Vol.6 No.4 (December, 2011)

Special Issue on the “Network of Things”

NEC’s approach to supporting M2M businesses

IZUMI Hisanori ・YAMASHITA Akiko

Most M2M services at present are limited to product management. NEC is expecting to develop these services and to create innovative M2M services that feature safety, security and convenience.This paper introduces the development background of the current M2M services, future prospects for M2M services, technologies related to M2M and our approach towards future M2M services. It also introduces new values that can be created via our M2M solution, “CONNEXIVE.”

MATSUDA Naohisa ・SATO Hirokazu ・KOSEKI Shoichi ・NAGAI Nobuyuki

This paper introduces the component technologies of the CONNEXIVE M2M Service Platform, which supports the horizontally integrated M2M business model, which is expected to become the mainstream business platform of the future.The NEC Group provides the M2M service platform to support its M2M business by adopting a non-coding technology using data models and workflows, while promoting efforts for a large-scale speed increase for withstanding the heavy traffic of M2M and also applying measures for supporting various standardizations.

YAMAGUCHI Kazuyuki

This paper introduces our collaborative work with communication carriers, our approach to the construction of NEC’s cloud center and the most appropriate network systems for the deployment of M2M cloud computing businesses in the global market.

YAMADA Katsuhiko ・SHIOJIRI Hirohisa

In order to improve the quality of life and also to achieve a sustainable society, new generation network services based on fine sensing and control in a physical world are increasingly in demand. M2M (Machine to Machine) communication technologies provide a platform for these services and their standardization and fundamental researches are promoted globally. This paper introduces the standardization trends of the M2M communication technologies, focusing on a remote device management function and discusses NEC’s approach to their adoption.

M2M services

TAKATSUTO Shiro ・MURAKAWA Hiromi ・OHATA Tsuyoshi ・SAKUMA Toru

Japanese agriculture is confronting an insufficiency of successors, making how to inherit cultivation know-how an important issue. One of the expected solutions to this issue is the application of ICT, which includes application to agricultural sites (farming fields, greenhouses and plant factories) and to agriculture management including planting decisions, work planning and result management. NEC is challenging both of these aspects by applying sensing technology to farming fields, supporting agriculture management and providing the achieved results as one of its M2M services. This paper introduces the contents of this service.

OGASAWARA Hiroshi ・SAKAI Masaya

With the worldwide expansion of the production and sale of automobiles, the telematics and related markets are expected to grow at a similar pace and the creation of various services and added values for automobiles is expected on the networking platform. In this market, NEC is promoting the “NEC Automotive Cloud Computing” project, which will be a platform for providing automobile users, automobile manufacturers and related businesses with various services by utilizing NEC’s proprietary technologies in cloud computing, networking and open platforms. This paper introduces the activities underway for this purpose.

MAEKAWA Makoto ・FUJITA Takashi ・SATOU Akinori ・KIMURA Satoshi

This paper deals with the current trends and future direction of ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems), as well as the Probe Information System which serves as the backbone for various ITS services, and the usage of an M2M service platform that efficiently realizes systems based on the Probe Information System.

FUKUSHIMA Kei ・KATOU Masaya ・TERASAWA Satoshi ・KOYAMA Masato

Energy policy in Japan is now in a major transformation phase. This is due to the current trend in the rapid dissemination of solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation and electric vehicles (EVs), and also to the need to review nuclear power generation resulting from the recent Great East Japan earthquake disaster. In the future it will be more practical to control our electric power system balance more precisely by changing society and encouraging “electricity generation at the point of use” rather than by “purchasing ever increasing amounts of electricity from the electric power companies.” NEC is developing innovative EMSs to achieve an energy conscious society in the next generation. It is also optimally using the technologies that have been accumulated from our long-term experience in supervisory control system solutions for social infrastructure facilities. Our service platform technologies such as M2M and cloud computing engineering are also being expanded. This paper will introduce our approach to these developments.

IIDA Yoshichika

Next year 2012, is the 20th anniversary of the 1st Earth Summit that was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The international mechanisms for conserving the Earth proposed there, such as the reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and the conservation of biodiversity have tended to diversify the range of commercial activity. The future calls not for measures that are confined exclusively to an enterprise, region or nation, but for those that are applicable on a global scale. With such measures, the fundamentals can be summarized into the three layers of “observation,” “analysis” and “proposal and execution of the actual measures.” M2M can act as a platform for processing these three layers within the framework of the ICT (Information and communications technology) infrastructures. This paper discusses the new values that will be added in the automation and integration of global-scale “observations” and “analyses” by combining the extensive spatial sensor technology owned by NEC with the M2M technologies.

