| 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 joined Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. in 1989 as Manager, Data Communications Laboratory, and was later promoted to Member of the Board, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. in 2000. Since then, Dr. Tsuda held the following leadership positions over the course of his illustrious career with the Fujitsu Laboratories Group: General Manager, Network Systems Laboratories, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. and concurrently Managing Director, Fujitsu Laboratories of Europe Ltd. (appointed in 2001), Senior Vice President, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. and concurrently Chairman, Fujitsu Laboratories of America, Inc. (appointed in 2006). He was designated as Fellow of Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. in 2010.Throughout his extensive career at Fujitsu Laboratories spanning decades, Dr. Tsuda has devoted himself to research on digital signal processing and its industrial application, and made a major contribution to the development of digital MODEM, SDH/SONET and ISDN systems. In the 1970s, he designed the then world’s fastest high-performance DSP, and developed a 4800-bit/s digital modem using a fully-programmable DSP. The advanced architecture of the DSP thereafter greatly expanded the application area of the digital signaling processing technology, such as for voice and image communication systems and mobile phones.
From 1985, he served as a drafting member of SDH/SONET recommendations in SG18, CCITT (currently ITU-T), which was entrusted with developing international standards of broadband communication technology, and thereby played an important role in producing technical recommendations, such as G.707-709. Thereafter, he made a tremendous contribution to the development of SDH/SONET, and the ISDN systems, which were deployed in Japan, Singapore, and North America.
From 1987, Dr. Tsuda was deeply involved in defining standards for video codecs, the core devices for using broadband multimedia communication. As a core member of ISO/IEC MPEG, he contributed significantly to drafting the MPEG specification (ITU Rec. H.262 etc.), which is now widely used in digital broadcasting and DVD. In particular, he invented an efficient method of motion vector estimation, which proved to be essential to implementing the MPEG standards. From 1997, as a member of the Steering 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. He also contributed to incorporating international standards into Japan’s domestic standards of the Telecommunication Technology Committee (TTC) through participation 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 Sub-Committee of the International Telecommunication Union Committee, the Research and DELETE: the Development Strategy Committee, and Study Group on Advanced Use of Internet with IPv6 of the same Council. In recognition of these achievements, the ITU Association of Japan Prize was conferred on Dr. Tsuda in 1999, and the Internal Affairs and Communications Minister’s Award was conferred on him by the Telecommunication Technology Committee in 2008.
Dr. Tsuda has also devoted himself to the early commercialization of WDM and 10-100-Gbps optical communication systems, the development of mobile phones from 3G, and comprehensive research on telecommunication, including next-generation networks. More recently, from a broad perspective, he has been working on what the next-generation ICT should be, including its potential for solving environmental problems. In recognition of his decades of contributions and achievements in the R&D of digital signal processing technology, Dr. Tsuda was designated as both a IEICE Fellow and a IEEE Fellow.
Within the IEICE, serving as Director of Finance, he promoted computerization of transactions and independent accounting of Societies in a tremendous effort to improve the financial state of the IEICE, and also introduced electronic browsing of the library. As Director of Conferences, Student Activities and Education as well as Director of International Coordination and Publicity, he worked hard to introduce the Fellowship nomination program. Since then, as Vice President and later President of the IEICE, Dr. Tsuda not only promoted R&D of ICT but also made an enormous contribution to invigorating the activities of the IEICE, by reconstructing the IEICE’s web system, promoting globalization, and strengthening cooperation with the government and activities of regional branches.
Dr. Tsuda’s multi-faceted contributions and achievements to the development of electronics, information and communications technology, through his energetic activities in the IEICE and other related engineering societies and standardization organizations both in Japan and globally, have been truly outstanding, and it is my honor to recommend him to the status of Honorary Member of the IEICE.
