is tofabricate tissue-mimicking tubular structures andconfirm their cellular function [12]. To demonstratethat pores provide functional integration of neuronladen micro-rolls into a surrounding neuronal network, a culture was labelled with anti-beta3-tubulin(neuronal marker; green) and anti-synapsin I (synapse marker; red) to assess the morphology and synapse formations around the pores. Confocal microscopic images indicate that beta3-tubulin-positive
cells inside and outside the micro-roll were connected by neurites that pass through a pore (Fig. 5(a)).
Furthermore, synapsin I was expressed in the neuNTT Technical Review

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rons, forming synapse puncta along their neurites.
Importantly, synapsin I puncta were detected along
the neurites passing through the pores (white arrowhead), suggesting the formation of synaptic connections between encapsulated and surrounding neurons.
To determine whether a functional synaptic connection is formed, we investigated the synchronization of spontaneous activities within the neuronal
network by monitoring intracellular calcium ions
(Ca2+). Figure 5(b) shows that spontaneous Ca2+
increases in the neurons attached within and aroundthe micro-rolls. The spontaneous Ca2+ oscillations
are highly synchronized between encapsulated andsurrounding neurons. Given that synchronized spontaneous activity is typically mediated by glutamate
synaptic transmissions in the hippocampal neuronal
network, the synchronized Ca2+ oscillations indicate
the formation of functional synaptic connections.
Hence, the encapsulated neurons were functionallyintegrated into surrounding neuronal networks byextending their axons through the pores.
It is generally believed that the functional integration of transplanted neurons into existing circuitry is
required for neural transplantation leading to brain
repair. Although cell encapsulation is a useful method
for 3D tissue formation and cell delivery, the confinedstructure limits the formation of neuronal connections with surrounding tissues. Cell encapsulation
using a porous film allows encapsulated neurons to36

Regular Articles(a)Differential interference
contrast (DIC) image

Synapsin I / Beta3-tubulin / Hoechst
Z = 0 µm
Z = 5 µm
(Surrounding cells)(Neurites passing through the pore)

Z = 15 µm(Micro-roll and pores)

Z = 15 µm(Encapsulated cells)

Pore
Pore

 = 5 µm

Micro-roll

Micro-roll(b)Phase contrast

Baseline
4
1

Spontaneous firingt = 10 s

t=0s
2

3

 = 2 µm

50 µm
0

128

Surrounding Encapsulated
cell
cell

50 µm

1
2
3
4
50%
30 s F/F

Fig. 5. (a) Images acquired at different z-positions around the micro-roll with a differential interference contrast microscope.
The micro-rolls on the neuronal network are immunostained with the synapse marker anti-synapsin I (red), neuronalmarker anti-beta3-tubulin (green), and Hoechst (blue) over 6 days in vitro. White dotted circles indicate pores on the
micro-roll surface. The white arrowheads show axons passing through a pore. (b) Heat maps of spontaneous
activities in neurons (left) and intensity traces of the calcium indicator in regions of interest (ROIs) (right). The traces
are normalized to the initial fluorescence intensity (ΔF/F). The scale bars indicate 100 µm.

extend their axons across the pores and form functional synaptic connections with surrounding neurons. These results highlight the potential for using aneuron-laden micro-roll with pores as a platform forconstructing functional neural tissue with highly precise 3D geometry. Furthermore, the graphene surrounding a micro-roll will be used as an electrode forelectrophysiological recording and the stimulation ofneuronal activity.
4. Summary
We proposed a simple method of transforming amonolayer graphene-laden polymeric film (parylene)
into a programmed 3D configuration that depends on
2D geometry. The adhesion between graphene andparylene is mainly attributable to intermolecularforce including π-π stacking, which ensures a conforNTT Technical Review

Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

mal and stable contact within bilayers. The strain
gradient in homogeneous films initiates self-folding
into micro-rolls. Remarkably, micro-scale curved
graphene exhibits previously unachievable non-linear
electrical behavior without any fracturing or insulation. In addition, both the fabrication process andmaterials of micro-rolls never require cytotoxic
etchant, allowing for batch encapsulation of multiple
cells. The biocompatibility of graphene and parylene
also ensure the encapsulation and long-term culturingof more than one month of encapsulated cells without
cytotoxicity.
Notably, the higher elasticity of graphene andparylene enables the embedded cell to develop a fibershaped construct. In particular, a porous graphene/
parylene bilayer can encapsulate neurons and allow
these neurons to interact with their surroundings. The
pores facilitate the diffusion of reagents to encapsulated
37Regular Articles

neurons for the dye loading and stimulation essential
for the analysis of neuronal circuits. As a result, theencapsulated neurons can be functionally integrated
into surrounding neuronal networks by extending
their axons through the pores. Thus, the porous selffolding film allows us to construct neuronal tissues
connecting to surrounding tissues with a precisely
controlled cell distribution. This method could be
expanded for use with many other adherent cell lines
for reconstructing fiber-shaped functional tissues thatmimic muscle fibers, blood vessels, and nerve networks in vitro.
5. Future prospects
From the perspective of material science, in combination with the 3D reconfigurable structure withelectrical conductivity, this method could be extensively used for the multi-functional integrated circuits
needed for flexible electronics and field effect devices
in which the electrical conductivity of graphene istunable with self-folded geometries. Furthermore, theability to fold the atomically thin sheet into 3D
shapes allows the formation of multi-functional
micro-rolls with diverse chemical, electrical, spintronic, and optical characteristics. From the biological perspectives, the method can also be used to form
scaffolding structures toward regenerative medicine
and the behavior analysis of single cells. This method
could be expanded to reconstruct tissues with various
shapes in vitro that are suitable for exploring singlecell assays, tissue engineering, and implantable exvivo tissue grafts. In addition, a graphene electrodecan be implanted in the brain surface for long-term
electrophysiological recording. Therefore, if graphene can be attached to both the inner and outerface, it will be possible to record neuronal activities
in encapsulated and surrounding tissue independently
and investigate the establishment of functional connections. We believe that the incorporation of theelectrical functionality of graphene will have great
potential in terms of developing an integrated platform for both cell transplantation and electrophysiological recording.

