Today’s information and communication networks generally adopt hierarchical architectures and centralized control schemes that optimize operation and cost under normal conditions, thereby providing high‑quality and stable services in everyday use. However, these networks often reveal significant vulnerabilities in emergencies such as natural disasters. First, with respect to communication resilience, their hierarchical structure means that failures of individual communication devices can lead directly to outages in subordinate layers. Second, with regard to information processing, communication failures along the path to the cloud can cause critical services to be suspended. Third, centralized control architectures inherently involve control vulnerabilities, as malfunctions in controllers or control networks may result in system‑wide shutdown. In addition, the risk that power outages will stop communication equipment, a power‑supply vulnerability, remains an important issue.

To address these challenges, the awardees have devoted themselves to the research and development of an information and communication infrastructure based on an autonomous, distributed, and cooperative architecture that is particularly advantageous for ensuring high resilience. A key feature of their approach is the ability to construct networks of arbitrary topology, including mesh configurations, and to switch dynamically to routes that avoid failures as far as possible, thereby substantially improving communication robustness. The route‑switchover time is remarkably short—approximately one hundredth (on the order of several tens of milliseconds) of that of commercially available wireless mesh products, which typically require several seconds to several minutes. Furthermore, by equipping each relay node (hereafter “base station”) with information processing capabilities so that the overall system forms a distributed database, their architecture enables essential information applications to continue operating even when the Internet is unreachable, thus enhancing robustness in information processing. In addition, each base station is endowed with control and management functions and can operate in an autonomous, distributed, and cooperative manner, thereby mitigating the risk of total system shutdown and improving control resilience. The conceptual origin of this architecture lies in the recognition that dynamic, large‑scale sensor data concerning local communities and users can be processed more safely, efficiently, and promptly within the local area than in a distant cloud environment. The resulting network system, later named “NerveNet” in analogy to a local nervous system, is highly original and anticipates today’s distributed edge computing paradigm; since its initial publication in 2007, it has been highly regarded, as evidenced by invited articles and commissioned expository papers.

In the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the awardees further enhanced the disaster tolerance and practical applicability of NerveNet, culminating in a technology transfer agreement with industry in 2013 (initially covering seven patents, with four additional patents secured thereafter). In parallel, with the cooperation of Onagawa Town in Miyagi Prefecture, which suffered severe damage in the earthquake, they launched a field demonstration in 2014 involving four base stations for video transmission to monitor Onagawa Bay, and in the following year initiated the world’s first disaster‑resilient network field trial with a ten‑base‑station configuration in Shirahama Town, Wakayama Prefecture, to prepare for a potential Nankai Trough megathrust earthquake and tsunami. In 2022, Shirahama Town rebuilt this system, funded by the town’s own budget, as a regional information and communication infrastructure available in normal times, thereby realizing the first full‑scale social deployment of the technology. The system has since been expanded to 33 base stations, providing free Wi‑Fi access at 23 locations for residents and tourists, and is also interconnected with the Local Government Wide Area Network (LGWAN) for use in administrative operations. With technical support from the awardees, all base stations are equipped with solar panels and storage batteries, enabling continuous operation for at least 72 hours even in the event of a power outage. Similar systems have now been deployed as critical regional infrastructures in Nobeoka City in Miyazaki Prefecture (52 base stations), Sarabetsu Village in Hokkaido (10), the Dullu municipality in mountainous Nepal (3), and a tea factory and its surrounding area in Gampola in the hilly region of Sri Lanka (10).

Over a period of approximately two decades, the awardees have not only devised and refined a highly original network architecture but have also demonstrated exceptional perseverance in conducting long‑term verification and field trials, leading to its successful practical implementation.Through social deployment and active dissemination of their results to international bodies, they have made a substantial and objectively recognized contribution to enhancing the resilience of society as a whole. In light of these outstanding achievements in both academic innovation and societal impact, their work is eminently deserving of this society’s Achievement Award.

References

1. M. Inoue, et. al, “Community Service Platform Using Wireless Logical Mesh Paths,” IEICE Tech. Rep.，AN2007-26，Aug. 2007.
2. M. Inoue, M. Ohnishi, C. Peng, R. Li, Y. Owada, “NerveNet: A Regional Platform Network for Context-Aware Services with Sensors and Actuators,” IEIC Trans. Commun., vol.E94-B, no.3, pp.618-629, Mar. 2011.
3. Inoue, et. al, "A Ubiquitous Sensor Network Platform for Localized, Personalized Context-Aware Services　-A New World of Mobile Communications in the New Generation Network Era- (in Japanese)," IPSJ Magazine, vol.50, no.9, Sept. 2009.
4. M. Inoue, et. al, “Communication management system, socket management server, and communication management method (in Japanese),” Japan Patent No. 4873743.
5. M. Inoue, Y. Owada, "NerveNet Architecture and its Pilot Test in Shirahama for Resilient Social Infrastructure", IEICE Trans. Commun., vol. E100-B, no.9, Sept. 2017.
6. "Robust communications "NerveNet" for disaster preparedness and business attraction (Shirahama Town, Wakayama Prefecture) (in Japanese)," Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Regional Community DX Navi, Jan. 2025, URL: https://dx-navi.soumu.go.jp/support_r6/digital_kiban/article/006.
7. Y. Owada, Ved P. Kafle, M. Inoue, “Establishing Networks and Services in Mountainous Areas of Nepal (in Japanese),” NICT News，2024 No.5.
8. Y. Owada, M. Inoue, et. al, “Development of a Smart Village Application System Using Private LoRa Mesh Network Deployed in Sri Lanka (in Japanese),” IEICE Tech. Rep., SeMI2025-11, May 2025.
9. “Local-Area Resilient Information Sharing and Communication Systems,” APT REPORT, No. APT/ASTAP/REPT-60, Apr. 2025.
10. M. Inoue, Y. Owada, K. Hamaguchi, “Efforts recognized: Development of a natural disaster-resilient autonomous, decentralized and coordinated communication system,” FY2019 Commendations for Science and Technology given by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Prizes for Science and Technology, 2019.