The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), a national research and development institute, and Shimadzu Corp. plan to commercialize a communications device in April this year after developing a new technology to stabilize optical wireless communications underwater, in a research promotion program funded by the Defense Ministry, it has been learned.
If realized, this will be the first practical application of research results that take advantage of the National Security Technology Research Promotion Fund, which was launched in fiscal 2015.
Under the funding program, the Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency, an external bureau of the Defense Ministry, sets themes for basic research and seeks participation from other bodies to conduct studies.
The envisaged underwater optical wireless communications device is a cylindrical object 15 centimeters in diameter and 30 centimeters in length. Shimadzu plans to sell unmanned submersible drones using the technology to manufacturers, as it can be used for submarine oilfield exploration. The device can send and receive up to 100 megabytes of data per second at distances of up to 10 meters. This distance is planned to be extended to 100 meters by the spring of 2020.
Using a single wavelength, existing products are faced with a challenge in which communications become unstable when water is murky.
JAMSTEC, based in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, has carried out the research using 65 million yen from the fund in cooperation with Kyoto-based Shimadzu. Together they have established a technology that transmits a large amount of data by adjusting three kinds of semiconductor laser beams that pass through water -- blue, green and red -- according to the degree of water turbidity.
Global competition is intensifying over the development of underwater wireless communications technologies capable of transmitting high volumes of data. Hopes are high for such technologies for purposes including spreading the use of submersible drones and improving the performance of communications equipment for divers.
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