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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Dr. Makoto Takamura, Dr. Yui
Ogawa, and Dr. Shengnan Wang for providing monolayer CVD graphene samples and fruitful discussions
regarding graphene characterization. We are also
grateful to Dr. Yoshiaki Kashimura and Yuriko Furukawa for their help with the microscopic observation,
characterization of electrical property, and assistanceregarding cell culture. This work was partially supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research(JP17H02759) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
References[1]

A. K. Geim and K. S. Novoselov, “The Rise of Graphene,” Nat.
Mater., Vol. 6, pp. 183–191, 2007.
[2] Y. Ueno, K. Furukawa, K. Matsuo, S. Inoue, K. Hayashi, and H.
Hibino, “Molecular Design for Enhanced Sensitivity of a FRET
Aptasensor Built on the Graphene Oxide Surface,” Chem. Commun.,Vol. 49, No. 88, pp. 10346–10348, 2013.
[3] T. M. G. Mohiuddin, A. Lombardo, R. R. Nair, A. Bonetti, G. Savini,
R. Jalil, N. Bonini, D. M. Basko, C. Galiotis, N. Marzari, K. S.
Novoselov, A. K. Geim, and A. C. Ferrari, “Uniaxial Strain in
Graphene by Raman Spectroscopy: G Peak Splitting, Gruneisen
Parameters, and Sample Orientation,” Phys. Rev. B, Vol. 79, No. 20,
p. 205433, 2009.
[4] T. F. Teshima, C. S. Henderson, M. Takamura, Y. Ogawa, S. Wang, Y.
Kashimura, S. Sasaki, T. Goto, H. Nakashima, and Y. Ueno, “Selffolded Three-dimensional Graphene with a Tunable Shape andConductivity,” Nano Lett., Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 461–470, 2019.
[5] K. Sakai, T. F. Teshima, H. Nakashima, and Y. Ueno, “Graphenebased Neuron Encapsulation with Controlled Axonal Outgrowth,”
Nanoscale, Vol. 11, No. 28, pp. 13249–13259, 2019.
[6] T. Teshima, H. Onoe, K. Kuribayashi-Shigetomi, H. Aonuma, K.
Kamiya, H. Ishihara, H. Kanuka, and S. Takeuchi, “Parylene Mobile
Microplates Integrated with an Enzymatic Release for Handling ofSingle Adherent Cells,” Small, Vol. 10, No. 5, pp. 912–921, 2014.
[7] T. Teshima, H. Onoe, H. Aonuma, K. Kuribayashi-Shigetomi, K.
Kamiya, T. Tonooka, H. Kanuka, and S. Takeuchi, “MagneticallyResponsive Microflaps Reveal Cell Membrane Boundaries from
Multiple Angles,” Adv. Mater., Vol. 26, No. 18, pp. 2850–2856, 2014.
[8] T. Teshima, H. Onoe, S. Tottori, H. Aonuma, T. Mizutani, K. Kamiya,
H. Ishihara, H. Kanuka, and S. Takeuchi, “High-resolution Vertical
Observation of Intracellular Structure using Magnetically Responsive
Microplates,” Small, Vol. 12, No. 25, pp. 3366–3373, 2016.
[9] S. N. Wang, H. Hibino, S. Suzuki, and H. Yamamoto, “AtmosphericPressure Chemical Vapor Deposition Growth of Millimeter-scale
Single-crystalline Graphene on the Copper Surface with a Native
Oxide Layer,” Chem. Mater., Vol. 28, No. 14, pp. 4893–4900, 2016.
[10] S. Timoshenko, “Analysis of Bi-metal Thermostats,” J. Opt. Soc. Am.,
Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 233–255, 1925.
[11] M. A. Bissett, W. Izumida, R. Saito, and H. Ago, “Effect of Domain
Boundaries on the Raman Spectra of Mechanically Strained
Graphene,” ACS Nano, Vol. 6, No. 11, pp. 10229–10238, 2012.
[12] T. F. Teshima, H. Nakashima, Y. Ueno, S. Sasaki, C. S. Henderson,
and S. Tsukada, “Cell Assembly in Self-foldable Multi-layered Soft
Micro-rolls,” Sci. Rep., Vol. 7, p. 17376, 2017.

38

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Tetsuhiko Teshima

Research Scientist, Bio-medical Informatics
Research Center (BMC), Molecular and Bio Science Research Group, NTT Basic ResearchLaboratories.
He received a B.A., M.S., and Ph.D. from the
School of Agriculture, Arts and Science, andInformation Science and Technology, Universityof Tokyo, in 2009, 2011, and 2014. During
2011–2014, he was a research fellow of the Japan
Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). He
joined NTT Basic Research Laboratories in
2014, and his current interests are in self-assembly physics and engineering of three-dimensional
electronic networks. He is a member of the Materials Research Society of the USA, International
Conference on Manipulation, Automation andRobotics at Small Scales (IEEE MARSS), theChemical Society of Japan, and the Japan Society of Applied Physics (JSAP).

Hiroshi Nakashima

Senior Research Scientist, Project Manager of
Bio-medical Informatics Research Center(BMC), NTT Basic Research Laboratories.
He received a B.E., M.E., and Ph.D. in appliedchemistry from Waseda University, Tokyo, in
1995, 1997, and 2002. He joined NTT Basic
Research Laboratories in 1997. He was a visiting
research fellow at the University of Oxford, UK,
in 2002, and the University of Wollongong, Australia, from 2010 to 2011. He has been researching the synthesis and control of the optoelectricalproperties of (semi)conductive polymers andnano-bio materials. Since 2019, he has been a
project manager of the Bio-medical Informatics
Research Center (BMC) with a mission to create
data-driven medicine using information andcommunication technology (ICT). He is a member of the Chemical Society of Japan (and its
Colloid and Surface Chemistry Division) and
JSAP (and its Molecular Electronics and Bioelectronics Division).

Koji Sakai

Researcher, Bio-medical Informatics ResearchCenter (BMC), Molecular and Bio Science
Research Group, NTT Basic Research Laboratories.
He received a B.E. in engineering, M.E. inenvironment, and Ph.D. in engineering from the
University of Tokyo, in 2013, 2015, and 2018.
During 2016–2018, he was a research fellow of
JSPS. He joined NTT Basic Research Laboratories in 2018, and is currently working on graphene-based electrodes for microelectrode arrays
and implantable electrodes. He is a member of
the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan andJapanese Society for Medical and BiologicalEngineering.

NTT Technical Review

Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

Yuko Ueno

Distinguished Researcher, Bio-medical Informatics Research Center (BMC), Group Leader ofMolecular and Bio Science Research Group,
NTT Basic Research Laboratories.
She received a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Tokyo in 1995, 1997,
and 2002. She joined NTT Integrated Information & Energy Systems Laboratories in 1997. She
was a post-doctoral fellow at the University ofCalifornia at Berkeley and at Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA, from2004 to 2005. She is a member of the Japan
Society of Analytical Chemistry, the Chemical
Society of Japan, the Spectroscopical Society ofJapan, JSAP, the Japan Society of Vacuum and
Surface Science, the Society for Chemistry andMicro-Nano Systems, the Electrochemical Society of Japan, Japan Association of Chemical
Sensors, and the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers.

39Global Standardization Activities

Report on Fourth ITU-T
Telecommunication Standardization
Advisory Group (TSAG) Meeting
Hideyuki Iwata
Abstract

The fourth meeting of the Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG) of the International Telecommunication Union - Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) was held on
September 22–26, 2019 at the ITU headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. It was attended by approximately 140 delegates from 38 countries. This article introduces the proceedings of the meeting.
Keywords: TSAG, quantum information technology, artificial intelligence

1. Introduction

2. Rapporteur group meetings

The fourth meeting of the Telecommunication
Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG) of theInternational Telecommunication Union - Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) was held
on September 22–26, 2019 at the ITU headquarters in
Geneva, Switzerland. It was attended by approximately 140 delegates from 38 countries. The delegation from Japan was headed by personnel from the
ICT Standardization Division, Global Strategy
Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and included eight locally stationed delegatesfrom Japanese enterprises and organizations (National Institute of Information and Communications
Technology (NICT), NTT, NEC, Fujitsu, Hitachi, andMitsubishi Electric). Japan proposed a method of
identifying the relationship between ITU-T study
group (SG) standardization questions and the United
Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) andthe addition of criteria for evaluating standardization
activities of SGs. The meeting also deliberated on theestablishment of two new focus groups (FGs):“Quantum Information Technology for Networks(QIT4N)” and “AI and Data Commons.”

