926 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 13, NO.

3, MARCH 2013

Contactless Liquid-Level Measurement With

Frequency-Modulated Millimeter Wave Through
Opaque Container
Tatsuo Nakagawa, Akihiko Hyodo, Kenji Kogo, Hideaki Kurata, Member, IEEE,
Kenichi Osada, Member, IEEE, and Shigeru Oho, Member, IEEE

Abstract— A novel contactless method for measuring liquid is not high because the capacitance is strongly dependent on
level through an opaque container is proposed. A millimeter- the distance between the container and sensor. Optical sensors,
wave Doppler sensor is developed to “see” (i.e., sense) through a such as CCD cameras, can measure liquid level without having
target container and measure the liquid level on the basis of the
absorption of millimeter waves in liquid. One of the challenges is to contact the liquid by image processing [4]. However, to
to accurately measure liquid level (within sub-millimeter error) capture an image of the liquid surface, the container should
despite the inherently large beam diameter of the millimeter be transparent, or the optical sensors should be placed in
wave due to diffraction. A piezoelectric vibrator enables accurate the container. By using ultrasound sensors, liquid level can
measurement by reflecting a limited portion of the spread be calculated from the range between the sensor and liquid
beam and modulating it in frequency to distinguish it from the
other portion of the beam. A prototype measurement system is surface. However, these sensors cannot be used for sealed
fabricated and evaluated. The feasibility of our proposed method containers.
for clearly detecting an air-liquid interface concealed in an We propose a novel Contactless method for measuring
opaque container is confirmed experimentally. The nonlinearity liquid level through an opaque container, while an earlier
error of the measured liquid level is within ±0.5 mm. version was presented in Ref. [15]. A millimeter-wave sensor
Index Terms— Contactless sensing, frequency modulation, is used to “see” (i.e., sense) through a target container and
liquid-level measurement, millimeter wave. measure the liquid level without having to contact the liquid.
Millimeter-wave integrated circuits have recently experienced
I. I NTRODUCTION tremendous growth [16]. These circuits have become smaller,
more highly integrated, and less expensive. Moreover, mil-

L IQUID-LEVEL measurement is necessary for vari-

ous applications, such as factory automation, industrial
processes, and medical instruments. There is a large variety
limeter waves have been proven to be a valuable Contactless
sensing technique [17], [18]. Therefore, millimeter waves can
be extensively applied to radar (radio detection and ranging),
of methods for measuring liquid level, ranging from those wireless communications, and commercial and industrial sys-
using mechanical floats and capacitive and optical sensors to tems.
ultrasound methods [1]–[14]. Most of these methods, how- With the proposed method, a millimeter-wave Doppler
ever, are not suitable for measuring liquid level through an sensor is developed to measure liquid level by using the
opaque container without having to come into contact with remote-sensing capability of millimeter waves. One of the
the liquid. General capacitive liquid-level sensors measure the challenges facing liquid-level measurement with a millimeter-
electrical capacitance between two electrodes immersed in a wave sensor is achieving accurate measurement; namely,
liquid and calculate the liquid level from the capacitance [1]. within sub-millimeter error, despite the inherently widespread
A capacitive semi-cylindrical sensor mounted around a liquid millimeter-wave beam due to diffraction. To meet this chal-
container can measure liquid level without having to come lenge, a piezoelectric vibrator, which enables accurate mea-
into contact with the liquid [2], but its measurement accuracy surement by reflecting a limited portion of the spread beam
and modulating it in frequency to distinguish it from the other
Manuscript received May 20, 2012; revised August 27, 2012; accepted
September 16, 2012. Date of publication September 21, 2012; date of current portion of the beam, is used.
version January 29, 2013. The associate editor coordinating the review of this We give an overview of liquid level measurement methods
paper and approving it for publication was Dr. Anna G. Mignani. in Section II. We present the basic consideration, architecture,
T. Nakagawa, A. Hyodo, K. Kogo, H. Kurata, and K. Osada are with
the Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo 185-8601, Japan circuit, and theory of the proposed measurement method in
(e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; Section III. We discuss the experimental results in Section IV,
[email protected]; [email protected]; kenichi.osada. and summarize the paper in Section V.
[email protected]).
S. Oho is with the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
Nippon Institute of Technology, Saitama 345-8501, Japan (e-mail: oho@ II. OVERVIEW OF L IQUID -L EVEL
nit.ac.jp). M EASUREMENT M ETHODS
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. In this section, we give an overview of liquid-level mea-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JSEN.2012.2220346 surement methods and explain our motivation of developing
1530–437X/$31.00 © 2012 IEEE
NAKAGAWA et al.: CONTACTLESS LIQUID-LEVEL MEASUREMENT 927

