Hitachi built its first autonomous
driving vehicle as a concept car. Based on Subaru’s vehicle, Hitachi’s
prototype vehicle carries such important parts as control unit and sensors that
are totally made by Hitachi. They include stereo camera, sound camera to tell
the situation of the four areas around the vehicle, various sensors like long
distance surveillance radar, a high-precision map that can tell the lanes on
the express way precisely in coordination with GPS, and inter-vehicle
communication device to detect the situation ahead.
Hitachi’s
strategy is to be an Intel of the autonomous driving technology, saying “Hitachi
inside.” Leading automakers are developing the autonomous driving technology
independently, but Hitachi wishes to sell its system to small- and medium-size
automakers. The autonomous driving market is expected to grow from 300 billion
yen in 2015 to more than 1 trillion yen in 2020. Hitachi plans to increase its
share in the autonomous driving market from the present 5% to 20% in 2020.
Rengo, Japan’s leading cardboard manufacturer,
is scheduled to start mass production of an LED material, which is one tenth in
price of the existing material, at the beginning of 2016. The company
successfully developed a fluorescent material to make LED lighting red without using
rare earths. Combined with purple LED, it can create white color close to natural
light.
The new product is a fluorescent
material that grows red when it absorbs ultraviolet light. An LED light bulb uses
several milligrams of this new product. It is created by applying the technology
to mix lots of silver with zeolite that is used to make cardboards antibacterial.
Traditionally, it costs much to produce the same kind of product because rare
earths are required, and the traditional product is too hard to process. Because
the new material can be mass produced without rare earths, it can simplify the
production process of LEDs and will be applied to create anticounterfeit ink.
Smart forestry that utilizes
information technology to forestry is growing widespread. Sumitomo Forestry has
decided to exert more energy in forest management consulting in alliance with
Nakanihon Air Service and a data analysis firm. Laser beams are irradiates form
a helicopter to know the number of trees and forest density, and data and
photos are analyzed constantly. A database is constructed and submitted to
local governments to help them formulate guidelines for their forest management
policies.Using Geographical Information
System (GIS) is also increasing popular. The University of Tokyo started to survey
using GIS with Jitsuta that is a survey company in Matsuyama of Shikoku. With
the help of 3D scan system, they measure the number and figure of trees with
three times more operating efficiency than in the past. Kamaishi Forest Owner’s Association actually used this system and found that the data amount increased
three to four times bigger than in the past. The system currently costs 180,000
yen per hectare, but the cost is expected to go down as it grows more
popular.
Japanese
forest land is 25 million hectare, and the volume of wood is 4.9 billion cubic
meters that is 20% bigger as compared with that of 10 years ago. The number of forest
workers was about 70,000 people, about 30% smaller than in 1990. Smart forestry
is expected to make up for the decrease of forest workers. Iwafuji Industrial
developed a system to several trees simultaneously using wires. This system increased
the transportable amount of trees from 300,000 cubic meters to 500,000 cubic
meters per day.
Nihon Kohdan that is Japan’s
largest maker of automated external defibrillators will launch a service named “Sukoyaka
(Being healthy)” on November 30 to participate in the service to keep watching
the elderly. A sensor installed inside the house detects such actions as
standing up, getting seated, and walking of the elderly and digitalize them. The
figures will be divided into 100 levels and uploaded on the special site every
day. A figure that goes down suddenly indicates possible trouble, and an e-mail
will be sent to family members to inform them of the possible trouble. The
sensor is a little bigger than a PET bottle. Because it can also measure room temperature
and humidity, it can prevent family members from suffering heat stroke. It
comes with a meter to measure the amount of activity that can be carried whenever
leaving home. It will be distributed by Yamada-Denki, Japan's largest distributor of home lectronics, that has already started
to sell the service by subscription. The service is 89,800 yen excluding tax
for the system, and the basic usage charge is 2,980 yen excluding tax per month is
needed.
Secom that is Japan’s largest
security company is scheduled to launch a wearable terminal in 2-3 years for keeping
watching the elderly. The company has already started the service to keep
watching the elderly for 24 hours in alliance with Tsukui that is one of the leading
nursing service companies in Japan. When a user pulls a string, Secom’s terminal
will be activated and security staffs will be dispatched. Japan Post will start
demonstration experiments of a service for the elderly in alliance with IBM. The
elderly respond to a question coming from the tablet “Have you taken medicine?”
The answer the elderly make by pushing buttons will be transmitted to family
members living apart to let them confirm the health of the elderly. Hitachi collects
consumption of electricity and water supply of a household, and immediately
informs people concerned of an irregularity whenever it occurs.
