MERL - Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories

Communications

Wireless and optical communications.

We conduct advanced research in wireless and optical communications from the network layer down to the physical layer, including highly reliable machine-to-machine wireless networks, routing and scheduling for IoT networks, massive MIMO for 5G systems, flexible wideband RF front-end architectures, advanced error correction coding, and novel modulation and transmission techniques with adaptive signal processing for coherent fiber-optic and free-space optical communications.

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  • Awards

    •  AWARD    MERL receives 33rd ARIB Radio Achievement Award
      Date: June 28, 2022
      Awarded to: Yukimasa Nagai, Jianlin Guo, Shoichi Kitazawa, Kazuto Yano.
      MERL Contacts: Jianlin Guo; Philip V. Orlik
      Research Areas: Communications, Electric Systems
      Brief
      • Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (Yukimasa Nagai), MERL (Jianlin Guo), Muroran Institute of Technology (Shoichi Kitazawa) and Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (Kazuto Yano) jointly won the 33rd ARIB Radio Achievement Award with "IEEE 802.19.3 Standardization and Development for Sub-1 GHz Wireless Frequency Coexistence". The ARIB is an organization similar to the FCC in the U.S. It is responsible for setting standards for all radio communications in Japan at the request of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). In order to promote the effective use of radio waves, the "Radio Achievement Award" is given annually to an individual or organization that has made a special achievement in the effective use of radio waves. This award is the most prestigious award in the field of wireless communications in Japan.
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    •  AWARD    Japan Telecommunications Advancement Foundation Award
      Date: March 15, 2022
      Awarded to: Yukimasa Nagai, Jianlin Guo, Philip Orlik, Takenori Sumi, Benjamin A. Rolfe and Hiroshi Mineno
      MERL Contacts: Jianlin Guo; Philip V. Orlik
      Research Areas: Communications, Machine Learning
      Brief
      • MELCO/MERL research paper “Sub-1 GHz Frequency Band Wireless Coexistence for the Internet of Things” has won the 37th Telecommunications Advancement Foundation Award (Telecom System Technology Award) in Japan. This award started in 1984, and is given to research papers and works related to information and telecommunications that have made significant contributions and achievements to the advancement, development, and standardization of information and telecommunications from technical and engineering perspectives. The award recognizes both the IEEE 802.19.3 standardization efforts and the technological advancements using reinforcement learning and robust access methodologies for wireless communication system. This year, there were 43 entries with 5 winning awards and 3 winning encouragement awards. This is the first time MELCO/MERL has received this award. Our paper has been published by IEEE Access in 2021 and authors are Yukimasa Nagai, Jianlin Guo, Philip Orlik, Takenori Sumi, Benjamin A. Rolfe and Hiroshi Mineno.
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    •  AWARD    Toshiaki Koike-Akino elected Fellow of Optica
      Date: November 18, 2021
      Awarded to: Toshiaki Koike-Akino
      MERL Contact: Toshiaki Koike-Akino
      Research Areas: Communications, Electronic and Photonic Devices, Signal Processing
      Brief
      • Toshiaki Koike-Akino's research activities in communications, error control coding and optical technologies at MERL have earned him election as a Fellow Member of Optica (formerly OSA), the foremost professional association in optics and photonics worldwide. Fellow membership in Optica is limited to no more than ten percent of the membership and is reserved for members who have served with distinction in the advancement of optics and photonics. Koike-Akino is one of 106 members from 24 countries in Optica’s 2022 Fellows Class, elected during the Board of Directors of Optica meeting held on 2nd of November, 2021.

        “Congratulations to the 2022 Optica Fellows,” said 2021 President Connie Chang-Hasnain, University of California, Berkeley, USA. “These members exemplify what it means to be a leader in optics and photonics. Your election, by your peers, confirms the important contributions made within our field. Thank you for your dedication to Optica, and for advancing the science of light.”

        Koike-Akino's elevation to Fellow is specifically “for outstanding and innovative contributions to R&D in enabling technologies for optical communications, including nonlinear equalizers, high-dimensional modulations, and FEC (Forward Error Correction),” said Meredith Smith, Director, Optica Awards and Honors Office. "Again, congratulations on joining this esteemed group of Optica members."

