Has the Big Earthquake Chang

2011/10/28
Has the Big Earthquake
Changed the Japanese Vision
of the Future Ubiquitous
Computing Applications?
ARTEMIS and ITEA2 Co-summit 2011
Helsinki, Finland
Dr. Ken Sakamura,
Professor, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Studies, The University of Tokyo
Director, YRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratory
Chair, T-Engine Forum
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Self-Introduction
■ Main interest in real-time embedded
computer systems
■ Involved in TRON Project
A computer architecture project, running for more
close to 30 years since 1984.
“TRON” stands for
“The Real-time Operating system Nucleus”.
Result: Very popular ITRON specification for realtime OS for embedded systems.
• More than 60 percent market share in Japan.
■ Current Interest: Ubiquitous Computing
= The application of the 21st century
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Today’s Talk
Let me explain a long-running IoT project in Japan, first, before
discussing the impact of the earthquake.
■ TRON Project
It has a surprising similarity with ARTEMIS’s vision.
■ Earthquake’s Impact
 The Application of the IoT: Energy Saving, CO2 reduction
 TRON Smart House
■ From Houses to Cities
 Tokyo ubiquitous Technology Project
■ Embedded Systems as Society’s Neural Backbone
 SRA2011’s view
 Planned Rolling Blackouts and SmartGrid/SmartMetering.
■ Summary
 International Cooperation
 The Answer to the title question
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March 11, 2011
14:46:18.1
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VIDEO
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VIDEO
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Earthquake in Japan,
March 11, 2011
■ Epicenter off the coast of Pacific North
East of Honsyu Island (main island)
■ Tsunamis that followed the initial tremor
devastated the area.
■ Close to 20,000 people were killed.
■ Damage by the tremor and the tsunamis,
and the release of radioactive material
from the damaged nuclear reactor cores
forced 150,000 people (initially) to be
dislocated from where they lived.
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The IoT Project in
Japan and the
Earthquake
R&D activities
on the IoT or ubiquitous computing
TRON Project (under my leadership)
The sheer size of the earthquake and
the damage by the tsunamis forced
researchers to look into
the application of the IoT for relief work.
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TRON Project
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TRON Project
Since 1984
The Real-time Operating system Nucleus
1986: ITRON Specification OS
Industrial TRON
2002: T-Kernel
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Hayabusa (Falcon) JAXA
Communication Unit (DHU) used
μITRON2.0 specification OS.
BepiColombo (Exploration of the planet,
Mercury) JAXA/ESA
(European Space Agency)
Data Communication I/F for the vehicle,
SpaceWire node, uses T-Kernel/SE.
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Products That Deploy TRON OS
DVD Recorder
HITACHI
Lexus
TOYOTA
Electronic
Piano
YAMAHA
AQUOS
SHARP
Car Navigation System
BOSCH
Colorio
printer
EPSON
EXLIM
CASIO
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Why is TRON so popular?
Open & Free
All the technical information is publicly available.
Source program is provided.
Anyone can use TRON for free.
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Ultimate Goal of TRON Project
■ The use of embedded system
technology for the future applications
of the IoT.
■ In such applications computing nodes
with sensors and actuators, i.e.,
embedded system nodes, are
networked together to offer advanced
services.
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The Vision of Future Computing
TRON Project since 1984
■ “…most machines
in our surrounding
environment
including pieces of
furniture will use
computers.
It is conceivable
that 100 computers
for a man will exist.” …
Ken Sakamura: “The Objectives of TRON Project,”
in TRON Project 1987, Springer-Verlag,
1987, pp. 3-16.
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TRON Project
■ Joint effort of Industry and Academia
■ Open Approach: make the results widely
available
■ Many participants from outside Japan
■ Making the necessary components
ourselves
ITRON specification OS: specification and sample
implementation
T-Kernel: specification AND a single source
repository of official implementation(!)
■ Difference with ARTEMIS(?)
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International
Cooperation
■ EU FP7
CASAGRAS2
project
■ Cooperative
project in WUXI
(China)
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International Cooperation
■ Finland
 Tekes joined T-Engine Forum.
