Objectives of the Tokai University Branding Project

In recent years, large-scale natural disasters and environmental changes have occurred at home and abroad, and responding to them has become an urgent task for society.
Amid this, the Kumamoto Earthquake occurred in April 2016, causing extensive damage to various areas of Kumamoto prefecture, including the university’s Kumamoto and Aso Campuses. In addition to earthquakes, there are also concerns about the occurrence of and damages from extreme natural disasters such as torrential rains, floods, and volcanic eruptions in the prefectures of Kanagawa and Shizuoka, where the university’s Shonan, Isehara, and Shimizu Campuses are located. Given this, the university has been seeing growing awareness of disaster monitoring, safety, and security.

In the fifth Science and Technology Basic Plan, the national government states that it will “promote the establishment of a system for sharing and utilizing real-time disaster information.” The usefulness of collecting and disseminating disaster information via SNS and other social media was recognized during the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake. However, according to a survey conducted by a weather information provision company, there are doubts about the credibility of the disaster information posted on social media, and there is room for improvement in its utilization.

Tokai University established the Research and Information Center in 1974 and has been working on disaster and environmental monitoring using earth observation satellite data. In 1986, the Space Information Center was established as the university’s first satellite data receiving station to receive and process data from various earth observation satellites. It has conducted various joint research endeavors with many research institutes inside and outside Japan and produced many results, and it has always led research in this field in Japan. In addition, Tokai University has been committed since its foundation to the principle of giving back to society with the knowledge generated within the university. Taking advantage of its strengths as a comprehensive university, Tokai University is promoting the construction of so-called “research peaks” throughout the university that will systematically promote research activities through industry-government-academia collaboration and contribute significantly to the creation of innovation. As one of the units of these research peaks, we started an effort to create a research base for the creation of a safe and secure society (Safety and Security Project) in FY2015. The project has made significant achievements in research fields including earthquake prediction, volcano monitoring, tsunami flooding simulation, disaster mitigation measures using social media, and disaster-resistant communications.

The project’s main objective is to construct a glocal monitoring system to monitor natural disasters and environmental changes by organically linking global information from satellite observations and other sources with local information provided by local residents via social media. In addition, Tokai University will take advantage of its ability to comprehensively cover various fields to conduct social science analysis and disseminate the information both domestically and internationally. This project will create a new system that we truly need in times of disaster based on the opinions of disaster victims and neighboring municipalities, as well as the experiences of Tokai University, which suffered tremendous damage in the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake. Based on this system, it will brand Tokai University as a university that contributes to the safety and security of society.

Participating organizations

Research and Information Center, School of Information Science and Technology, School of Information and Telecommunication Engineering, School of Science, School of Engineering, School of Marine Science and Technology, School of Industrial and Welfare Engineering, and School of Medicine

Representative: Tokai University Shonan Campus
4-1-1, Kitakaname, Hiratsuka, Kanagawa 259 -1292, Japan
Phone: 0463-58-1211

Expected research

The outcomes of (1) and (2) below will be organically integrated into (3).

We will realize the monitoring of sea ice distribution and volcanoes over a wide area by receiving and immediately sharing satellite data from NASA as well as other organizations at Tokai University and overseas universities (National Central University of Taiwan, University of the Philippines, etc.). In addition, in cooperation with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, we will examine how air pollutants generated in the vicinity of Beijing and other major cities spread to the East Asian region. In data analysis, we will combine the power of experts in various fields such as sea ice, ocean, volcanoes, and the atmosphere, who are dispersed among the various faculties of the university, and engage in interdisciplinary research while enhancing interaction within the university. We will also promote the advanced utilization of satellite data by adding analytical technologies created by experts in various fields to the technology for immediate distribution of satellite data.

“Social sensors” refers to the concept of social networking services (SNS, or social media) such as Twitter, where users post a variety information, being considered sensors and the information extracted from the posted content being considered sensor output. In recent years, a great deal of attention has been paid to the utilization of this technology for information gathering and analysis, especially in times of disaster. This is because the use of social media is essential for quickly collecting detailed information on damage in affected areas. Meanwhile, the amount of information in social sensors increases explosively during large-scale disasters, resulting in a situation where much of the useful information is buried without being utilized. For this reason, the system will have a mechanism to use AI technology to analyze social big data in real time at the onset of a disaster and automatically extract and categorize useful information so that it is visualized, provided, and distributed in a form that can be easily utilized to assisting the evacuation of disaster victims, facilitating actions to ensure safety and supporting decision-making of local governments. Because it is likely that communication infrastructure will be disrupted in the event of a disaster, we will also undertake research and development of disaster-resistant communication technologies, such as infrastructure-less communication. We will also mobilize experts in social sciences and medicine to interact with local residents and care for disaster victims to contribute to the safety and security of local residents from multiple perspectives. Furthermore, we will conduct a variety of training sessions and workshops using the established system to realize concrete social application of the research results.

Ultimately, we will integrate the global monitoring system using satellites and the local monitoring system using information from social sensors to create a specific glocal monitoring system with a strong university identity. We will also develop a system for smartphones where, for example, when a local resident transmits a disaster situation via their smartphone, the location and disaster situation are displayed on the satellite image of the monitoring system. Then, satellite images of the surrounding area are automatically extracted and displayed in chronological order on the local resident’s smartphone. We will also contribute to the safety and security of the international and local communities by realizing such a system in cooperation with related organizations in Japan and abroad.

A PDCA cycle will be established to reconstruct the research plan for the next fiscal year according to the evaluation below. The evaluation results will be made public on the project website set up by the university.

This project is designated as project research by the Tokai University Institute of Research, which supports the research activities of departments and research institutes within the university, as well as strategic and priority research. Designated projects are subject to annual written and oral reports on their progress (number of papers published, number of presentations given at conferences, number of research results featured in the mass media, etc.), appropriateness of budget execution, status of social collaboration activities, etc., to the Management Committee of the Institute of Research, chaired by the President, and evaluation by this committee.

We use means such as events to gather opinions from experts at domestic and overseas universities, research institutes, and companies, as well as the organizations and local governments that aim to utilize the results of this project. These evaluations will be added to the annual report to the Administration Committee of Tokai University Institute of Research, making the PDCA cycle inclusive of external evaluation.