Each rapporteur group (RG) had the following discussions.

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2.1 RG on Standardization Strategy
Didier Berthoumieux (Nokia, Finland) served as
the RG chair for this meeting. The contributions fromJapan proposed developing mapping between ITU-T
SG questions and 17 SDGs. They also argued that,when determining new study items for each SG, it isimportant to identify SDGs to which each study item
can contribute. It was decided to continue studying
these issues and accelerate such studies by holding
interim e-meetings ahead of the next meeting. Japan
also proposed adding the number of participants andnumber of contributions in SG questions to the criteria for evaluating standardization activities of theSGs. This proposal was well supported by the participants. Detailed study on the addition of these criteria will be carried out in cooperation with Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) personnelof the ITU-T Secretariat ahead of the next TSAG
meeting. The RG chair for the fifth TSAG meeting
will be Rim Belhassine-Cherif (Tunisia Telecom,
Tunisia).

40

Global Standardization Activities

2.2 RG on Work Programme and Structure
Reiner Liebler (Federal Network Agency, Germany) served as the rapporteur. This meeting approved
the creation of a new question, QA/SG9 (Accessibility to cable systems and services), revision of Q6/
SG9 (Functional requirements for residential gateway and set-top box for the reception of advanced
content distribution services), integration of Q18/
SG12 (Measurement and control of the end-to-end
quality of service (QoS) for advanced television technologies, from image acquisition to rendering, incontribution, primary distribution, and secondary
distribution networks) into Q19/SG12 (Objective andsubjective methods for evaluating perceptual audiovisual quality in multimedia and television services),
creation of Q12/SG16 (Visual surveillance systems
and services), and revision of Q2/SG17 (Security
architecture and framework). This RG also held ajoint meeting with the RG on Standardization Strategy to ensure that the SG restructuring will reflect thepriority questions selected in this standardization
strategy.
2.3 RG on Working Methods
Stephen Trowbridge (Nokia, USA) served as therapporteur. The RG considered and approved revisions to Recommendation (Rec.) ITU-T A.1 “Working methods for study groups of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector” and Rec. ITU-T
A.13 “Non-normative ITU-T publications, including
supplements to ITU-T Recommendations.” This RG
will continue to study revisions to Rec. ITU-T A.7,
which concerns FGs, and Rec. ITU-T A.8, which isrelated to an alternative approval process.
2.4 R
 G on Strengthening Cooperation/
Collaboration
Glenn Parsons (Ericsson, Canada) served as therapporteur. The RG considered and approved revisions to Rec. ITU-T A.5 “Generic procedures forincluding references to documents of other organizations in ITU-T Recommendations” and Rec. A.25
“Generic procedures for incorporating text between
ITU-T and other organizations.”
2.5 R
 G on Creation, Participation andTermination of Regional Groups
Kwame Baah-Acheamfuor (National Communications Authority, Ghana) served as the rapporteur. The
RG considered criteria for creation, participation, anddisbandment of regional groups, which will be established by ITU-T SGs, an issue related to Rec. 8
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approved by the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference
2018 (PP-18).
2.6 RG on Review of WTSA Resolutions
Vladimir Minkin (National Wireless Communication Laboratory, Russia) served as the rapporteur. The
RG reviewed the progress of resolutions adopted by
the World Telecommunication Standardization
Assembly (WTSA).
3. New standardization items
Three new items for standardization were discussed: quantum information technology, artificial
intelligence (AI), and a new-Internet protocol (IP)based future network.
3.1 Quantum information technology
In the previous meeting, China proposed that an FG
on Quantum Information Technology for Networks
be established, but it was considered to be too early toestablish it. In this meeting, China again made this
proposal. Discussions were held by narrowing thestudy scope of the proposed FG.
Initially, some countries were opposed to the establishment of the FG because they thought it was too
early. They also argued that the study on quantum
communication by the proposed FG could duplicate
those of other ITU-T organizations and standardization organizations, pointing out that ITU-T SG13 andSG17 had been making progress in the standardization of network architecture and security for quantum
key distribution (QKD). However, establishment of
the FG was agreed to on condition that its study area
will not overlap that of the existing studies on QKD,
that the FG focus on quantum information technologies (QIT), which is a broad concept for quantum
information processing, including quantum communication, quantum computer, and quantum sensor,
subjects not covered by QKD, and that the FG will
operate for only one year with priority given to thestudy on QIT-related terms and use cases. It was recognized that it is vital for the FG to collaborate with
European Telecommunications Standards Institute(ETSI) Industry Specification Group on QKD, ETSITechnical Committee Cyber, Institute of Electricaland Electronics Engineers (IEEE), International
Organization for Standardization/ International Electrotechnical Commission Joint Technical Committee
1 (ISO/IEC JTC 1) Subcommittee 27/Working Group3, ISO/IEC JTC 1 Advisory Group 4, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), Internet Research Task
41

Global Standardization Activities

Force (IRTF), etc. on the study of quantum
communication and provide a global forum for collaboration between ITU-T and those organizations.
3.2 AI Commons
Since 2017, ITU has been holding AI for Good
Global Summit (hereafter, the AI Summit) meetings(most recently on May 28–31, 2019). In the AI Summit meetings, AI experts recognized that it is necessary to have a standardized method of assessing how
useful AI is for solving problems in order to develop
secure and transparent AI solutions. Thus, they proposed the establishment of “Commons,” a forum for
global cooperation in which AI experts can share
their experience and knowledge on problem-solving.
Against a backdrop of increased interest in this idea
at the AI Summit, it was proposed in this TSAG meeting to establish an FG dedicated to the role of AI
Commons (FG on AI and Data Commons) as a prestandardization activity to pave the way for futureinternational standardization. The proposal was
mainly prepared by the program chair (USA) of the
Global Summit and researchers of the AI research
institute of the University of Montreal, Canada,
which is a leading AI research organization. A list oforganizations interested in the establishment of theFG was announced and included Google, Facebook,Intel, Symantec, Element AI, and China Telecom. A
tutorial presentation on AI Commons was given in the
TSAG meeting, followed by discussions in an ad hoc
meeting on the establishment of the FG. The ad hoc
meeting saw considerable support for the establishment of the FG. However, some government delegates expressed their opposition, asserting that the

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scope of the FG was too wide and that it was too earlyto agree on establishment in that TSAG meeting
because it will take a long time before the intent of the
FG is widely understood. Since the discussion timeran out, the proposal was passed over.
3.3 New-IP-based future network
Chinese organizations, including Huawei Technologies, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China
Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), submitted a contribution titled“New IP, Shaping Future Network,” proposing toanalyze the current challenges and provide a development path for the future network for the next
decade. It proposed a strategic study on a future network, including development of a new IP that will
replace the conventional Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/IP. The purpose is to make possible various
e-services, such as Internet of Things and industry
Internet, and to achieve an ultrahigh-capacity, lowlatency network for hologram transmission. This
proposal was remitted to the relevant SG liaison, andfeedback will be received in the next or a subsequentmeeting.
4. Next meeting
The next TSAG meeting (fifth meeting) will be heldin Geneva on February 10–14, 2020. The SDG-related issue proposed by Japan was discussed in interim
e-meetings of the RG on Standardization Strategy,
which were held in November 2019 and January
2020.