        About Optica

        Optica (formerly OSA) is dedicated to promoting the generation, application, archiving and dissemination of knowledge in optics and photonics worldwide. Founded in 1916, it is the leading organization for scientists, engineers, business professionals, students and others interested in the science of light. Optica’s renowned publications, meetings, online resources and in-person activities fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate scientific, technical and educational achievement.
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  • News & Events

    •  NEWS    Yebin Wang delivered an invited industry talk at the 1st IEEE Industrial Electronics Society Annual On-Line Conference
      Date: December 9, 2022 - December 11, 2022
      MERL Contact: Yebin Wang
      Research Areas: Communications, Control, Optimization
      Brief
      • Future factory, in the era of industry 4.0, is characterized by autonomy, digital twin, and mass customization. This talk, titled "Future factory automation and cyber-physical system: an industrial perspective," focuses on tackling the challenges arising from mass customization, for example reconfigurable machine controller and material flow.
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    •  NEWS    MERL Researchers gave a Tutorial Talk on Quantum Machine Learning for Sensing and Communications at IEEE GLOBECOM
      Date: December 8, 2022
      MERL Contacts: Toshiaki Koike-Akino; Pu (Perry) Wang
      Research Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Communications, Computational Sensing, Machine Learning, Signal Processing
      Brief
      • On December 8, 2022, MERL researchers Toshiaki Koike-Akino and Pu (Perry) Wang gave a 3.5-hour tutorial presentation at the IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM). The talk, titled "Post-Deep Learning Era: Emerging Quantum Machine Learning for Sensing and Communications," addressed recent trends, challenges, and advances in sensing and communications. P. Wang presented on use cases, industry trends, signal processing, and deep learning for Wi-Fi integrated sensing and communications (ISAC), while T. Koike-Akino discussed the future of deep learning, giving a comprehensive overview of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, natural computing, emerging quantum AI, and their diverse applications. The tutorial was conducted remotely. MERL's quantum AI technology was partly reported in the recent press release (https://us.mitsubishielectric.com/en/news/releases/global/2022/1202-a/index.html).

        The IEEE GLOBECOM is a highly anticipated event for researchers and industry professionals in the field of communications. Organized by the IEEE Communications Society, the flagship conference is known for its focus on driving innovation in all aspects of the field. Each year, over 3,000 scientific researchers submit proposals for program sessions at the annual conference. The theme of this year's conference was "Accelerating the Digital Transformation through Smart Communications," and featured a comprehensive technical program with 13 symposia, various tutorials and workshops.
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  • Research Highlights

