September 2020 Vol. 18 No. 9

View from the Top

• Teruyuki Kishimoto, Executive Vice President, NTT WEST

  

  Overview
  According to a survey conducted by the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry in early June during the novel coronavirus pandemic, 67.3% of small- and medium-sized enterprises based in Tokyo have implemented teleworking (remote working). Companies that have not yet introduced teleworking have cited changing internal systems and ensuring security as issues preventing implementing teleworking and have asked the government for support (relaxation of requirements for subsidy programs, expansion of target costs covered by such programs, etc.) and to provide usage examples of teleworking. We interviewed Teruyuki Kishimoto, executive vice president of NTT WEST, about how the company should respond to these needs and the outlook and attitude of the company, which has reached a turning point since its founding 20 years ago.

Front-line Researchers

• Yutaka Miyamoto, NTT Fellow, NTT Network Innovation Laboratories

  

  Overview
  The development of information and communication technology (ICT) has revolutionized people’s social lives. Amidst the current unprecedented situation due to the worldwide spread of the novel coronavirus, services and applications that use ICT, such as teleworking and online diagnosis, have been supporting people’s lives and economic activities. According to the White Paper on Information and Communications in Japan issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the number of Internet-of-Things devices installed worldwide is said to reach 40 billion in a few years. We asked NTT Fellow Yutaka Miyamoto, NTT Network Innovation Laboratories, about his research and development on the optical communication infrastructure that supports these ICT services and application and path to its practical application and his attitude as a researcher.

Feature Articles: Digital Twin Computing for Advanced Interaction between the Real World and Cyberspace

• Digital Twin Computing Initiative

  

  Abstract
  Digital twins, which connect the real world with cyberspace, have been achieved through advances in the Internet of Things and other information and communication technologies. NTT announced its Digital Twin Computing Initiative in June 2019 for envisioning a future in which the digitalization of all types of objects (things) and their fusion with the real world accelerates in parallel with the evolution of the network and computing environment. This article provides an overview of this initiative, describes the scope of its application, and presents its architecture and main issues surrounding implementation.

• Challenges Facing Human Digital Twin Computing and Its Future Prospects

  

  Abstract
  Human Digital Twin Computing (DTC) aims to digitally express not only a person’s outer self, such as physical characteristics, but also that person’s inner self such as personality and thoughts. We believe that digitizing information that includes the inner self can create unprecedented value. Collective consensus building, creating empathy and understanding of others, and future prediction and growth support for individuals and societies are described as characteristic use cases of human DTC in this article. The direction of future human-DTC projects, such as challenges in spreading human DTC throughout society, is also described.

• Digital Twin Computing of Things Opens Up a New Society

  

  Abstract
  Through Digital Twin Computing (DTC), we aim to enhance the quality of people’s lives by digitizing objects as well as actual humans with high accuracy and enabling the digitized objects to be used by real people. To achieve DTC, we are developing (i) digital-twin creation technology that enables interaction among people and digitized objects and (ii) large-scale, high-resolution, and highly accurate technology for simulating the flows of those digitized objects and people. Our efforts concerning these technologies are described in this article.

• Approaches to Cyber-physical Interactions Linking the Real World and Cyberspace

  

  Abstract
  From among the technologies incorporated in the cyber-physical interaction layer connecting the real world and cyberspace towards achieving Digital Twin Computing, this article introduces biological-signal-decoding and feedback technologies to extend motor-function capabilities by feeding the results of operations done with a person’s digital twin back to him/herself and zero latency media technology that enables operations that do not feel uncomfortable by feeding back a prediction presentation that eliminates delay and overcoming the physical distance of the real world and human perception of time.

• Social Issues with Digital Twin Computing

  

  Abstract
  This article introduces the social issues with Digital Twin Computing to bring about new digital societies—a fusion of the real and virtual. Issues are presented as those of the three elements of data, autonomous agents, and virtual societies from the perspectives of security/privacy and ethics/laws. Essentially, social issues entail the human quest to freely engage in activities in both the real and virtual to achieve more comfortable and affluent lifestyles.

Regular Articles

• Spatio-temporal Equalization Technology for High-capacity Underwater Acoustic Communication

  

  Abstract
  We are currently researching and developing Mbit/s-class underwater acoustic communication technology enabling high-definition video and other large data transmission. This article proposes a spatio-temporal equalization technology, which is key for achieving high-speed underwater transmission.

Global Standardization Activities

• Meeting Report on ITU-T FG-AI4EE—ICT Applications Using Artificial Intelligence in Climate Change Countermeasures and Their Standardization Trends

  

  Abstract
  Although emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, are expected to improve service availability and work efficiency in various fields, they consume a large amount of energy during data collection from many sensors, learning, and data analysis. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the environmental impact as well as other effects of introducing such technologies. A short-term focus group in the International Telecommunication Union - Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), Focus Group on Environmental Efficiency for Artificial Intelligence and other Emerging Technologies (FG-AI4EE), was established in May 2019 to conduct a preliminary study of the environmental efficiency of AI and other emerging technologies and held its first meeting in December 2019. This article describes not only what FG-AI4EE is and what was discussed at its first meeting but also how NTT has been working on environmental issues based on the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN), including the response to crises such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.

External Awards/Papers Published in Technical Journals and Conference Proceedings

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