Greetings from the Research Director
Tokyo University of Science
Kentaro Kinoshita
Background
In 2013, the "Trillion Sensor Initiative" was proposed in the U.S., which aims to realize a prosperous and safe society by attaching sensor nodes to all of the more than trillions of objects, collecting information, and using information science. Currently in Japan, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) is promoting the "100 Billion Convenience Store Electronic Tag Declaration" to install electronic tags on all products in convenience stores by 2025, in order to improve the efficiency of logistics. This kind of sensor node is called "ambient device" in the sense that it blends into the environment, and is expected to form a large market as a post-smartphone.
Our targets
Ambient devices must be lightweight, flexible, and inexpensive. Therefore, all materials including the substrate need to be composed of organic materials or organic-inorganic hybrid materials. In this division, we will conduct research on the control of material properties, fabrication of devices, and analysis of acquired data related to ambient devices , aiming at social implementation in the era of mass dissemination of ambient devices.
Our research
As an example of the application of ambient devices, we envision radio frequency identifier (RFID) tags with sensors for next-generation logistics.
In recent years, with the rapid increase in the number of large-scale commercial facilities,
the expansion of e-commerce, and the expansion of logistics services due to globalization
, the failure of conventional logistics systems has begun to become apparent, and the development of next-generation logistics systems is urgently needed. There is a growing demand for logistics technology in low-temperature and shock-free environments to ensure that the quality and value of food, medicine, and precision instruments
are not compromised.
The creation of RFID tags with sensors using innovative organic semiconductor devices and the establishment of
a new automatic data collection technology using these tags will lead to highly efficient, safe, and secure logistics services, which will have an extremely large impact on society.
In order to realize a sensor node with low environmental impact and low cost, we are constructing a sensor node device by precisely controlling material properties.
For example, a sensor node for future logistics will need an acceleration sensor
, a temperature sensor, an RF transceiver antenna, a transistor, a memory, and a power supply.
A sensor node with a low environmental load can be realized by constructing the devices
, including the substrates of each device, with organic or organic-inorganic hybrid materials.
In addition, manufacturing cost cannot be ignored for the spread of the technology.
In order to achieve 1/100 of the price of conventional sensor nodes (1 yen/sensor node)
, we will pursue low-cost fabrication processes and low-cost materials.