| Kingo Kobayashi |
Dr. Kingo Kobayashi completed his master course at the Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo in 1970, became assistant of the Biotechnology Department, School of Engineering and Science, Osaka University, associate professor of Information Engineering, Electro-Communication University in 1989, and was promoted to professor of the same university in 1993. When the university was reformed in 1999, he became professor and the first dean of the Department of Information Communication Engineering. He was a visiting researcher at Cornell University, USA from 1988 to 1989, and a visiting professor at Bielefeld University, Germany from 1993 to 1995. He retired from the University of Electro-Communication in 2009. Up to September 2012, as senior researcher and R&D advisor of National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, he provided advice, acted as mentor in its Network Security Laboratory, and also undertook intensive research there.His research achievements include outstanding breakthroughs in Shannon theory, multi-user information theory, research into memory channels, and coding methods for combinatorial structures in computer science. In particular, over a long period, he has conducted research into information theory, which is the theoretical backbone of the IEICE, thereby contributing to establishing both an engineering and theoretical foundation for information communication in Japan. In the late 1970s, he began research that was the precursor of multi-user information theory in Japan, produced world-class results, and upgraded the country’s research into information theory, which had previously been lagging behind. In particular, he addressed the problem of how to determine the interference channel capacity, a long unsolved theoretical problem related to wireless communication systems. The achievable transmission rate region presented in his 1981 paper (coauthored with Te Sun Han) is known as the “Han-Kobayashi Region.” Even now, 30 years after publication of the paper, no new coding methods have been found that can exceed this region. Today, engineers and researchers at the forefront of telecommunications in the USA and Europe are seeking to apply the concepts presented in Kobayashi’s paper in actual wireless communication. The number of papers citing his now exceeds 800 and is still growing. This means that his paper is one of the most important in the field of interference channel theory and of research into its commercial implementation. Dr. Kobayashi is also known for raising the problem of how to identify hidden Markov information sources, for showing how this problem can be solved, and for providing new insight into the difficult aspects of the finite state channel by determining the capacity of the permuting relay channel.
He has taught many classes at both the undergraduate and graduate levels at Electro-Communication University, etc., and authored books that range from those aimed at the layman to highly specialized texts for researchers. In particular, his “Mathematics of Information and Coding” (coauthored with Te Sun Han, and published as a part of the Iwanami Series on Applied Mathematics. Its revised version was published by Baifukan) was translated into English by the American Mathematical Society and has been highly rated.
He has also been a dedicated participant in engineering societies. He has planned, and overseen the operation of, many domestic and international symposia related to information theory. He has held many important offices, including president of the Engineering Sciences Society, and chair of the Technical Committee on Information Theory, both of the IEICE, and president of the Society of Information Theory and its Applications. He has also been active in the international sphere, serving as associate editor for IEEE IT Transactions. Especially notable is the initiative he undertook when president of the Engineering Sciences Society to integrate two research organizations related to information theory in order to enhance their global presence. Specifically, the Society of Information Theory and its Application was merged with the IEICE as a sub-society within the Engineering Sciences Society of the IEICE.
As is evident from the above, Dr. Kingo Kobayashi is held in high regard worldwide for his work in basic and theoretical research that has made a major contribution to information communication in Japan. He has produced remarkable results over a long period. Therefore, we are convinced that he is eminently qualified to receive the Distinguished Achievement and Contributions Award from the IEICE.