TDK developed a rare earth-free
highly heat resistant magnet for the first time in the world. The new magnet
does not deteriorate its property even at such as high temperature as 130
degrees centigrade. The company succeeded in eliminating the necessity of dysprosium
that is very expensive because of limited source of supply: Dysprosium was close
to 3,000 dollars per kilogram in 2011 because China is virtually the only
source of supply. It improved the structure of materials and heat treatment
process, and thereby it successfully made the new product entirely without dysprosium.
Because the existing product can stand the heat up to 90 degrees centigrade, it
can only be used for motors of hard disc drive. But the new product can be
applied to electric power steering of vehicles because it does not deteriorate the
property of magnet even at 130 degrees centigrade. The company already started the
commercial production for several tons per month.
The market of magnets for industrial
purposes is estimated at 100 billion yen worldwide, and Japanese companies,
such as TDK, Hitachi Metals, and Shin-Etsu Chemical, have strong presence in
the world market. Magnet manufacturers are actively involved in developing magnet
with increased heat resistance. A magnet that can stand the heat up to 180
degrees centigrade can be used for motors of electric vehicles.
Technology: Responding to the increasing
number of flood disasters lately, leading IT companies are accelerating their
efforts to develop IT-based disaster prevention systems. NTT Data has developed
a system to manage disaster information on such issues as landslide quickly using
its cloud technology. Fujitsu made it possible to forecast the place where
sewage flood occurs and predict the time when it occurs.
The system developed by NTT Data
collects weather data by dividing the target area into one-kilometer square and
displays such data as rainfall on a PC or tablet. Thereby, local residents can
collect data with their terminals as soon as they foresee a possible landside
and flood disaster to sound a red alert well in advance of the arrival of the
disaster. By utilizing cloud computing and smartphones, the company succeeded
in reducing the construction cost of the system to one third of the existing
product to about 100 million yen. It is planning to sell this system not only
in the domestic market but also in foreign markets.
Fujitsu developed a system to
detect damage caused by water flown out from sewage in big rainfall. The system
installs a measurement device with sensor on the sewage pipe at intervals of
about one kilometer and measures level and amount of water in real time. Collected
data will be analyzed and used to predict place and time of flooding to call on
residents to evacuate. The annual running cost of the system is 10 million yen
for every 1,000 measuring devices. The running cost is less than one tenth of
the current level.
Major companies working on the
control of damage caused by global warming
Company name
Activities
Fujitsu
It developed a system to estimate flood of sewage
NEC
It developed a system to detect a landside disaster
NTT Data
It developed a disaster management system combined with
elaborate weather forecast. It has already put this system on the market.
IBM Japan
It developed an integrated system that can manage disaster
information and products in evacuation centers.
It is conducting demonstration experiments of a system to predict
flood and torrential rainfall.
Some researchers predict that world damages
caused by flood will increase 170 times from 2015 to about 1 trillion dollars in
2050 unless measures are worked out.
What reaction do people show when they get an alarm mail on their smartphones?
An experiment in Osaka that covered more than 8 million people
Restoration activities after the Great East Japan Earhthquake
It goes without saying that Japan
has to increase the competitive edge of its agriculture to cope with the agreement
on the picture of the PPT negotiations. Hitachi and the Softbank Group have jointly
announced that they will launch the “e-kakashi (scarecrow or bird scanner),
which is the support system to help farmers confirm crop’s growing environment,
on the 14th of October. Farmers can confirm easily the growing environment of
their crop by installing a device that incorporates a senor in their fields to secure
the quality of their products.
The new service asks farmers to
install a special device with a sensor to measure such data as temperature, amount
of insolation, and soil moisture. Collected data will be transmitted to cloud
automatically and farmers can see them with their smartphones. No initial
setting is required, and what farmers have to do is just switching on the
system. Every farmer can operate this system quite easily. The special device
can run continuously for three years on the condition that it measures the
environment every 10 minutes. Farmers can pick the function to show the optimal
environment depending on such growth stages as seeding and sprouting. The
system is available for 749,600 yen and up excluding tax, and users have to pay
usage charge of 7,980 yen per month. Hitachi builds the device using its internet-of-things
technology.
Yano Research Institute, one of
Japan’s leading research firms, predicts that the Japanese domestic market of smart
agriculture, which is supported by IT technology for better efficiency, will
increase to about 31 billion yen in 2020, five times bigger than in 2013. The JAKurikyo in Miyagi Prefecture is scheduled to introduce the system on trial ahead
of other agricultural cooperatives with the expectation that the system will
help stabilize crop’s quality.