MORITA Ryouichi ・KOHARA Hisomu

Recently, an increasing number of enterprises in the industrial machinery/machine tool industries have been utilizing M2M technologies for monitoring machine working and location information. The aim has been to improve the efficiency of maintenance services at the global level, improving customer satisfaction through preventive maintenance and increasing sales. This paper introduces the current situation in the utilization of M2M technologies in the industrial machinery/machine tool industries.

KOIKE Yuichi ・UE Kenji ・SASAKI Satoshi

The number of vending machines that accept eMoney for payment has increased in recent years. This is because eMoney has characteristics that are well suited for automatic vending, such as making small change unnecessary. In order to process eMoney, most vending machines use wireless communication, therefore vending machines may be considered an example of M2M applications. In this paper we will offer an overview of eMoney processing in vending machines, usage of wireless communication in vending machines, and discuss the future image of eMoney processing in vending machines based on M2M platforms.

KIMURA Satoshi ・HOSHI Kaichi

The increasing diversification and complexity of customer needs in today’s business environment has led to the study of Inter-Business Solutions that integrate different business fields in various industry sectors. As the use of open sources and cloud computing becomes more prevalent, integration of different systems and services is becoming easier. In this environment, M2M Cloud Computing can be considered as one of the crucial IT infrastructures for achieving Inter-Business Solutions, and beyond to Cross-Industry Solutions. This paper introduces our observations regarding the current spread of M2M services in accordance with the needs of customers and society in general, as well as the challenges that we face in order to realize Inter-Business Solutions through M2M Cloud Computing.

Device and component technologies supporting M2M services

MURATA Tomomitsu ・MATSUKA Mitsunobu ・UENO Toshiyuki

“ZigBee” is one of the key technologies supporting M2M private networks. It is a wireless communication standard that is available mainly in the U.S. Smart Grid market. Since it obtained a global first ZigBee product certification in 2006, NEC Engineering Ltd. is leading the industry in the development of ZigBee products and systems.This paper introduces aspects of R&D at NEC Engineering Ltd. by focusing on features of ZigBee; it also discusses the development of ZigBee products.

SUYAMA Takao ・SUGAWARA Noburo ・WATABE Tsutomu ・TAGUCHI Masayuki
KIZU Shuji ・FURUNO Hiroyuki

The introduction and wireless implementation of M2M services offers four main advantages, these are; 1) saving of expenses; 2) improvement of work efficiencies, 3) reduction of COemissions and 4) creation of new services. This paper introduces the communication device products used in M2M services and discusses cases in which they are actually applied as well as some aspects of their future product planning.

MIYAZAWA Hidetoshi ・YAMABE Tomoki

The creation of M2M type solutions via the linking of sensor networks and IT services are needed for systems utilizing the environmental energies as well as for various kinds of monitoring systems. Since the requirements for the devices used in these systems are often similar or shared, it is expected that the efficient construction of many such systems will be enabled by applying a standard device platform that satisfies these requirements. This paper introduces the potential benefits of an embedded M2M network module as a device platform for such systems.

MORINAGA Tsuyoshi ・SHIBUYA Ta ・TSUDA Shunsuke ・NAGASAKI Shigeru ・
MARUYAMA Atsushi ・KATAGIRI Yoshihiko

The usual method for implementing an energy management system featuring visualization of power is to install power distribution data sensors and collect their data via an optimally arranged management network. Nevertheless, this method has become a factor in obstructing the dissemination of EMS because it is accompanied by various issues as well as inconveniences for the user. This paper reviews the functions and requirements necessary for optimum EMS implementation and introduces the Smart Distribution Board as a new tool for dealing with them.

ISOYAMA Kazuhiko ・SATO Tadashi ・KIDA Koji ・YOSHIDA Makiko

Recent progress in networks and devices has promoted a great diversity of M2M services and the number of devices connected to the M2M service platforms is expected to continue to grow. This paper introduces a complex event processing (CEP) technology that detects significant data changes in the M2M services in real time via data collected from a large number of devices.

ISHIYAMA Rui

One of the methods used to identify individual articles of product for implementing traceability is to use barcodes or IC tags, but this method is accompanied by problems related to costs, misrepresentations and the difficulty in attaching tags to certain kinds of products. This paper introduces an image recognition technique that can identify individual articles using a single picture of products with a slight difference between individual articles, such as agricultural products. For example, the stripe patterns of individual muskmelons are different even when the breed is identical, so that when a picture of each melon is taken before shipment, the place of origin and sorting results of each muskmelon can be identified by collating them with the picture shot in the distribution stage. As this method can match actual articles of product without using tags, it is also expected to become a countermeasure against misrepresentation and replacement with fake products.