42

Global Standardization Activities

Hideyuki Iwata

General Manager, Standardization Strategy,
Research and Development Planning Department, NTT.
He received a Ph.D. in electrical engineeringfrom Yamagata University in 2011. From 1993 to
2000, he conducted research on high-density andaerial optical fiber cables at NTT Access Network Service Systems Laboratories. Since 2000,
he has been responsible for standardization strategy planning for NTT research and development.
He has been a delegate of IEC Subcommittee
86A (optical fiber and cable) since 1998 and of
ITU-T TSAG since 2003. He is a vice-chair of
the Working Group on Policy and Strategic Coordination and the Expert Group on Bridging theStandardization Gap in the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity Standardization Program (ASTAP).
He received an award from the IEC Activities
Promotion Committee of Japan in 2004, the ITU
Association of Japan (ITU-AJ) International
Activity Encouragement Award in 2005, an ITUAJ International Cooperation Award in 2012, anaward for contributions to an ICT development
project at the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT)ICT Ministerial Meeting in 2014, the ITU-AJ
Accomplishment Award in 2018, and the Telecommunication Technology Committee (TTC)
Chairman’s Prize in 2019.

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Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 202043

Practical Field Information about
Telecommunication Technologies
Practical Field Information about Telecommunication Technologies

A New Method for Repairing Steel
Lifting ConduitsTechnical Assistance and Support Center, NTT EAST
Abstract

This article introduces a simple and low-cost repair method applied to damaged lifting conduits andpresents the results of its technical verification. This is the fifty-sixth article in a series on telecommunication technologies.
Keywords: lifting conduit, corrosion, repair method

1. Introduction
The telecommunication cables connecting a NTT
telecommunication central office and customer premises run through underground facilities before being
carried by overhead facilities to the customer premises. When a cable leaves an underground facility andis taken up to an overhead facility, it is housed in asteel pipe called a lifting conduit installed alongsidea telephone pole (Fig. 1). The function of the lifting
conduit is to protect the cable (Fig. 2). Since lifting
conduits are exposed when coming into contact withthe ground, they are typically treated with anti-corrosion materials such as zinc-plating and painting.
In the joint portion of the conduit (Fig. 3) and the
portion close to the ground (Fig. 4), rainwater or
damage due to external factors such as impact by
vehicles will cause surface corrosion of those portions, and the surface corrosion will lead to the formation of holes (perforations). As the perforation
progresses, the conduit may be further damaged, e.g.,cracking. As a result, as well as the appearance of the
conduit being deteriorated, the cable may become
exposed outside the conduit and became further damaged by external factors such as impact by vehicles,
which could be lead to telecommunication service
interruption.
It is thus necessary to appropriately repair damaged
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Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

lifting conduits. The repair method described in thisarticle was originally developed by Yokohama Service Center of NTT EAST-Minamikanto Corporation, and the Technical Assistance and Support Center (TASC), NTT EAST, verified and validated on thebasis of in-house standard method. The TASC conducted technical verification of this repair method (interms of weather resistance, etc.) for damaged lifting
conduits. This article introduces noteworthy featureson this repair method and presents the results of its
technical verification.
2. Current methods for repairing lifting conduits
When a lifting conduit is damaged by corrosion it isdesirable to repair it on site, rather than to replace thewhole of lifting conduit. The repair method is selected according to the size of the holes formed in the
conduit and the degree of corrosion. Examples of
conventional repair methods [1] are listed below.
(1) Half-cut-conduit method
The corroded lifting conduit is cut vertically using
an exclusive tool to remove the corroded section, andtwo pieces of half-cut conduit are attached to theoriginal conduit and fixed with several clips to cover
the cables (Fig. 5).
(2) Over-cleat method
The existing lifting conduit does not need to be cut.
44Practical Field Information about Telecommunication Technologies

Steel tower
NTT telecommunication
central office
Office building,
condominium, etc.
Aerial cable
Lifting
conduitHandhole

ManholeServicetunnelCustomerpremisesequipment

Telephone pole

Conduit and underground cable

Fig. 1. Overview of telecommunication facility.

Lifting conduit

Perforation
GroundsurfaceFig. 2. Lifting conduits installed alongside a telephonepole.

Perforation

Pipe joint

Fig. 3. Lifting conduit with perforation (due to corrosion) in
the upper part of the joint.

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Fig. 4. L ifting conduit with perforation (due to corrosion)near the ground.

First, the corroded section is removed and primed
with resin, which is used to bond stainless-steel repair
plates around that section. After that, resin intermediate coating, glass-cloth winding, a resin top coating,and anti-corrosion paint are coated.
The most representative method for repairing lifting conduits is the half-cut-conduit method. Thismethod has the advantage that even a conduit withlarge corrosion holes can be repaired; however, it isnecessary to cut the conduit and remove parts of it.
Accordingly, care must be taken to avoid accidentally
damaging the cable during repair work. The overcleat method, with which the steel lifting conduit is
not cut, has two problems: (i) repair work takes a longtime and (ii) repair work requires a specialist; thus, adamaged lifting conduit cannot be easily repaired. In
consideration of these problems with such conventional methods, NTT EAST-Minamikanto developed
a new method for easily repairing steel lifting conduits.
45

Practical Field Information about Telecommunication Technologies

Clip

Cutting

Half-cutconduits

CablesPerforation

Half-cutconduits

Lifting conduit
RemovalFig. 5. Repair of lifting conduit with half-cut-conduit method.

(Step 1)

Repairplate(Step 2)

Repair tape

Adhesive

Temporary fix(Cable ties)

Sealing primer

Perforation

Internal primer

Undercoat treatment(Surface preparation + anti-corrosion agent)(Step 3)

(Step 4)

Fig. 6. New method for repairing lifting conduits.

