Laboratory Strategies
Towards a Ubiquitous Society
Yasuhide Nishida
Director of NTT Microsystem Integration Laboratories
These days, “ubiquitous” is a popular concept. Its
roots go back to 1988, when ubiquitous computing
was proposed by Dr. Mark Weiser. Since then, withcomputers becoming smaller, lighter, and easier tocarry and with the rapid spread of mobile phones,
wireless local area networks, and the Internet, there
has been a steady march towards a ubiquitous society
in which communication networks can be used anytime, anywhere, and by anybody. The ubiquitoussociety is expected to help alleviate social problems
such as the declining birth rate and aging populationand environmental problems.
The mission of our research laboratories is to contribute to the establishment of this ubiquitous society
by developing the advanced technologies needed forconvenient and attractive ubiquitous network services. We are focusing on two main R&D fields:
sensing functions that generate valuable information
used in ubiquitous network services and interfacefunctions that input/output this information to/from
ubiquitous networks. The latter field includes devices
for use with access networks to provide smoothbroadband services and ubiquitous communication
technologies that go beyond the traditional conceptsof communication.
Sensing functions
Our main targets for sensing functions are related tohuman health/medicine and safety/security. In bothcases, the detected information is extremely important, so sensors in these fields should lead to ubiquitous services that are valuable to customers. We aredeveloping surface-plasma-resonance sensors
designed to recognize biological molecules opticallyand sensors needed for preventative medicine. One ofour safety/security products is a single-chip fingerprint identification LSI (large-scale integrated circuit) that can read a fingerprint, check it against previously registered fingerprints, and determine
whether they match.
Devices for access networks
Making broadband services truly convenient will
require the installation of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH)

access networks. Although photonics plays the dominant role in FTTH technology, electronics is still
important, especially in providing easy-to-use services at a low cost. We aim to achieve a synergy
between photonics and electronics. Developments inthis area include a high-speed CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) transceiver LSI withlow power consumption and a 3D MEMS (microelectromechanical system) that switches optical pathsby moving a micro-mirror.
Ubiquitous communication technology
To create attractive ubiquitous services, we needvarious types of communication interface. One that
we are developing is near-field intrabody communication technology, which utilizes the human body asa transmission pathway. It will let us communicate
with each other and with computers embedded in theenvironment through natural body movements and let
portable devices worn on the body communicate
among themselves.
Much of our R&D is focused on advanced device
technology. Although most products resulting from it
tend to be quite remote from customers, even such
R&D should be based on clear scenarios of customer
needs. We believe that our products will be widely
accepted by the ubiquitous network service market
and in this way we will contribute to the creation of aubiquitous society.