  • Recent Publications

    •  Kim, K.J., Liu, H., Wen, M., Tsiftsis, T.A., Orlik, P.V., Poor, H.V., "QR Decomposition-based Cyclic Prefixed Single-Carrier Transmissions for Cooperative Communications: Concepts and Research Landscape", IEEE COMMUNICATIONS SURVEYS AND TUTORIALS, December 2022.
      BibTeX TR2022-167 PDF
      • @article{Kim2022dec,
      • author = {Kim, Kyeong Jin and Liu, Hongwu and Wen, Maiwen and Tsiftsis, Theodoros A. and Orlik, Philip V. and Poor, H. Vincent},
      • title = {QR Decomposition-based Cyclic Prefixed Single-Carrier Transmissions for Cooperative Communications: Concepts and Research Landscape},
      • journal = {IEEE COMMUNICATIONS SURVEYS AND TUTORIALS},
      • year = 2022,
      • month = dec,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2022-167}
      • }
    •  Soushi Ueno, , Fujihashi, T., Koike-Akino, T., Watanabe, T., "Point Cloud Soft Multicast for Untethered XR Users", IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, December 2022.
      BibTeX TR2022-164 PDF
      • @article{SoushiUeno;Fujihashi2022dec,
      • author = {Soushi Ueno and Fujihashi, Takuya and Koike-Akino, Toshiaki and Watanabe, Takashi},
      • title = {Point Cloud Soft Multicast for Untethered XR Users},
      • journal = {IEEE Transactions on Multimedia},
      • year = 2022,
      • month = dec,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2022-164}
      • }
    •  Skvortcov, P., Koike-Akino, T., Millar, D.S., Kojima, K., Parsons, K., "Dual Coding Concatenation for Burst-Error Correction in Probabilistic Amplitude Shaping", IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology, DOI: 10.1109/​JLT.2022.3178675, Vol. 40, No. 16, pp. 5502-5513, November 2022.
      BibTeX TR2022-145 PDF
      • @article{Skvortcov2022nov,
      • author = {Skvortcov, Pavel and Koike-Akino, Toshiaki and Millar, David S. and Kojima, Keisuke and Parsons, Kieran},
      • title = {Dual Coding Concatenation for Burst-Error Correction in Probabilistic Amplitude Shaping},
      • journal = {IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology},
      • year = 2022,
      • volume = 40,
      • number = 16,
      • pages = {5502--5513},
      • month = nov,
      • doi = {10.1109/JLT.2022.3178675},
      • issn = {1558-2213},
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2022-145}
      • }
    •  Ma, Y., Wang, Y., Di Cairano, S., Koike-Akino, T., Guo, J., Orlik, P.V., Guan, X., Lu, C., "Smart Actuation for End-Edge Industrial Control Systems", IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, DOI: 10.1109/​TASE.2022.3216217, October 2022.
      BibTeX TR2022-138 PDF
      • @article{Ma2022oct,
      • author = {Ma, Yehan and Wang, Yebin and Di Cairano, Stefano and Koike-Akino, Toshiaki and Guo, Jianlin and Orlik, Philip V. and Guan, Xinping and Lu, Chenyang},
      • title = {Smart Actuation for End-Edge Industrial Control Systems},
      • journal = {IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering},
      • year = 2022,
      • month = oct,
      • doi = {10.1109/TASE.2022.3216217},
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2022-138}
      • }
    •  Sumi, T., Nagai, Y., Guo, J., Mineno, H., "IEEE Wireless Standards for Internet of Things", IEEE World Forum on Internet of Things (WFIoT), October 2022.
      BibTeX TR2022-136 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Sumi2022oct,
      • author = {Sumi, Takenori and Nagai, Yukimasa and Guo, Jianlin and Mineno, Hiroshi},
      • title = {IEEE Wireless Standards for Internet of Things},
      • booktitle = {IEEE World Forum on Internet of Things (WFIoT)},
      • year = 2022,
      • month = oct,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2022-136}
      • }
    •  Xia, H., Wang, P., Ding, Z., "Incomplete Multi-view Domain Adaptation via Channel Enhancement and Knowledge Transfer", European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV), DOI: 10.1007/​978-3-031-19830-4_12, October 2022.
      BibTeX TR2022-134 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Xia2022oct,
      • author = {Xia, Haifeng and Wang, Pu and Ding, Zhengming},
      • title = {Incomplete Multi-view Domain Adaptation via Channel Enhancement and Knowledge Transfer},
      • booktitle = {European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV)},
      • year = 2022,
      • month = oct,
      • doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-19830-4_12},
      • isbn = {978-3-031-19830-4},
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2022-134}
      • }
    •  Yu, J., Pu, W., Koike-Akino, T., Wang, Y., Orlik, P.V., Buehrer, R.M., "Multi-Band Wi-Fi Sensing with Matched Feature Granularity", IEEE Internet of Things Journal, DOI: 10.1109/​JIOT.2022.3190826, July 2022.
      BibTeX TR2022-105 PDF
      • @article{Yu2022jul,
      • author = {Yu, Jianyuan and Pu, Wang and Koike-Akino, Toshiaki and Wang, Ye and Orlik, Philip V. and Buehrer, R. Michael},
      • title = {Multi-Band Wi-Fi Sensing with Matched Feature Granularity},
      • journal = {IEEE Internet of Things Journal},
      • year = 2022,
      • month = jul,
      • doi = {10.1109/JIOT.2022.3190826},
      • issn = {2327-4662},
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2022-105}
      • }
    •  Yerazunis, W.S., Weiss, A., Radyjowski, P., Cottrell, R., "On-Orbit Fabrication of Spacecraft Structures by Direct Solar Photopolymerization", Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium, July 2022, pp. 1676-1686.
      BibTeX TR2022-104 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Yerazunis2022jul,
      • author = {Yerazunis, William S. and Weiss, Avishai and Radyjowski, Patryk and Cottrell, Richard},
      • title = {On-Orbit Fabrication of Spacecraft Structures by Direct Solar Photopolymerization},
      • booktitle = {Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium},
      • year = 2022,
      • pages = {1676--1686},
      • month = jul,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2022-104}
      • }
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