3. New method for repairing lifting conduits
The new repair method mainly consists of four
steps: (i) undercoat treatment, (ii) coating of an internal primer and attachment of repair plates, (iii) coating of a sealing primer, and (iv) wrapping with glassfiber tape (Fig. 6).
(1) Step 1: Undercoat treatment
A metal brush or sandpaper is used to remove therust around the areas where coatings have peeled off(hereafter referred to as repair area). An anti-corrosion agent is then coated by brush to the repair areaand dried.
(2)	Step 2: Coating and curing of internal primer
and attachment of repair plates
A photo-curing resin (internal primer) is uniformly
coated to the inside of the repair plates (within the
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Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

repair area) and cured with natural or ultraviolet (UV)light. The internal primer prevents contact corrosionof a dissimilar metal between the lifting conduit(steel) and repair plates (stainless steel). Adhesive isthen applied to the repair plates, which are thenadhered to the repair area.
(3) Step 3: Coating and curing of sealing primer
A photo-curing resin (sealing primer) is applied
evenly to the gaps between the conduit and the repair
plates as well as to areas where the existing anti-corrosion agent peeled off. The repair area is then irradiated with natural or black light for curing.
(4) Step 4: Wrapping with glass-fiber tape
Glass-fiber tape (hereinafter, repair tape) is woundaround the repair area while pulling it tight so that
there is no looseness in the repair area or above andbelow the widths of the repair tape. By wrapping the46

Practical Field Information about Telecommunication Technologies

Fig. 7. Lifting conduits repaired with the new method.

Table 1. Outline of test.
Test item

Test details

Summary of test results

Weather resistanceUV irradiation

No change in peeling or cracking

Heat resistanceCorrosion resistanceHeat cycle between high temperature and low temperature No change in peeling or cracking
Salt-water spray

repair tape in a manner called half-overlapped onereturn lap, the overlapping tapes complement eachother and prevent adhesion from decreasing. By
straddling the boundary between the anti-corrosive
area and area coated with sealing primer and by
ensuring the repair tape completely covers that entire
area, it is possible to prevent rusting on the portion
without the applied sealing primer (tape end).
The materials used for the repairs are commercial
products and therefore easy to obtain. Moreover, the
new method has the advantage that repair work can beeasily completed in a short time (about two hours).
Photographs of two steel lifting conduits after repair
are shown in Fig. 7. The surfaces of the repair areas
are covered with repair tape, and the required strength
is assured by the repair plates fitted inside, and rusting is prevented by coating the primer.
4. Verification of durability of lifting conduit
repaired with new method
Lifting conduits repaired with the new repair method would deteriorate under complexed conditions
such as UV rays, wind and rain, temperature change,and sea salt. Accordingly, the TASC fabricated a test
piece applied with the new method and verified its
weather resistance, heat resistance, corrosion resisNTT Technical Review

Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

No change in rustingtance, etc. in a simulation of an actual environment.
The verification results were evaluated on the basis ofstandards defined in the specifications for repairinglifting conduits. The details of the verification test arelisted in Table 1.
In the test, the new method was applied to repair asteel conduit with a simulated hole. According to theresults of the test, NTT’s specifications, such as no
visible change in rust state and no peeling of repair
tape (Table 1), were satisfied. Photographs taken
before and after the corrosion-resistance test are
shown in Fig. 8.
The results presented in Table 1 indicate that the
stipulated specifications were satisfied; thus, we confirmed that this new repair method can be employedfor practical use.
5. Concluding remarks
The new repair method uses commercially available materials and do not require specialized technology for repair work, which can be completed in ashort time (about two hours). Accordingly, in comparison with conventional methods, the new method
enables lower repair costs while maintaining quality.
In fiscal year 2019, NTT EAST will add this repair
method to current repair methods for steel lifting47

Practical Field Information about Telecommunication Technologies(2) After test

(1) Before test
Repair tape

Repair tape
Test

Perforation(simulated)
Steel conduit
Steel conduit
Simulatedsteel conduit

Repaired simulated
steel conduit

Appearance
after test

Surface condition of steel conduit(After removing repair
tape, etc.)

Fig. 8. External appearance of simulated steel conduit before and after corrosion test.

conduits.
The TASC will continue to promote technical cooperation activities aimed at solving on-site issues andcontribute to improving the quality and reliability oftelecommunication facilities.

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Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

Reference[1]

Technical Assistance and Support Center, NTT EAST, “Q&A Concerning On-site Troubleshooting with Telecommunication Equipment,” 3rd edition, pp. 508−510, The Telecommunication Association, Tokyo, Japan, 2016 (in Japanese).

48

Information

Report on NTT R&D Forum 2019
Tomohisa Hosoda, Yasushi Matsuno,
Takayoshi Mochizuki, Hideo Kato, Tomota Ieyasu,
Masaki Hisada, Kentaro Hotta, and Norio Sakaida
Abstract

NTT R&D Forum 2019 was held at the NTT Musashino Research and Development Center on
November 11–15, 2019 (November 11 and 12 were set aside solely for the press and NTT Group
employees). This article provides an overall of the forum.
Keywords: R&D forum, IOWN, smart world

1. Forum overview
The NTT Group is seeking to resolve social issues
as Your Value Partner. In May 2019, it announced theInnovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN), a
photonics-based concept aimed at providing a highcapacity, low-latency, and energy-efficient information communication infrastructure capable of supporting sustainable growth. NTT R&D Forum 2019
introduced the latest results of research activities carried out based on this concept through lectures andexhibits presented under the theme of “What’s
IOWN? - Change the World.”
2. Lectures and workshops
On November 13, NTT president and CEO Jun
Sawada gave a keynote lecture entitled “Towards theEra of IOWN” (Photo 1). By comparing and contrasting a recycling society developed during the Edo
Period in Japan with European societies during theIndustrial Revolution, which was designed to encourage economic growth, he stated that NTT is seeking asociety in which innovations bridge today’s social
divisions arising from differences in civilization or
thinking. Increasing consumption of electrical energy
represents a technical constraint on sustainable development. The technical foundation of IOWN is the
NTT Technical Review

Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

extremely energy-efficient photonics-electronics
convergence technology that NTT is developing.
Based on this technology, NTT is developing the AllPhotonics Network, which will also pave the way for
an ultimate future network that incorporates quantum
communication and quantum encryption. As Digital
Twin Computing advances, interactions within the
cyberworld will become possible. When the real
space works in concert with the new cyberspace, howwill social institutions, the purpose of and joy in life,
ethics, and responsibility manifest themselves? NTT
will collaborate with Kyoto University in studying
these questions, which represent a new way of looking at the world. Mr. Sawada also described Cognitive Foundation®, which automatically links various
information and communication technology (ICT)
resources to enable a network to evolve autonomously, and introduced NTT’s involvement in the Smart
City project in Las Vegas as an example.
Looking towards the future of communication,
NTT, Intel, and Sony announced the establishment of
the IOWN Global Forum, an international forum that
promotes photonics-related research and development (R&D) based on photonics-electronics convergence. Sixty-five companies, the majority of which
are from outside Japan, are currently considering toparticipate in it. Mr. Sawada ended his address byinviting partners to participate in NTT projects
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Photo 1. Keynote lecture by Jun Sawada, president andCEO, NTT.

