January 2017 Vol. 15 No. 1

View from the Top

• Hiromichi Shinohara, Senior Executive Vice President and Head of R&D Strategy Department, NTT

  

  Overview
  The combined concept of self-transformation and profit growth is gaining momentum in the NTT Group. Based on the B2B2X (business-to-business-to-X) model, the Group is pursuing collaboration with a wide variety of players while taking up important themes such as overcoming social problems and strengthening industrial competitiveness. We asked Hiromichi Shinohara, NTT Senior Executive Vice President, to tell us about the aspirations of the NTT Group for this year and the outlook toward 2020, which is only three years away.

Feature Articles: Photonics-electronics Convergence Devices that Support AI-IoT Service Era

• On Si Platform Opens a New World in AI-IoT Service Era

  

  Abstract
  In the near future, ICT (information and communication technology) services are expected to achieve a dramatic evolution through the use of the cloud, IoT (Internet of Things), and AI (artificial intelligence). The communication devices necessary to realize this new era require high performance, high functionality, low cost, and low power consumption. A fusion of various technologies and know-how will be applied in order to meet these requirements. In this article, we explain the concept of an on Si platform, which expands upon silicon (Si) photonics, as one solution. We also show the direction of research and development (R&D) of various elemental technologies and describe the R&D fabrication process to realize the on Si platform concept.

• Recent Progress in Optical Waveguide Technologies Enabling Integration of High-density Compact Photonics

  

  Abstract
  The Internet of Things is expected to lead to the generation of various services in the near future and to bring changes to society. There will be a strong need for optical devices in order to achieve higher traffic capacity, greater economy, and compactness in future optical communication networks. This article reports the recent progress in the optical waveguide technologies being developed to meet these needs.

• Compact Optical Devices with Low Power Consumption

  

  Abstract
  At NTT Device Technology Laboratories, we have been developing an optical transmitter that can improve energy efficiency and emit an optical signal at the same intensity level with half the previous power consumption. We have also been developing an optical receiver that improves the minimum optical received power with the same signaling rate. This can provide us with long distance transmission without an optical amplifier. In this article, we introduce an optical transmitter and an optical receiver with functions for respectively changing an electrical signal to an optical signal and an optical signal to an electrical signal.

• Very Low Power Analog IC Techniques

  

  Abstract
  We are studying the development of very compact next-generation optical transceivers by using integrated design techniques of photonics-electronics implementation. We introduce in this article the techniques used to design analog integrated circuits with very low power for photonics-electronics implementation.

Regular Articles

• Directional Remapping in Tactile Motion Perception

  

  Abstract
  This article introduces tactile illusions in which adaptation to one directional motion alters the direction of the following motion. We used this illusion to explore how the brain calculates tactile motion directions, which is an essential issue in creating tactile navigation systems.

Global Standardization Activities

• Standardization of Next-generation Wireless LAN IEEE 802.11ax

  

  Abstract
  The gigabit-per-second class data transmission rate was achieved with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ac standard. However, certain issues have emerged with wireless local area networks (LANs) because of their proliferation. The IEEE 802.11 committee is working to address this by standardizing a new wireless LAN system. The IEEE 802.11 Task Group ax, known as TGax, is considering various techniques to improve wireless LAN performance in dense deployment scenarios. This article introduces the target, use cases, and candidate technologies of the next-generation wireless LAN standard IEEE 802.11ax.

Short Reports

• Achieving Tbit/s-level Transport Functions with White-box Switching on Virtual Networks―Driving NetroSphere with Network Architecture (MSF) that Maximizes General-purpose Equipment

External Awards/Papers Published in Technical Journals and Conference Proceedings

• External Awards/Papers Published in Technical Journals and Conference Proceedings