Measurement Measurement the liquid level, but it must come in contact with the liquid.
unit unit A capacitive semi-cylindrical sensor mounted around a liquid
container can measure liquid level without having to contact
Switch the liquid [2], but its measurement accuracy is not high
Float Electrodes because the capacitance is strongly dependent on the distance
between the container and sensor.
Optical sensors can be used for liquid-level measurement
without having to contact the liquid (Fig. 1 (c)) [4]–[9]. An
Liquid Liquid optical camera and an image signal processor are used to
measure liquid level by detecting the edge of a captured image
and calculating the liquid level.
(a) (b) Ultrasound sensors can measure liquid level without having
to contact the liquid (Fig. 1 (d)) [12], [13]. This measurement
Ultrasound
method is based on the time-of-flight principle. The ultrasound
range meter sensors emit high-frequency (typically 20 to 200 kHz) acoustic
Camera
waves onto the liquid surface. The waves are reflected at
the liquid surface, and the sensor detects the echo from the
Reflection surface. The distance between the sensor and the liquid surface
is calculated from the time of flight, and the liquid level is
estimated. Because the method is based on the time-of-flight
Liquid Liquid principle, proper mounting of the sensor, which achieves “line
of sight” of the sensor to the target liquid surface, is required.
There are other types of sensors. For example, a pressure
(c) (d)
sensor immersed in a container can be used to measure
liquid level from liquid pressure. Load cells, based on a
Fig. 1. Liquid-level measurement methods. (a) Float type. (b) Capacitive strain gauge or piezoelectric sensor, are used for liquid weight
sensor. (c) Optical sensor. (d) Ultrasound sensor.
measurement; hence, for level measurement. Radar is useful
for measuring liquid level [14] by measuring the travel time
a novel method. Liquid-level measurement methods are clas- of a radio-frequency impulse transmitted and reflected from
sified into two types: contact, and Contactless. Contact-type the liquid surface.
liquid-level measurement methods include those for float-type Although there are a large variety of methods for liquid-
mechanical, electrical (capacitive and resistive), and pressure level measurement, these conventional methods are not
sensing. These methods are used to measure liquid level suitable for Contactless measurement of opaque containers.
directly by using a sensor that comes into contact with the Float-type, capacitive, and many other methods must come
liquid. On the other hand, Contactless methods, such as into contact with the target liquids. Ultrasound sensing and
those for optical and ultrasound sensing, measure liquid level radar methods are capable of measurement without having
without having to contact the liquid. Although Contactless to contact the liquid. However, the line of sight between the
methods are more complicated than contact methods, they sensor and liquid surface is essential; therefore, the sensor
are necessary for specific applications, such as measuring should be placed inside the container. Optical sensors can be
hazardous solutions and medical instruments. used to measure liquid level remotely; however, the container
Figure 1 shows four major types of liquid-level measure- should be transparent. Thus, optical sensors are not suitable for
ment methods. Float-type mechanical sensing is the simplest measuring the liquid level in opaque containers or containers
and most widely used (Fig. 1(a)). The sensors use a float with labels. Therefore, our target is Contactless liquid-level
as the primary sensing element and operate on the basis measurement through opaque containers.
of the buoyancy effect. Switching occurs as a result of the
movement of the float against a switch, which is usually set III. P ROPOSED L IQUID -L EVEL M EASUREMENT M ETHOD
to upper and/or lower limits. The sensor detects the switching
and measures the liquid level. Although a float-type sensor is A. Basic Consideration
simple and not expensive, it must contact the liquid because Our approach to achieving Contactless measurement is to
the sensor is put into the liquid. use millimeter waves. Millimeter waves can be used to “see”
Capacitive sensing is another well-known method for through non-transparent materials, such as plastics and paper.
contact-type liquid-level measurement (Fig. 1(b)) [1]. Therefore, millimeter-wave sensors do not require physical
A sensor, which consists of two electrodes, is inserted in a contact with the container or liquid, and the transmitter and
target liquid. The two electrodes are composed of a capacitor, receiver can be mounted at a distance from the liquid.
and the liquid acts as a dielectric medium. The capacitance While millimeter waves can penetrate plastic containers or
changes in response to the liquid level between the electrodes. paper labels, they are absorbed by some kinds of liquids, such
Then, the liquid level is calculated from the measured as liquid water, water solutions, and blood. The amount of
capacitance. The capacitive sensor can accurately measure absorption of an electromagnetic wave is characterized by the
928 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 13, NO. 3, MARCH 2013

