Recommendatory Remarks

Dr. Hiroaki Muraoka graduated from the Department of Communications Engineering, School of Engineering, Tohoku University in 1976, completed a master's course at the Graduate School of Engineering in 1978, and completed a doctor's degree in engineering in 1981 at the same university. In the same year, he joined Matsushita Communication Industrial Co., Ltd. He was appointed as an assistant at the Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University in 1991, an associate professor in 1993, and a professor in 2000 at the same university. In 2018, Tohoku University awarded him the title of Professor Emeritus.

He has consistently worked on developing high-density magnetic storage devices such as hard disk drives and has achieved pioneering results. In particular, he focused on research on perpendicular magnetic recording, which was invented by Dr. Shunichi Iwasaki in 1977. He clarified the design guidelines for perpendicular recording devices through the development of recording and playback theory, and he contributed to the improvement of high areal density recording performance and the development of technology for the practical use of recording and playback devices.

Device design theory was not necessarily established at the beginning of research in perpendicular magnetic recording because a recording and playback device significantly differs from conventional magnetic recording. As a result, knowledge of practical design methods for improving recording characteristics such as error rate needed to be improved. At an early stage, he worked on research on magnetic heads and magnetic disks, which are core devices, and established a guiding principle for improving areal recording density. Furthermore, he succeeded in prototyping a new perpendicular magnetic recording device that achieves high-density recording performance as a practical magnetic head for hard disk drives that floats above the disk with a minute gap. As a result, practical prototyping of a high-density hard disk device was performed at a pioneering stage, demonstrating the excellent high-density performance of perpendicular magnetic recording, and accelerating the international trend toward perpendicular magnetic recording.

In addition, in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake, he worked on the development of a high-availability system that prevents data loss and gave a demonstration of the information storage system, which is essential for continuous operation even in the event of a disaster, as infrastructure for the information society.

On the other hand, multimedia storage, such as video equipment, requires appropriate compatibility between various data. He served as Technical Area Manager in the relevant technical field at the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), an influential standardization organization, and worked on standardization and formulated many international standards.

He has been actively involved in academic societies and public institutions in Japan and overseas. He served as secretary, technical committee member, chair, and adviser of the IEICE Technical Committee on Electronics Society Magnetic Recording and Information Storage for many years. He has made great efforts to revitalize the society's activities. At the Magnetics Society of Japan, he served as a director in charge of internationalization, and at the IEEE Magnetics Society, he managed the organization as an officer of the Administration Committee and demonstrated leadership as an officer of the international conference. In addition, he contributed widely to the development of electronic information and communication technology through his official positions, including deputy chief of the Information Science and Technology Committee, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, ad hoc member of the National Research and Development Agency Council, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, chair of NHK Broadcasting Engineering Council, and secretary, 144th Committee on Magnetic Recording, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

For these achievements, he has received the IEICE Achievement Award, the IEICE Electronics Society Award, the NHK Broadcasting Culture Award, the Magnetics Society of Japan Award, the Achievement Award of Magnetics Society of Japan, and received titles such as IEICE Fellow, Honorary Member of the Magnetics Society of Japan, Life Fellow of the Magnetics Society of Japan, and IEEE Life Fellow.

As mentioned above, Dr. Muraoka's achievements in electronic information communication are highly remarkable, and we are convinced that Dr. Muraoka deserves the IEICE Distinguished Achievement and Contributions Award.