Laboratory Strategies

Environment and Energy are the Key Words in the 21st Century
Hiroki Tanaka
Director of NTT Energy and Environment Systems Laboratories
The 21st century is being described as the environmental century. In our Laboratories, we undertake
R&D in various fields involving environmental
issues from three perspectives based on the key
words “environment” and “energy”: R&D that considers the environment of the whole earth, metrics for
estimating environmental effects such as CO2 reduction in NTT, and products that create a good life anda safe and secure society.
Since one major problem is the huge amount ofelectrical power consumed by advanced IP (Internetprotocol) technology, we are developing clean energy
technology, EMC (electromagnetic compatibility)
technology for evaluating the influence of electromagnetic radiation and interference between communication equipment, and a backup power technology
for supplying continuous 48 V DC based on largecapacity nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries. In
addition, we are developing micro-energy technologythat enables ubiquitous communication to give people a good life, such as the photovoltaic generator
called “pocket energy” that was commercialized by
NTT-AT Corporation in July.
In studying environment issues, we believe that wemust understand the present condition of the environment, disseminate this information to everyone, andprovide information that matches the needs of individuals. For these purposes, we are developing technologies that supply environmental network services
using sensors and IP networks, such as a networked
pollen sensing system and a networked multi-sensing
air environment monitoring system that can measuresuspended particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, andozone. We are also developing system solutions suchas disaster surveillance systems, food traceabilitysystems, and systems for evaluating the effects ofrecycling in agriculture.

There are four different paths for identifying needs
when selecting research themes: 1) creation of ubiquitous services, 2) smooth expansion of commercialization, 3) timely response to the needs of national
and local governments, and 4) use of our technologies supporting communication networks. The firstexamines ubiquitous communication technology,
which allows access to information at any time fromanywhere, from the viewpoint of the environment
and energy. The second identifies themes by extracting new needs in existing technologies from theviewpoint of “outside to inside” or “inside to outside”. The third is driven by the needs of local governments and business enterprises. The fourth covers
research themes that are starting to consider services
with NTT distinctive technologies. Thus, our main
mission is promoting new market cultivation and new
product commercialization.
Regarding future prospects, we are always very
conscious of how our R&D results should be madeavailable to society at large. Unless our results areturned into products that are accepted by the market,
the value of our efforts is questionable. So an important guiding principle is to make the products, basedon environment and energy technologies, developed
from our R&D widely acceptable to a sustainable
society in the 21st century.