T arget T arget
container container
M illim eter M illim eter
w a ve w a ve V ibration in x direction

P ie zoe lectric
vibrator

M odulated
M illim eter-w ave M illim eter-w ave M illim eter-w ave w a ve
transm itter receiver D oppler sensor
Liquid Liquid
z z

x x
C ontroller

V ertical linear stage V ertical linear stage

Fig. 2. Architecture of liquid-level measurement system with millimeter- Fig. 3. Architecture of proposed liquid-level measurement system with
wave transmitter and receiver. millimeter-wave Doppler sensor and piezoelectric vibrator.

Second
Millimeter-wave
attenuation constant, α, of the liquid, which is the real part of sensor chip PA lens
the propagation constant, γ, of the liquid, defined as
Antenna

γ = α + jβ = j ωμ(σ + j ωε) (1) Mixer
VLOC
VRF
where μ, ε, σ , and ω are permeability, permittivity, conductiv- Oscillator
First
ity, and angular frequency, respectively. Attenuation constant VIF LNA lens
differs from material to material; for example, according to
[19], α of liquid water for a millimeter wave is about 60 cm−1
FFT ADC
at 80-GHz frequency in the CGS system of units. This value Modulated-
corresponds to an attenuation length of about 0.2 mm. In other wave
power (P)
words, almost the entire millimeter wave is absorbed by liquid
water, and a millimeter wave with reasonable power cannot Fig. 4. Schematic of millimeter-wave Doppler sensor.
even penetrate 10 mm of water.
As for air, α is zero because σ = 0, and both μ and ε are
real numbers. A millimeter wave therefore can propagate in diameter of the millimeter-wave beam with a highly directional
air without loss. The proposed method thus uses the difference antenna and lens is 30 mm, as explained later, because
between α of a target liquid and that of air to measure the minimum beam diameter is limited by the wavelength.
liquid level. Besides liquid water, the proposed method is The required measurement error for medical applications, for
capable of detecting the liquid level if the target liquid has example, is within plus or minus 1 mm. Therefore, accu-
an adequate amount of absorption of a millimeter wave. Some rate measurement (i.e., within sub-millimeter error) against a
water solutions, such as sea water and normal saline solution, spread millimeter-wave beam is necessary.
are conductive and have large α. Blood has dielectric and Fig. 3 shows the architecture of the proposed liquid-level
conductive characteristics [20] and absorbs a millimeter wave. measurement system. A liquid container is placed between our
For liquids that have little or no absorption, such as some kinds developed millimeter-wave Doppler sensor and a piezoelectric
of oils and alcohols, the proposed method is not capable of vibrator. The principle of the measurement is based on the
measuring liquid level when the difference between α of air absorption characteristics of a millimeter wave into a target
and that of the target liquid is inadequate. liquid. The millimeter wave is transmitted from the millimeter-
wave Doppler sensor, shown in Fig. 4, and reflected and
modulated by the vibrator. The Doppler sensor receives the
B. Measurement Architecture modulated wave and calculates the power of the wave, P,
A challenge in measuring liquid level with millimeter waves as explained in Section III D. By moving the container, it
is accuracy. A simple architecture with a millimeter wave is possible to measure P, which is affected by the wave-
transmitter and receiver is shown in Fig. 2. A liquid container propagation path, as a function of the vertical direction (z).
is placed between the transmitter and receiver. By moving Because the millimeter wave is absorbed by liquid and can
the container, millimeter-wave absorption can be measured, penetrate plastic containers and paper labels, the liquid level
and liquid level can be estimated. However, the millimeter- can be determined from P(z).
wave beam inherently spreads due to diffraction, even though Figure 5 shows the beam profile of the developed
the antenna and lens are carefully designed. For example, the millimeter-wave Doppler sensor at the beam waist, which
NAKAGAWA et al.: CONTACTLESS LIQUID-LEVEL MEASUREMENT 929

