Smart City Technologies

Pedestrian tracking has become increasingly important in recent years to realize human-centric applications such as crowd navigation, facility design, evacuation planning, and path analysis. We propose a novel system that simultaneously tracks pedestrians and crowds using a laser range scanner (LiDAR). When the crowd density is not relatively high, the proposed system accurately captures the movement trajectory of each individual to achieve granular path analysis, while when the crowd density is extremely high, the system automatically switches to an algorithm that accurately estimates the number of pedestrians in the area. In addition, by capturing and sharing indoor human behavior and social information with LiDAR and multiple smartphones, "personal + crowd + social" navigation can be realized, and demonstration tests are ongoing in a commercial building in Osaka.

We are conducting research on disaster prevention and mitigation technologies using information communication and sensing technologies. Every year in Japan, torrential rains and typhoons cause flooding, which results in a lot of damage. When damage occurs, what is important is how quickly and correctly we can assess the damage. The more quickly and accurately we can assess the situation, the less time it will take to rescue people, and the more accurately we can allocate limited resources such as people and equipment. Currently, however, it takes a long time to assess the damage in detail, and when people are dispatched, secondary damage and human costs are incurred. In response to this, we are conducting research on the use of drones to efficiently assess the situation during a disaster.

家庭に様々なセンサを設置し居住者の行動を把握することで，無理なく省エネルギー化や生活の質の改善を実現するための研究を行っています． 人感センサなどの曖昧なセンサデータから行動を把握するための方法や，得られたセンサデータの解析結果に基づき居住者が受け入れられる行動パターンを決定する方法の構築に取り組んでいます．

現実世界の人・モノすべてをリアルタイムに仮想空間上に再現し、仮想空間内でのシミュレーション・解析結果を現実へフィールドバックする、いわゆる「デジタルツイン」の研究に取り組んでいます。