Aiming for Lifestyle Support Technologies that Can Respond to the Diversity of Residents: Expectations Toward Manufacturers that Provide Component Technologies for Smart Homes

Smart homes utilize data that can be obtained in the course of daily life to support residents' lives. To make smart homes a reality, diverse electronic information and communications technologies must be utilized. We spoke with Professor Yasuo Tan of the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology about the technologies needed to make the ideal smart home a reality and the role of manufacturers developing and supplying those technologies.

• Researcher Interview
• Sensors
• Smart Home
• IoT
• AI
• Work style reform
• Decarbonization

A Near Future Smart Home Equipped With 1,000 Sensors to Watch Over the Residents at Anytime from Anywhere to Anticipate and Fulfill Their Wishes

The combination of IoT systems and AI technologies to collect and process big data is advancing, and this is occurring not only in industry and government agencies but also leading to the smart home concept that is spreading to ordinary homes as well. We spoke with Professor Yasuo Tan, Vice-President of the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, about the ideal vision for the smart home that we should aim for in the near future and the technologies required to make it a reality.

• Researcher Interview
• Sensors
• Security
• Smart Home
• IoT
• AI
• Work style reform
• Decarbonization

Making Use of Sensor Fusion in Smart Factories

Sensor fusion refers to technology that combines data obtained from multiple sensors in order to extract more useful information. Today, the wave of sensor fusion technology is indispensable to the advancement of the manufacturing industry, particularly smart factories. This article describes the utilization of sensor fusion in smart factories.

• Sensors
• Smart Factory
• m-FLIP

CEATEC 2023

Contributing to the Realization of Society 5.0 with “Proximity and Force Sensor” and “Invisible ID Tags”

The future of a society in which digital technology plays a major part in our everyday lives is upon us. there is demand for ever more sophisticated interface technology closely connecting humans and machines and technology linking things and data. Murata Manufacturing has developed a “proximity and force sensor” that paves the way toward innovations in human–machine interfaces (HMIs), and “invisible ID tags” that make it possible to append authentication information without reducing the attractiveness of the product design. Examples of both were revealed at CEATEC 2023.

• Developer Interview
• Digital twin
• Sensors
• HMI
• Traceability
• Brand protection

Supporting the Transition away from Fossil Fuels with the Power of Electronic Components

Battery Management Systems (BMSs) Monitor the Charging/Discharging and Thermal Management Status to Improve Safety and Efficiency and to Support Battery Utilization

Batteries are becoming increasingly important toward achieving carbon neutrality. We explain here about Battery Management Systems, which are essential to using batteries safely while maintaining them in good condition over a long time. We also look at the electronic components used in them.

• Battery
• BMS
• Renewable energy
• Electric Vehicle (EV)
• Carbon neutrality
• ESS
• Sensors

Report on Murata's Participation in the Automotive Engineering Exposition 2023

Murata Manufacturing participated in the Automotive Engineering Exposition. This is an automobile technology exhibition that was held in Yokohama from May 24 to 26, 2023 and in Nagoya from July 5 to 7, 2023. We now introduce here the solutions we have proposed for the electrification, automation, connectivity, and otherwise of automobiles with a focus on the exhibition at the Nagoya venue.

• Electric Vehicle (EV)
• Battery
• ADAS
• Automated Driving
• CASE
• Sensors
• Communication Module
• RFID products
• Thermistors
• Capacitor
• MF100 Fatigue Stress Meter

Bringing humans and machines even closer with sensors and AI

Super-Five Senses Created by Combining and Utilizing Sensors and AI

Information that could not be captured by the five senses of humans has become detectable with the evolution of sensors and the increase in sophistication of artificial intelligence (AI). We are now in the process of acquiring perception called the super-five senses with the assistance of machines. We explain here the development of technologies that will realize the super-five senses and the utilization of them.

• Sensors
• AI

Potential for Sensing Technologies to Contribute to Smart Agriculture (Measures Against Salt Damage by Breeding a Rice Strain): Development of a Resistant Rice Strain to Salt Damage in Preparation for Climate Change

Tohoku University and the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization have developed a rice plant resistant to salt damage. Tohoku University and Murata Manufacturing are jointly conducting the Demonstration Experiment to Analyze the Factors Behind Salt Damage Resistance in the Surface Rooting Rice Plant Strain using soil sensors from June 2022 to March 2023. The aim of this experiment is to analyze the factors behind the salt damage resistance in that rice plant. How can sensing technologies contribute to the selective breeding of agricultural produce? We spoke with Eiko Hanzawa, a technical expert at Tohoku University involved in research, about an overview of rice plants with salt damage resistance and the utilization of sensing technologies.

• Agriculture
• Researcher Interview
• DX
• Sensors
• Soil sensor

How Will Murata’s Soil Sensors Change Agriculture? Smarter Watering Management for Greenhouse Horticulture, Fruit Growing, and Outdoor Cultivation

Isn’t one of the ideals of agriculture to maintain sustainability with a good balance between cultural development, the environment, the economy, living things, and communities? Murata Manufacturing has started the mass production of high-performance soil sensors that contribute to the realization of that ideal.

• Agriculture
• Researcher Interview
• DX
• Sensors
• Soil sensor

Bringing humans and machines even closer with sensors and AI

Using BMI to operate machinery like your own limbs without any manipulation

Technologies that can detect brainwaves and what someone is thinking are rapidly advancing. The possibility of putting a BMI (Brain–Machine Interface) used as an interface for connecting a human being with machinery into practical use is emerging. This article introduces the trends in BMI evolution and the impact of this technology.

• Sensors
• AI