5
Vibrator
Normalized power (dB)
0 diameter: 5 mm Antenna PA
Divider Divider
-5
Mixer Oscillator
-10
LNA
-15 Beam diameter: 30 mm
(a)
-20
Second lens
-25
-60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60
Distance from beam axis (mm) First lens

Fig. 5. Beam profile of millimeter-wave Doppler sensor.

60 Plastic package

40 (b) (c)
Beam size (mm)

20 Fig. 7. Photographs of millimeter-wave Doppler sensor. (a) Millimeter-wave

sensor chip. (b) Packaged sensor chip. (c) Sensor module.
0

-20 arises from the modulation by the piezoelectric vibrator, which

enables the signal to be separated from the noise. Moreover,
-40 if advanced modulation and demodulation, such as code
spreading, were adopted, processing gain would be obtained,
-60
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 and sensitivity would be increased. Multiple vibrators with
Propagation distance (mm) different modulations could be used, and one millimeter-wave
Doppler sensor could demodulate the signal from multiple
Fig. 6. Beam size of millimeter-wave Doppler sensor depending on vibrators. In this case, it would be possible to measure liquid
propagation distance.
level faster.

is minimum-beam-diameter position. Figure 6 shows the C. Millimeter-Wave Doppler Sensor

beam diameter depending on wave propagation distance. Even We developed a millimeter-wave Doppler sensor, composed
though two lenses are used to obtain high directionality, as of a millimeter-wave sensor chip with an on-chip antenna
explained in Section III C, the beam diameter is about 30 mm and two external directional lenses. The sensor chip is in
at the beam waist. Although a smaller-diameter beam at the a miniature resin molded package with a dielectric lens to
beam waist can be obtained if a smaller f-number lens is used, provide a large potential at reduced manufacturing cost with
a parallel beam is more suitable than a focused beam because ease of handling without any millimeter-wave connections to
a container has a width in the wave propagation direction. the outside of the package.
To obtain accurate measurement, a piezoelectric vibrator is Figure 4 shows a block diagram of the millimeter-wave
therefore combined with the millimeter-wave Doppler sensor. Doppler sensor. The millimeter wave sensor chip contains all
The diameter of the vibrator is 5 mm, and the vibrator reflects the functional blocks necessary for a Doppler sensor, such as
only the intense portion of the beam, enabling sharp change an oscillator, amplifiers, a mixer, and an antenna. A signal
at the interface between the air and liquid. At the same time, generated by the voltage-controlled oscillator is divided into
the vibration of the vibrator modulates the reflected millimeter two signals, which are respectively used as a transmission
wave in frequency. This frequency modulation enables separa- signal and a local signal of the mixer. The transmission signal
tion of the reflected signal from the other portion of the beam, is amplified by a power amplifier (PA) before feeding the
which becomes interference noise. Thus, accurate liquid level antenna and lens to produce millimeter-wave radiation. The
can be measured by the combination of the millimeter-wave reflected signal received by the same antenna and lens is
Doppler sensor and piezoelectric vibrator. amplified by a low-noise amplifier (LNA) to feed the mixer.
A near-field millimeter-wave probe [21], [22] could be The mixer mixes the resulting radio-frequency (RF) signal and
another solution for liquid-level measurement through an the local signal to obtain an intermediate-frequency (IF) signal
opaque container. The probe uses the near-field pattern of a (for a more detailed description of the sensor chip see [23]).
millimeter wave emitted from a small-aperture antenna and An external analog-to-digital converter (ADC) converts the
achieves much higher resolution than the wavelength (i.e., IF signal to a digital signal. Modulated wave power (P) is
shorter than the millimeter-wave wavelength). Accurate liquid- calculated using FFT analysis of the digitized signal.
level measurement is therefore possible. A possible advantage Figure 7 are photos of the developed millimeter-wave
of the proposed method compared with a near-field probe Doppler sensor. The sensor chip is fabricated on a GaAs
930 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 13, NO. 3, MARCH 2013