 Finnish delegation including the
minister of transportation and
communication Ms. Linden visited.
 The MOU has been signed with
VTT.
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T-Engine Forum
http://www.t-engine.org/
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T-Engine Forum
■ An NPO to promote TRON Project
■ Chair: Dr. Ken Sakamura
■ Distribute specification, source code for RTOS free
 T-Kernel, T-Kernel2.0, uT-Kernel, etc.
■ Operates uID Center under its umbrella
■ Close to 300 members world-wide
 government, big business, SME, academia
■ A very similar function in private sector, to that of
ITEA2 plays. From the web page of ITEA2 (emphasis
mine) :
 We stimulate and coordinate industry-driven, business-oriented, precompetitive R&D by bringing together partners from industry,
universities and research institutes in strategic projects.
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Striking Similarity with
ARTEMIS SRA2001
■ Strategic Research Agenda 2011
(SRA2011)
■ Very similar to what TRON Project
envisions
■ Inevitable (?) convergence due to shared
background of industrialized nations.
Graying of society
Energy crunch
Search for clean and safe energy sources
Smart cities, comfortable and eco-friendly living
environment
Safe and efficient transportation (ITS)
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Earthquake’s
Impact
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Earthquake Has…
Hastened the pace
of certain R&D activities
Placed different emphasis
on different topics
Example: Energy saving
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Energy Saving: the Application
of the IoT, a Case in Point
■ Embedded systems can NOT produce
energy, but they can help the efficient
usage of precious energy sources and
reduce waste.
■ Even BEFORE the earthquake,
Japanese government has made
efforts to reduce CO2 emission by
agreeing to Kyoto Protocol.
About 70% of electricity in Japan is produced by
burning oil/gas/coal, etc.
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Reducing CO2 Emission and
Energy Waste
■ Already much has been done in the industry
sector.
■ The remaining squeeze has to be done in the
ordinary households and public places.
■ Traditional Approaches
The use of energy efficient appliances and devices
Using sensor networks to monitor usage and human
movements to turn off non-essential or unused devices
The use of energy-efficient parts for devices such as
CPUs, sensor network nodes, LEDs, TVs, airconditioners, etc. to begin with
■ Reducing energy usage at homes
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Visualization of Energy Usage
■ Important element to
reduce energy usage
Such visual data motivates
people to strive for more
reduction of electricity usage
if possible.
■ Various old and new
approaches have been
consolidated into TRON
Smart House Approach.
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TRON Smart Houses
■ Have implemented these energy saving
features in a series of TRON Smart Houses.
The first one built in 1989.
• The first large scale house built using the concept of today’s
ubiquitous computing experiment.
The second one in 2004.
The third in 2009.
■ TRON House is the ultimate example of
ubiquitous computing based on uID
architecture.
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TRON House
■ How technologies affect the society
in general: living style, houses, cities,
and environment(s).
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Cooperative Action of Nodes
in Smart House
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Eco-Friendliness: PAPI,
House of Sustainability
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New Electricity Source: An
Automobile!
■ A renewed attention or new focus on the
following facts:
TOYOTA Prius, a hybrid car, can generate electricity.
The same car also acts as a large rechargeable
battery.
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VIDEO
PAPI
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From Houses
to Cities
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Projects All over Japan
(slightly old map)
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Tokyo Ubiquitous Technology
Project in Ginza
infrared marker
RF Active Tag
passive RFID tag
and ucodeQR
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Tokyo Ubiquitous Technology Project in Ginza:
in Normal Times
■ The same infrastructure is
used for sight-seeing,
shop/restaurant guide,
helping the physicallychallenged in normal
times
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Tokyo Ubiquitous Technology Project in Ginza:
in EMERGENCY
■ The same
infrastructure is
used for
Aid and relief such as
• evacuation route guidance,
• locating family members, etc.
in times of disasters
such as seasonal
typhoons (name of
seasonal storms in the
north western Pacific)
and earthquakes
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i-Box
■ i-Box: an
information Kiosk
that can talk to the
global Internet via
satellite when the
ground-based
communication
network is
destroyed after an
earthquake.
