ASAKA Takao1
Our corporate research and development department started in 1971 and conducts development work geared toward future business operations. This paper introduces how the results of such R&D have contributed to the company.
- Administration and Technical Information Department, Corporate R&D Headquarters
TRANSITIONS IN OUR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
For the first five years after the R&D department was inaugurated, with the aim of developing new sensors and circuits, we developed sensors and measurement devices based on new principles and configurations such as the vortex flow meter, nuclear quadruple resonance (NQR) thermometer, superconducting quantum interfering device (SQUID), and so on.
After the oil crisis of the 1970s, we sought to diversify into other new areas of business to change the hitherto oil-dependent structure of our business operations, and developed ultrasonic diagnostic imaging equipment and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) diagnostic equipment in the medical field, office equipment and devices, and so on. In regard to medical equipment, we established a joint venture company with General Electric Company (the current GE Yokogawa Medical Systems K.K.) and have continued to develop steadily ever since.
After the 1983 merger with Hokushin Electric Works Ltd., we decided to make the field of high-frequency measurement instruments our second core business after control instruments; and promoted IC development such as the development of high-speed, high-frequency circuitry and high-speed AD switching devices and the like. This development formed the base of our current electronic measurement instruments business and tester business.
As for the results of our development since the 1990s, this paper introduces the results and contributions to business operations for each of the three strategic technologies we have focused on: 1) micro-measurement and manipulation technologies; 2) ubiquitous computing technologies; and 3) photonic measurement and control technologies.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE R&D RESULTS AND BUSINESS VENTURES IN STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY FIELDS
Micro-Measurement and Manipulation Technologies
Figure 1 shows the results of research and development conducted from 1990 and the products in which those results were applied.
Figure 1 The Path of Yokogawa's 'Micro' R&D
In the 1990s we concentrated mainly on electronic measurement devices, with a focus on the development of key devices for IC testers contributing to the expansion of that business. In the field of electronic measurement equipment, our company independently developed its own high-speed and high-resolution analog-digital (AD) converter which decides the performance of digital oscilloscopes. In the oscilloscope market, although our company was a late starter, we developed our own unique AD converters, ASIC signal processing circuitry and the like, realizing compact yet highly functional oscilloscopes. Through these efforts, we won the top share of the general-purpose machinery market in Japan. In the IC tester market, we narrowed our target to the digital- analog integrated circuit mixed-signal tester market, and conducted IC developments such as driver/comparators and time generators. By developing compact, highly functional IC testers, we won the top share of the market which we retain today, and we will continue to develop families of advanced devices and drive the expansion of the business.
At the same time, in the control business market, the demand for even greater precision and accuracy in pressure measurement grew, and we pursued the development of a new sensor system. Then, we succeeded in developing and productizing a silicon resonant differential pressure sensor employing MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) technology. As an example of the practical application of MEMS technology, this was a world-first, and we continue to hold the second-top share of the world market in this field. To date, we have delivered more than 1.7 million units and are continuing to expand even further.
In the bio-technology business field, Yokogawa developed the world's first confocal microscope which enabled observation of the movement of live cells and supplies this microscope to the world's leading bio-related research institutions. We will continue to further develop the micro-fluorescent detection technology nurtured here and apply it to next-generation DNA chip cartridges and bio-chip reading devices.
Technologies for Managing Field-Ubiquitous Compting
The foundation or core element of ubiquitous computing technology is information technology. Figure 2 shows the results of R&D in information technology and products produced using that technology. In the realm of information technology, as the basic configuration principle enabling development into the various products, we developed real-time OS and middleware, which is the most superior of real-time OS, etc., and developed these into a variety of products.
Figure 2 The Path of Yokogawa's 'Information' R&D
Responsivity and size, but most of all, reliability, are important in real-time OS. Since there was no product available on the market which satisfied those demands, Yokogawa developed its own OS conforming to ORKID, the standard interface specification. We also devised a family of development tools for this OS separately, employing them in our company's core product, the CENTUM distributed control system, families of electronic measurement instruments, and the like.
Moreover, we developed middleware which included communications functions, and made all the products web-function capable. In addition, with an eye to the new Internet age, we developed J EROS, a middleware system installed with a Java-based framework; thus connecting on-site locations in the field with the Internet. Using JEROS, we developed DUONUS, a network computer for industrial use; STARDOM, a network-based production system; Fis, a meteorological field server; and the like, and plan to expand even further in the future.
Photonic Measurement and Control Technologies
Our company has developed a host of measurement instruments, but in anticipation of the future acceleration in technology, we started research in 1983 on compound semiconductors as the technology which would be mandatory to the development of high-speed devices. The path we have taken since then is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3 The Path of Yokogawa's 'Compound Semiconductor' R&D
For the first 10 years, we focused on process development and the development of basic devices, developing GaAs HBT, InP HBT, and other such devices, and succeeded in developing a 147 GHz oscillator. Consistent with employing this technology in products, we developed a sampling head for the 10 G sampling oscilloscope, a Schottky Barrier Diode (SBD) for IC testers, and the like.
After that, triggered by the development of a photo-diode array for WDM monitors as a communication measurement instrument, we discovered that there was also an extremely high demand in advanced high-speed communications instruments for the compound semiconductor technology we been developing for use in measurement instruments; and have been developing and supplying 40 Gbps WDM communications modules and the like.
What is more, as a necessary key device in the age of high-speed optical communication, we have developed an optical switch one million times faster than conventional switches, a photoelectron integrated label recognition circuit, and so on, and have targeted the achievement of the practical application of optical packet communications devices 10 years earlier than predicted by world forecasts.
In the future, Yokogawa will build a new semiconductor plant and, in preparation for when high-speed optical communications become a serious full- scale business, plans set up a new business providing families of modules as well as supplying optical communications devices to fields that require high-speed large-volume data communication such as the broadcasting industry and the like.
PERFORMANCE IN EXTERNAL AWARDS
Examples of the objective external recognition that Yokogawa has won for the technological capability it has developed include awards from the Okochi Memorial Foundation, Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation (JIII), and so on. Among the Okochi Memorial Foundation awards Yokogawa has won are the Okochi Memorial Prize in 1995, for its invention of an oscillating pressure sensor; the Technology Prize in 1981, for the development and practical application of a Karman vortex flow meter; and the same prize again in 1995 and 2004, for the development and productization of micro-particle measurement technology and the development and practical application of a confocal scanner, respectively.
National commendations received from the Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation (JIII) for inventions include, the Prime Minister's Prize in 1971, for a time-division multiplexing modulator; the JIII Chairman's Prize in 1984, for a magnetic flux detector; the Japan Patent Attorneys Association President's Prize in 1990, for a controller and again in 1999, for a confocal scanner. In addition to these awards, Yokogawa has also won the Nippon Keidanren Chairman's Prize, The Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Prize, and so on.
- The product names appearing in this document are trademarks or registered trademarks of Yokogawa Electric Corporation.