pHEMT process. The size of the chip is 2.7 × 1.3 mm2 . Millimeter-wave
The chip contains all the necessary millimeter-wave functional Doppler sensor
blocks for the Doppler sensor. A single microstrip patch
antenna with an external dielectric lens is used for cost
effectiveness compared to an array antenna.
The package of the chip is made of low-cost plastic, and
the first lens is mounted on the package. The dome-shaped
first lens collimates the radiation beam and compensates for
Piezoelectric
lack of gain obtained only from the single patch antenna. vibrator
The packaged sensor chip is included in the sensor module,
which has the second plastic lens on the cover of the module. Target liquid
These two lenses narrow the radiation beam and improve container
beam divergence. However, the beam diameter is 30 mm,
even though the lenses are carefully designed. Therefore, the Vertical
proposed architecture with vibrator frequency modulation is linear stage
necessary.

Fig. 8. Experimental setup of proposed measurement system.

D. Measurement Theory
The above-described millimeter-wave Doppler sensor makes
it possible to distinguish the millimeter wave modulated by the where V R F 0 , Jn and ϕ respectively represent the amplitude of
piezoelectric vibrator from the other portion of the millimeter- received signal, the n-th-order Bessel function and the phase
wave beam. The theory on which this measurement is based is difference between the received wave and the local oscillator.
explained in the following. Displacement of the piezoelectric The received signal is mixed with the local oscillator signal
vibrator (x) is approximated as a sinusoidal oscillation as (VL OC ), which is expressed as

x = A sin(ωs t) (2) VLOC = VLOC0 cos(ωc t) (8)

where VL OC0 is the amplitude of the local oscillator signal.
where A, ωs , and t are the amplitude, angular frequency
The down-converted IF signal (VI F ) is thus expressed as
of the vibrator, and time, respectively. The millimeter wave
transmitted from the sensor (VT X ) is expressed as VIF = | VIF0 [ J1 (m f ){sin(ωs t + ϕ) − sin(−ωs t + ϕ)}/2
VTX = VTX0 sin (ωc t) (3) +J2 (m f ){sin(2ωs t + ϕ) − sin(−2ωs t + ϕ)}/2 + · · · ] |
= | VIF0 cos ϕ[ J1 (m f ) sin(ωs t)+ J2 (m f ) sin(2ωs t)+· · · ] |
where VT X 0 and ωc are the amplitude, and angular frequency
(9)
of the transmitted millimeter wave. The millimeter wave
transmitted from the Doppler sensor is reflected and modulated where VI F 0 is the amplitude of the IF signal, which contains
in frequency by the vibrator. The angular frequency of the the frequency component of the ωs and its harmonic frequen-
reflected wave (ω) is shifted by the Doppler effect according cies. Frequency analysis of VI F can therefore separate the
to signal reflected by the vibrator from the signals reflected by
4π ẋ
ω = ωc + (4) objects other than the vibrator. Moreover, the signal power of
λ VI F at the vibrator frequency depends on the path between the
where λ is the wavelength of the transmitted millimeter wave. millimeter wave sensor and the vibrator. The liquid level can
The total angular displacement (θ ) is therefore given as therefore be measured by analyzing VI F . The mixer output
 includes the vibration frequency and its harmonics.
θ = ωdt = ωc t + m f sin(ωs t) (5)
IV. E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS
where m f is a modulation index defined as
We fabricated and evaluated a prototype system for the
4π A proposed liquid-level measurement method. Figure 8 shows
mf ≡ . (6)
λ the experimental setup of the prototype system, and the
The received millimeter-wave signal (VRF ) is therefore specifications of the prototype are listed in Table I. An opaque
expressed as container with water was placed between the millimeter-wave
  Doppler sensor and the piezoelectric vibrator. In consideration
VRF = VRF0 sin ωc t + m f sin(ωs t) + ϕ of the tradeoff between the amplitude of the vibrator and the
= VRF0 [ J0 (m f ) sin(ωc t + ϕ) DC noise level of the receiver circuits, the vibration frequency
of the piezoelectric vibrator was set to 2 kHz.
+J1 (m f ) {sin((ωc + ωs )t + ϕ)−sin((ωc − ωs )t + ϕ)}
Figure 9 shows an example of the measured power spectrum
+J2 (m f ){sin((ωc + 2ωs )t + ϕ) of the IF signal. The spectrum has a significant peak at the
− sin((ωc − 2ωs )t + ϕ)} + · · · ] (7) vibrator frequency, accompanied by harmonics, as expected
NAKAGAWA et al.: CONTACTLESS LIQUID-LEVEL MEASUREMENT 931

