| Toshitaka Tsuda |
Dr. Toshitaka Tsuda received his BS and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1970 and 1975 respectively. He joined Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. in 1975, where he was engaged in research on digital signal processing. From 1978 to 1979, he was with the University of California, Berkeley, as a research associate. He became Director, Information Communication Laboratories, Fujitsu Laboratories in 1989, Member of the board, Fujitsu Laboratories in 2000, Managing Director, Fujitsu Laboratories of Europe in 2001, Senior Vice President, Fujitsu Laboratories in 2005, and Chairman, Fujitsu Laboratories of America in 2006. He was designated a Fujitsu Laboratories Fellow in 2010.Over a long period, Dr. Tsuda has worked on the research on digital signal processing and its industrial application, and based on this technology, played a major part in developing digital MODEM, SDH/SONET and ISDN systems. In particular, his achievement in the development of the DSP (Digital Signal Processor) LSIs is widely recognized as a pioneering work in the world. He designed the then world’s fastest high-performance DSP LSI in the 1870s, and using this fully programmable DSP LSI, developed a 4800-bit/s digital modem. The advanced architecture of this DSP LSI strongly influenced DSP LSI development thereafter. This architecture set a precedent for applying DSP LSI and digital signal processing technology to a wide range of fields, including voice and image communication systems and mobile phones, which are now an indispensable social infrastructure.
In the sphere of international standardization of broadband communication technology, he served as a drafting member of SDH/SONET recommendations in SG18, CCITT (currently ITU-T), thereby playing an important role in defining recommendations in this technical field. By driving the development of products based on these recommendations, he made a significant contribution to the development of the SDH/SONET market. He also made a substantial contribution in drafting technical specifications for N-ISDN subscriber loop transmission and in building ISDN systems both in Japan and abroad. In addition, he contributed to video-related standardization by drafting the MPEG specification (ITU Rec. H.262 etc.), which is now widely used in digital broadcasting and DVD, as a core member of ISO/IEC MPEG. As a member of the Management Committee of DAVIC (Digital Audio Visual Council), which defined standards for video-on-demand, etc., he was instrumental in numerous developments of video-related technologies. In recognition of these achievements, the Japan ITU Award was conferred on him in 1999, and the Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Award was conferred on him by the Telecommunication Technology Committee (TTC) in 2008. He is a Fellow of both the IEICE and the IEEE. He also contributed to incorporating international standards into domestic TTC standards by participating in a number of committees under the Information and Communications Council of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and standardization-related committees, such as the ITU-T Group of the Information Technology Sub-Committee of the Information and Communications Council, the Research and the Development Strategy Committee of the same Council, the Advanced Internet Use Committee, and the Research, Development and Standardization Strategy Committee. Within the IEICE, he promoted R&D of ICT and educated young researchers by serving as Director of Finance, Director of Conferences, Student Activities, Education, International Coordination and Publicity, Vice President and President.
As mentioned above, Dr. Tsuda has made a distinguished contribution to the progress of the electronics, information and communications field on the basis of digital signal processing and broadband communication technology. I am firmly convinced that he is well qualified to receive the Distinguished Achievement and Contributions Award of the IEICE.