aimed at creating a smart world.
The president’s keynote lecture was followed by apresentation by Katsuhiko Kawazoe, NTT senior vicepresident and head of the Research and Development
Planning Department, entitled “What’s IOWN? Change the World.” The vision of IOWN is to create
an innovative information processing base that will
carry out vastly expanded information processing andmake it possible to break through conventional technical constraints such as power consumption. IOWN
consists of three elements: All-Photonics Network,
which dramatically enhances the potential of theinformation processing base; Digital Twin Computing, which opens a new horizon for services andapplications.; and Cognitive Foundation, which optimally harmonizes all ICT resources. Wireless accesstechnology in IOWN will also penetrate everywhere,e.g., under the sea, in the air, or in outer space, resulting in a world of connected everywhere. NTT’s
activities towards this goal include world-leading
high-capacity wireless transmission, undersea wireless communication, and wireless transmission inouter space, with the latter being undertaken as a joint
research project with Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency (JAXA).
To illustrate a world made possible by IOWN, Mr.
Kawazoe introduced a project involving a company,
academic institution, and local government, i.e.,
NTT, Hokkaido University, and Iwamizawa City in
Hokkaido. The aim of this project is to promoteworld-leading smart agriculture using cutting-edge
agricultural robot technology and ICT. He concluded
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his presentation with a declaration that those involvedin NTT R&D are committed to thinking outside thebox and pursuing the welfare and prosperity ofhumankind propelled by a tremendous zeal for technical innovation given the urgent need to protect the
global environment and ensure sustainable development.
Two special sessions were held on November 14,
and four on November 15. In the first session on
November 14, Kazuhiro Gomi, president and CEO of
NTT Research, Inc., introduced the innovation strategy of NTT Research, which is responsible for the
globalization of NTT R&D, and its positioning in the
IOWN initiative under the title of “Upgrade Reality Reality in IOWN Concept.” In the second session, thedirectors of the three laboratories that make up NTT
Research gave an overview of their respective activities. Tatsuaki Okamoto, director of Cryptography &Information Security Laboratories (CIS Labs),
reported that their aim is to create a world-leading
encryption laboratory and that they already have apool of top researchers, who they hope will form a
dream team in the areas of cryptography theory andblockchain. For this purpose, they will collaborate
with NTT Security Platform Laboratories. Hitonobu
Tomoike, director of Medical & Health Informatics
Laboratories (MEI Labs), said that they are focusing
on precision medicine as it enables diagnosis andhealthcare to be tuned to the characteristics of eachindividual. For this purpose, they will apply artificial
intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), anddata science in their research on health and diseases
while placing the highest priority on patients. Next,
Yoshihisa Yamamoto, director of Physics & Informatics Laboratories (PHI Labs), presented the challenge of fusing the principles of quantum mechanics
and brain-based information processing with light.
Their long-term research target is to understand how
humans carry out advanced information processing,such as recognition and decision-making, as well as
the nature of consciousness, by analyzing the relationships between these two principles. Lastly, apanel discussion was held with Director Okamoto of
CIS Labs, Director Tomoike of MEI Labs, and Deputy Director Satoshi Kako of PHI Labs as panelists
and with President Gomi acting as the moderator(Photo 2). They discussed the advantages that Silicon
Valley, where NTT Research is located, offers, suchas the availability of top-notch and highly motivatedexperts and interdisciplinary environments, and theirdetermination to advance their research capabilities
on the basis of NTT’s traditions.
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Photo 2. Panel discussion.

On November 15, Professor Noboru Noguchi, program director of Fundamental Agriscience Research,
Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, gave a presentation entitled “Smart Agriculture
toward Society 5.0.” He spoke of a smart agriculture
project that uses cutting-edge agricultural robot technology and ICT. This project is being undertaken
based on an agreement involving NTT, Hokkaido
University, and Iwamizawa City (Photo 3). Then,
Ryutaro Kawamura, director of NTT Service Innovation Laboratory Group, gave a talk entitled “TheDigital World of Humans and Society – Digital Twin
Computing.” He envisioned how the acceleration ofdigitalization will change the world and identified
key technologies that will make this change possible.
This was followed by a presentation, entitled “Innovative Network Focused on 2030 (Beyond 2020),” by
Arata Itoh, director of NTT Information Network
Laboratory Group. He introduced the Group’s
research initiatives undertaken within the context of
the IOWN concept and the latest research cases.
Lastly, Tetsuomi Sogawa, director of NTT Science
and Core Technology Laboratory Group, presented alecture entitled “Basic Research Supporting AllPhotonics Network.” He elaborated on photonicselectronics convergence devices that make highspeed and ultra-power-efficient operation possible;
innovative photonics devices that support highcapacity optical transmission; LASOLVTM, a newphysical computer based on optical communication
technologies; and an optical lattice clock networkthat serves as a next-generation frequency/time reference infrastructure.
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Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

Photo 3. S pecial session by Professor Noboru Noguchi,
Hokkaido University.

3. Showcasing research results
In this forum, 106 examples of the latest research
results were on display and divided into seven categories: [Special category] IOWN for Smart World;
media and devices/robotics; networks; AI; data collection, management and analysis; security; and basic
research. Technologies being investigated by the
NTT Group and outcomes resulting from collaboration with partner companies were also presented.
There were also nascent projects that went beyond
the exhibition theme, such as “Action for 2020 and
Beyond” and “SDG-based Assessment of ICT Solution Services.” Thus, the exhibition covered a wide
range of research findings from basic research toalready commercialized technologies.
To enable visitors to see the results of R&D more
effectively, there were not only exhibition sites devoted to specific topics but also dedicated exhibition
rooms and outdoor sites depending on the nature of
the topics presented. There was also a special exhibition site that introduced activities related to the special category: IOWN for Smart World (Photo 4). At
these sites, visitors could view well-designed demonstrations and exhibits.
3.1 IOWN for Smart World(1) IOWN use cases
Use cases of IOWN for Smart World depict a worldthat will be made possible by IOWN. As a use case of
Digital Twin Computing, decision-making throughconsultation with multiple selves (digital twins) that51

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Photo 4. IOWN for Smart World.

Photo 5. Media and devices/robotics.

have different abilities was demonstrated. A conceptual model of a mobility society at the time whenvehicles are completely self-driven showed how
people, vehicles, and roads will cooperate and interact at an advanced level.
(2) Distinctive technologies for IOWN
The latest R&D results for implementing IOWN
were introduced and classified as Post-Moore, AllPhotonics Network/Beyond 5G, Advanced Research,and Point of Atmosphere. Specifically, the following
distinctive technologies for IOWN were introduced:
nano-photonic acceleration and on-board/chip optical network, both based on photonics-electronics
convergence information-processing technology,
which makes high-performance and low-power
operation possible; terabit-level transmission technology for building a high-capacity network for
IOWN; and high-frequency-band analog radio-overfiber (RoF) technology that separates signal processing from an antenna and/or radio frequency toenhance the degree of flexibility in determining wireless areas.

ogy that makes 3D viewing from any angle (360°)
possible; acoustic field control technology that delivers sound to only a specific area; zero-latency media
technology that uses predictive expression to achievecommunication that transcends time and space; anduser experience (UX) technology that creates aheightened sense of reality by manipulating temperature and air.
(2)	Human-machine interface technologies that
expand human potential
In a demonstration of technology that turns visualand auditory senses into a haptic sense, visitors wereable to experience a virtual skateboard ride whilesensing vibrations along with a video. Also on display were a new hands-free, stress-free, and focusfree visual sensing device; behavior-design technology that uses AI to understand a person from multiple
perspectives and enables him/her to approach his/her
ideal well-being; and self-transformation interaction
technology that uses surrounding devices to impart
how professionals use their expertise and prompts an
individual to transform into someone he/she wants tobe.