TABLE I
S PECIFICATIONS OF M ILLIMETER -WAVE L IQUID -L EVEL Opaque plastic
M EASUREMENT S YSTEM container

Item Value 50
Frequency 77 GHz
Transmission power 0 dBm
Millimeter-wave Doppler sensor 40
Antenna and lens gain 24 dBi Air
Beam diameter 30 mm
Frequency 2 kHz
Pth
Vibrator 30
Diameter 5 mm

z (mm)
Liquid level
ADC 16 bits
Baseband signal processing Sampling frequency 20 kHz
Signal processing FFT 20

Water
60 10
Vibrator frequency
40 0
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50
Power (dB)

Harmonics and noise P(z) (dB)

20
Fig. 10. Measured modulated-wave power P(z) for plastic container with
liquid water.
0

-20 Blood-collection tube

0 2 4 6 8 10
Frequency (kHz) with label (not shown)

Fig. 9. Example of measured power spectrum of IF signal. 80

Pth
Air
70
from Eq. (9). The millimeter wave reflected off the other
objects, except for the vibrator, is converted into DC noise. 60
Therefore, the frequency domain analysis enables the vibrator Blood serum
50
signal from the other noise to be easily distinguished. There-
z (mm)

fore, a signal modulated by the vibrator can be obtained, and 40

accurate liquid-level measurement is achieved.
Figure 10 shows the measured modulated signal power P(z) 30
Separating medium
for an opaque plastic container with liquid water. In the water
20
portion, P is at the noise level because the millimeter wave is
absorbed by water, while above the water portion, P is about Blood clot
10
40 dB. The modulated signal power changes sharply at the
interface between air and water. Thus, the liquid level can be 0
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50
calculated by using P(z).
P(z) (dB)
Liquid level is determined as the intersection point of P(z)
and power threshold value Pt h . In consideration of a simple Fig. 11. Measured modulated-wave power P(z) for blood-collection tube
ray model and the symmetric property of the beam, accurate with centrifuged blood.
liquid level is obtained when Pt h is set at −3-dB power from
the power obtained for the air portion because P at the liquid
level should be half P for the air portion. However, measured Figure 11 shows the measured P(z) for a practical appli-
power for the air portion has some fluctuation, which causes cation: a blood-collection tube containing centrifuged blood.
measurement error. Therefore, Pt h is set to just above the noise Note that a paper label was put on the tube, but the label is
level in the water portion with a certain margin, i.e., 10 dB. not shown in the figure for easy viewing. After centrifugation,
Depending on the selected value of Pt h , offset error occurs the blood is separated into lighter blood serum, separating
because of the slope of P(z) around the interface between air medium, and heavier blood clot into layers. The millimeter
and water. Offset is thus compensated by initially calibrating wave can penetrate through the plastic tube and paper label
the zero point of z axis by using the data of a sample with and measure the liquid level inside the container. Moreover,
known liquid level. In this way, Pt h is set to 10 dB, and offset because the millimeter wave is transmitted through a separat-
compensation is conducted. ing medium consisting of acrylic-based polymer, the prototype
932 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 13, NO. 3, MARCH 2013

Measured liquid level (mm) 80 1 had good linearity, and the measured non-linearity error was
within ±0.5 mm.

