| Atsushi MURASE |
Since joining Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation, he has been committed to the research and development of mobile communication systems and mobile terminal technologies and the widespread uptake of mobile communications. He played an important part in the development of the high-speed, high-capacity mobile communication scheme (W-CDMA) for the IMT-2000 system, an international standard specification also referred to as the third generation mobile communication system. He has thus brought about innovation in mobile communication services, thereby contributing to the creation of a better ICT society.
One particularly notable achievement was made when he was responsible for terminal development in an IMT-2000 system development project. In this capacity, he drove the development of wireless functions for terminals applicable to high-speed and high-capacity wireless access, developed base stations in coordination with the technical development of W-CDMA, and was instrumental in having the resulting technologies adopted in the relevant international standard. In addition, in a project to develop multimedia terminal functions for IMT-2000, he developed highly mobile terminal functions with a video transmission function capable of handling a variety of multimedia.
Furthermore, he developed a UIM card for IMT-2000. Using this card, he developed and introduced a GSM-compatible SIM/UIM card for the first time in Japan. This has made it possible to physically separate terminal communication functions from the subscriber authentication function. Going forward, this dramatically increased the expansion of terminal development. These results enabled Japan to become the first country to provide third generation mobile communications (2001). Third generation mobile communication systems enabled people to leave behind data-based services carrying mainly speech and text and to enjoy mobile multimedia services including the delivery of music and video and videophone services. This marked the advance of information communication to a new level.
For these achievements, Dr. Murase received the 39th IEICE Achievement Award in 2001, the Maejima Hisoka Award from Tsushinbunka Association in 2002, and the Ministerfs Science and Technology Award from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2008. He has also made enormous contributions to mobile communications through his presentations as an invited speaker on many occasions, serving as the general chair or publicity chair in international conferences, and participating in standardization activities in ARIB and 3GPP, two important standardization organizations related to mobile communications.
Furthermore, as the director of NTT DOCOMO Research Center from 2007, he was responsible for the advent of a new research field based on mobile spatial statistics and big data processing. As the senior vice president of NTT Science and Core Technology Laboratory Group from 2013, he oversaw the laboratoriesf cutting-edge research and powerfully drove activities that generated world-leading results in a wide range of fields from basic research in materials science and communication science, to electronic/optical devices, transmission and networks.
Within the IEICE, he served in various offices: councilor from fiscal 2009 to 2010, director from fiscal 2012 to 2013, and delegate from 2013. He also served as a member of various committees related national science policy: ICT Working Group, Cabinet Office; National Research and Development Corporation Council, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications; and Consultative Committee on Creation of Innovation Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research Areas Program. His wide-ranging contributions to the development of the information and communication fields including the above-mentioned activities have been outstanding, and we are confident that Dr. Murase is worthy of receiving the Distinguished Achievement and Contributions Award from the IEICE.