3.2 Media and devices/robotics(1)	Media technologies that provide the novel experience of transcending time and space
A theater-type exhibition presented a concept of the
future in which “IOWN × Entertainment” integrates
real and virtual worlds to create a transcendent experience. The following distinctive technologies werealso exhibited: three-dimensional (3D) video presentation technology that allows a choice between 2D
and 3D viewing (Photo 5); glasses-free 3D technolNTT Technical Review

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3.3 Networks(1)	Optical and wireless technologies for an innovative network
A wide range of optical and wireless technologies,
each dedicated to a specific function, were introduced. They will make it possible to build an innovative network that will serve as a smart social infrastructure that can meet diverse and complex needs.
They included technology that controls the network
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Photo 6. Networks.

Photo 7. AI.

so that it can adapt to the quality requirements ofindividual applications and technology for underwater communication.
(2)	Control and orchestration technologies for flexibility and intelligence
A diverse range of network control and orchestration technologies were on display. They included
AI-based advanced operation technology; technology
for detecting fault locations, diagnosing faults, andachieving early recovery; and technology for realtime presentation of traffic in a virtual environment(Photo 6).
(3) Use cases using network features
Use cases of the following technologies were introduced: technology for low-latency transmission of alive 4K video; video-streaming architecture achieved
through cooperative interactions with video-delivery
providers; and network-information infrastructuretechnology for efficiently collecting, processing, anddelivering the information needed to provide mobility
as a service (MaaS).

characters; technology for identifying events fromspeech to achieve context-adapted dialogue; Englishpronunciation training technology that uses auditory
sense-based feedback; voice and acoustic emotionprocessing technology that will facilitate the evolution of connected cars; technology for estimating thelocations of roadside display devices for map enrichment; technology for reading non-verbally expressed
emotions to improve communication quality; and an
AI solution that automatically responds to visitors
using audio and video.
(2) AI supporting society
The exhibited AIs included Smart Plant that digitizes the five human senses to improve productivity
and operation rates; technology for relieving congestion during a large-scale event in real time by forecasting and guiding visitor flows; technology for
automating responses to reporting of faults; anglefree object detection technology that uses image recognition to identify diverse products to reduce theneed for retail assistants in shops and that becomes
smarter the more it is used; and rescue-team operation-optimization technology that uses AI and urban
data to shorten the time needed for ambulances toarrive at emergency scenes and transport patients to
hospitals (Photo 7).
(3) AI infrastructure technologies
On display were technology that produces highly
accurate translation at a TOEIC®* score level of 960(highest possible score being 990); technology that

3.4 AIThe NTT Group’s AI-related technologies, corevo®,
which co-exist with people to co-create new values
to enrich people’s lives, were introduced according
to the following classifications.
(1) AI supporting people
The following AIs were introduced: technologythat uses a sequence-to-sequence model to convert
the voice quality and prosody of a person into thoseof another person of his/her choice; chat-dialogue
technology for enabling conversations with unique
NTT Technical Review

Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020*

TOEIC® is a registered trademark of Educational Testing Service(ETS). This product is not endorsed or approved by ETS.

53

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Photo 8. Data collection, management, and analysis.

Photo 9. Security.

reduces the cost of creating chatbot scripts; technology that compresses space-information data to
improve data-reading speed, making it easy to handle
a large volume of human activity data; and patternrecognition technology that uses sparse operation inmedia processing and ensures end-to-end security.

3.6 Security(1) Security for protecting Smart World
Technologies for countering cyberattacks that arebecoming increasingly sophisticated were presented.
Technology for detecting fake sensor data makes it
possible to protect social systems that rely on numerous sensors from attack. Secure technology for Society 5.0 detects falsification of data in OT (operational
technology)/IoT devices installed throughout a supply chain. Data collection technology protects people
from social engineering attacks that exploit their psychological vulnerabilities.
(2) Security for creating Smart World
Applications of encryption technology and technologies that create new value using cutting-edge
security technology were introduced. Anonymizing
technology supports the creation of highly useful
anonymized information and makes secure use of
personal data possible (Photo 9). A secure information-communication platform makes it possible toconduct advanced data analysis while protecting privacy and commercially sensitive information.

3.5 Data collection, management, and analysis(1)	Innovation of system construction and operational services
The following technologies were on display: technology that analyzes a code and tests it automaticallyand quickly focusing on the changes made in it; technology that enables rapid handling of faults by sharing expertise obtained from the analysis of the fault
logs of multiple systems; and an international standard-compliant IoT data-sharing platform.
(2)	Real-time analysis of camera and space-sensor
data
Introduced were an image-recognition service lowering AI creation costs (Photo 8); a public-safety
solution by exploiting incident and sensor data inpublic areas; and the “Hikari Deep Learning” (Carrier Cloud for Deep Learning) inference platform thatcarries out AI analysis of numerous video streams.
(3)	Core technologies that support future connectedvehiclesTwo technologies were on display. The first is forcollecting data from numerous connected cars andsimulating road environments in clouds. The second
is Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning technology that uses cloud processing toachieve centimeter-level positioning.
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3.7 Basic research
Basic research projects that are revolutionizing
society were presented. They included innovative
information-processing technology in the PostMoore era, advanced medical care, and advanced
materials.
Cutting-edge basic research projects that are aimed
at the creation of new principles and concepts for the
future were also presented. They included Danswing
paper, which uses illusion to make it appear that54

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information of invisible light to AI; and middlewarefor LASOLV, which solves challenging problems at
an extraordinary speed.
4. Conclusion of the forum

Photo 10. Basic research.

printed materials are moving; a transparent battery
that can be used to make devices virtually invisible(Photo 10); optical meta-surface, which conveys

NTT Technical Review

Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

We were able to welcome more than 17,000 visitors, including those from abroad. We believe that thislarge number reflects the expectations of NTT Group
employees and our customers for the first NTT R&D
Forum after the announcement of the IOWN concept.
Visitors to the exhibit sites and those who took thequestionnaire survey or sent us inquiries after theforum clearly expressed their high expectations for
NTT R&D. To live up to these high expectations, wewill redouble our efforts in all areas from basic
research to the development and deployment of newtechnologies.
Trademark notes
All brand, product, and company/organization names that appear in thisarticle are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

55

Information

Authors (from left): Norio Sakaida, manager, Research
Planning Department, NTT Science and Core Technology
Laboratory Group; Tomota Ieyasu, manager, R&D Planning,
NTT Research and Development Planning Department;
Hideo Kato, manager, R&D Planning, NTT Research andDevelopment Planning Department; Takayoshi Mochizuki,
manager, R&D Planning, NTT Research and Development
Planning Department; Tomohisa Hosoda, senior manager,
R&D Planning, NTT Research and Development Planning
Department; Yasushi Matsuno, manager, R&D Planning,
NTT Research and Development Planning Department;
Kentaro Hotta, manager, Planning Department, NTT
Information Network Laboratory Group; Masaki Hisada,manager, R&D Management, Planning Department, NTT
Service Innovation Laboratory GroupNTT Technical Review

Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

56

External Awards
CSS2019 Encouragement Award
Winner: Ibuki Mishina, Koki Hamada, and Dai Ikarashi, NTT
Secure Platform Laboratories
Date: October 23, 2019
Organization: Information Processing Society of Japan
For “Realization of Practical Secure Deep Learning.”
Published as: I. Mishina, K. Hamada, and D. Ikarashi, “Realizationof Practical Secure Deep Learning,” Computer Security Symposium
2019, Nagasaki, Japan, Oct. 2019 (in Japanese).
CSS2019 Encouragement Award
Winner: Koki Hamada, Dai Ikarashi, Ibuki Mishina, and Ryo Kikuchi, NTT Secure Platform Laboratories
Date: October 23, 2019
Organization: Information Processing Society of Japan
For “A Secure Batch Function Evaluation Algorithm and Its Application to Secure Logistic Regression Algorithm with High Accuracy.”
Published as: K. Hamada, D. Ikarashi, I. Mishina, and R. Kikuchi,“A Secure Batch Function Evaluation Algorithm and Its Application
to Secure Logistic Regression Algorithm with High Accuracy,” Computer Security Symposium 2019, Nagasaki, Japan, Oct. 2019 (inJapanese).
CSS2019 Encouragement Award
Winner: Dai Ikarashi, NTT Secure Platform Laboratories

Date: October 23, 2019
Organization: Information Processing Society of Japan
For “Secure Real Number Operations for Secure AI –O(|p|)-bit
Communication and O(1)-round Right Shift Protocol–.”
Published as: D. Ikarashi, “Secure Real Number Operations for
Secure AI –O(|p|)-bit Communication and O(1)-round Right Shift
Protocol–,” Computer Security Symposium 2019, Nagasaki, Japan,
Oct. 2019 (in Japanese).
CSS2019 Outstanding Paper Award
Winner: Toshinori Usui, NTT Secure Platform Laboratories/Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo; Kazuki Furukawa, The University of Electro-Communications; Yuto Otsuki,
Tomonori Ikuse, Yuhei Kawakoya, Makoto Iwamura, Jun Miyoshi,
NTT Secure Platform Laboratories; Kanta Matsuura, Institute ofIndustrial Science, The University of Tokyo
Date: October 23, 2019
Organization: Information Processing Society of Japan
For “Automatically Appending Multi-path Execution Functionality to Vanilla Script Engines.”
Published as: T. Usui, K. Furukawa, Y. Otsuki, T. Ikuse, Y. Kawakoya, M. Iwamura, J. Miyoshi, and K. Matsuura, “AutomaticallyAppending Multi-path Execution Functionality to Vanilla Script
Engines,” Computer Security Symposium 2019, Nagasaki, Japan,
Oct. 2019 (in Japanese).

Papers Published in Technical Journals andConference Proceedings
Comparative Study on Layered Light-field Displays andOptimization Methods
K. Maruyama, K. Takahashi, T. Fujii, M. Date, and H. Kimata
Proc. of the International Display Workshops (IDW) 2019, pp.
1073–1076, Sapporo, Japan, November 2019.
We focus on two factors that affect the performance of layered
light-field displays: the layer device and optimization method. We
quantitatively compared the performances of different architecturesof layered light-field displays (liquid crystal panel (LCD), holographic optical element (HOE), and super-in plane switching LCD)
and their optimization methods (analytical and CNN-based methods).

NTT Technical Review

Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

Depth-range Control in Visually Equivalent Light Field 3D(VELF3D) Display
M. Date, S. Shimizu, and H. Kimata
Proc. of IDW 2019, pp. 65–68, Sapporo, Japan, November 2019.
Light field displays have limited display depth range, which is aserious issue in supporting live action content. Though generating
depth maps and re-rendering is a solution, it incurs huge computational cost. In this paper, we discuss achieving depth-range compression simply by calculating the weighted average of multi-camera
images.

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Papers Published in Technical Journals and Conference Proceedings

Privacy-preserving Support-vector-machine Computing
Using Random Unitary Transformation
T. Maekawa, A. Kawamura, T. Nakachi, and H. Kiya
IEICE Transactions on Fundamentals of Electronics, Communications and Computer Sciences, Vol. E102-A, No. 12, pp. 1849–1855,
December 2019.
We propose a privacy-preserving support vector machine (SVM)
computing scheme is proposed. Cloud computing has been spreadingin many fields. However, cloud computing has serious issues for end
users, such as the unauthorized use of cloud services, data leaks, andprivacy being compromised. Accordingly, we propose a privacypreserving SVM computing scheme. We focus on protecting visual
information of images by using a random unitary transformation anddiscuss some of the properties of the protected images. The proposed
scheme enables us not only to protect images but also to experience
the same performance as that of unprotected images even when using
typical kernel functions such as the linear kernel, radial basis function
kernel, and polynomial kernel. The scheme can also be directly carried out using well-known SVM algorithms without the need to prepare any algorithms specialized for secure SVM computing. In an
experiment, we applied the proposed scheme to a face-based authentication algorithm with SVM classifiers to confirm its effectiveness.

OEM Finder: Hunting Vulnerable OEM IoT Devices at Scale
A. Nakajima
BlackHat Europe 2019, London, UK, December 2019.
Many consumer Internet of Things (IoT) vendors now use an
original equipment manufacturer (OEM) production model. They
purchase IoT devices from OEM suppliers then customize and sell
those devices under their own brands. While this production model

NTT Technical Review

Vol. 18 No. 2 Feb. 2020

can reduce device manufacturing costs, it could lead to high-security
risks such as when the original device is vulnerable, the OEM device(re-branded device) is also vulnerable. The survey conducted by
IPVM in 2017 concluded that the vulnerability found in the Hikvision’s (OEM supplier’s) network camera was propagated to its various OEM devices, which are sold by over 80 vendors.
Including the above case, we found that vulnerability databases(e.g., National Vulnerability Database (NVD), Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE)) do not include or announce OEM devices
as affected by vulnerabilities. One of the probable causes is that there
is still no means to find OEM devices other than asking OEM suppliers or inspecting each device manually.
To address this supply chain risk, we developed a tool called OEM
Finder, which can automatically detect OEM device candidates basedon the similarity of its appearance between OEM and original devices. To achieve fast, automatic, and precise OEM device detection, we
adopt an object-recognition algorithm (KAZE) with k-NN and use
graph kernels.
With our tool, we found more than 180 unique vulnerable OEM
device candidates from over 50,000 IoT device images, which wecollected from e-commerce websites. We also analyzed the latest
firmware images of some of these OEM device candidates, which are
distributed by OEM vendors (not OEM suppliers), and confirmedthat the devices detected with our tool are indeed OEM devices. We
also found that the OEM firmware images are still vulnerable.
At the end of the talk, we will publish this tool as an online searchengine. By uploading a photo of vulnerable IoT devices, this web
service can list the OEM device candidates that potentially containidentical vulnerabilities. We believe that our web service will help infinding vulnerable OEM devices and mitigate security risks.

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