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Have We Prepared for a Big
Earthquake Enough?
■ Not enough
We have performed feasibility studies and pilot
projects in selected areas of Tokyo.
But it has not been wide-spread to the rest of Japan.
■ Very regrettable
■ However, a satellite communication unit
developed in the R&D efforts WERE used
in the communication network
immediately after the earthquake and was
found very useful (!)
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Embedded Systems
as Society’s Neural
Backbone
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SRA2011:
Analogy of the Embedded
Systems in Society as Neural Backbone
■ A good observation with which we
agree completely!
■ But now an interesting observation or
question: Is the safety or well-being of
the whole body (whole society) in
agreement with a particular individual
organ (say, a house or a
neighborhood) all the time?
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A Case in Point: Planned
Rolling Blackouts
■ The big earthquake in March shutdown many
power generation plants, and destroyed the
distribution network.
■ An imminent large-scale blackout was predicted.
■ Initially, electric utility companies introduced
“Planned Revolving/Rolling Blackouts” to avoid a
large scale blackout by cutting electricity in some
areas by rotation to reduce the total electric
consumption.
■ The country coped with the electricity crunch by
shifting the opening days and working hours of
factories and offices eventually during the summer
of 2011. An AMAZING FEAT!
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Problem with the Planned Rolling Blackouts:
Crude Control
■ The control was done very coarsely
initially.
■ A large town or an area was the unit of
control.
■ Areas with big hospitals with large number
of beds were spared from the blackouts.
■ But, Life and death problems in blackout
areas, of houses or small hospitals with
sick people in the bedrooms with electric
medical aid that cannot withstand
prolonged power blackouts.
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Smart-Grid/Smart Metering
■ We aim for more fine-grained control
of the supply of electricity based on
the advent of Smart-Grid technology
incorporating more fine-grained measurement of
the usage of electricity
taking into account the needs for electricity at
individual homes and buildings (inputting the
policy of users’ end to the control on the
suppliers’ side.)
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Pressing Example
■ The policy on users’ end: E.g., You do not want to
turn off the power of a room where a sick patient is
resting.
■ Combine the policies of such households and
buildings, and decide how the total area
consumption or peak usage can be reduced.
■ Interpretation under the metaphor, “Neural
backbone being the embedded systems”
■ Safety or well-being of an individual organ (a room,
a household or a hospital) is considered by the
body as a whole (the town or a larger area
controlled by electric utility company).
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Summary
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Welcome cooperation proposal
■ We will welcome cooperation proposal.
We have already
Participated in EU FP7 CASAGRAS2 project
Started joint project in Wuxi, China
Many, many more.
■ Crunch of R&D funding
The earthquake in Japan
Financial Crisis in EU
More reasons to cooperate! Let’s find a way to
work together.
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The answer to the title
question
■ “Has the Big Earthquake Changed the
Japanese Vision of the Future
Ubiquitous Computing Applications?”
“No, not much.”
■ There have been
a shift of priorities
fine adjustment of courses
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EU-Japan IoT Initiative
■ What many people have asked before:
■ An EU organization is in the works thanks to the help
of partners in EU countries
 For EU entities
• To get ahead using the lessons and technologies from the applications already done in Japan
 For Japanese entities
• To gain access to ideas and projects in EU
 For both entities,
• To share ideas, talents, project and funding opportunities if possible
 Initial idea
•
•
•
•
A central office in Europe for communication
Distributed R&D teams in EU countries
A demo room or two in EU countries
Participation in events (conferences, talks, exhibition, etc.)
 Will be a membership-based operation
■ Stay tuned for an official announcement soon.
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Kiitos
Thank you!
http://www.uidcenter.org
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Appendix
■ How to retrieve the video clips
To look at the video clips, please visit the
website of YouTube and search for “uIDcenter”
(without the quotes).
You can find the videos used here and other
interesting clips there.
http://www.youtube.com/
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