Non-linearity error (mm)

60 0.5
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank K. Takahashi, Dr. T. Sasaki,
40 0 A. Kobaru, T. Yamagata, and H. Ohga, Hitachi High-
Technologies Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, for their helpful sup-
port and discussions. They would also like to thank K. Hirata,
20 -0.5 Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo, for his
experimental support.
0 -1
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[21] T. Nozokido, J. Bae, and K. Mizuno, “Scanning near-field millimeter- Hideaki Kurata (M’05) received the B.S. and M.S.
wave microscopy using a metal slit as a scanning probe,” IEEE Trans. degrees in electronic engineering from Kyoto Uni-
Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 49, no. 3, pp. 491–499, Mar. 2001. versity, Kyoto, Japan, in 1993 and 1995, respec-
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field scanning probe with an optical distance control,” Ultramicroscopy, He joined the Central Research Laboratory,
vol. 71, nos. 1–4, pp. 133–141, 1998. Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, in 1995, and was
[23] T. Nagasaku, K. Kogo, H. Shinoda, H. Kondoh, Y. Muto, A. Yamamoto, involved in research and development of high-
and T. Yoshikawa, “77 GHz low-cost single-chip radar sensor for auto- density and multilevel flash memories. From 2006
motive ground speed detection,” in Proc. Int. Symp. Comp. Semicond. to 2007, he was a Visiting Researcher with Stanford
Circuits, Oct. 2008. pp. 1–4. University, Stanford, CA. Since 2007, he has been
engaged in research and development of micro-
electromechanical systems and various sensors for automotive and biomedical
applications.
Mr. Kurata was a member of the ISSCC Technical Program Committee from
2008 to 2010.
Tatsuo Nakagawa received the B.S. degree in geo-
physics from Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, and
the M.E. degree in advanced energy engineering
from the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, in 2002
and 2004, respectively. Kenichi Osada (M’95) was born in Nagano, Japan,
He has been with the Central Research Laboratory, in 1969. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D.
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, since 2004, where he has degrees in electrical engineering from Keio Uni-
been engaged in development of sensor network versity, Tokyo, Japan, in 1992, 1994, and 2005,
systems and devices. His current research interests respectively.
include analog and mixed signal circuits, wireless He joined the Central Research Laboratory of
communication and sensing systems, power devices, Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, in 1994, and was involved in
and sensors for medical instruments. research and development of high-speed and low-
power circuits for cache memories of SH-4 and
SH-5 microprocessors. From 2000 to 2002, he devel-
oped low-power 16-MB SRAM and invented several
design techniques to prevent cosmic-ray-induced soft errors and reduce gate
tunnel-leakage currents. He is currently leading research groups on digital and
Akihiko Hyodo received the B.E., M.E., and analog circuits and architectures.
Ph.D. degrees in computer science and communica-
tion engineering from Kyushu University, Fukuoka,
Japan, in 1999, 2001, and 2004, respectively.
He has been with the Central Research Laboratory,
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, since 2004, where he
Shigeru Oho (M’88) received the B.E. degree from
has been engaged in development of controllers and
sensors for automotive applications. the University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo,
Dr. Hyodo is a member of SAE, SICE, and IPSJ. Japan, in 1978, and the M.E. and Ph.D. degrees from
the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, in 1980
and 1997, respectively.
He joined the Hitachi Research Laboratory,
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, in 1980. From 1986 to 1987,
he was a Visiting Scientist with the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Cambridge. From 1997 to
2006, he was the Manager with the Automotive
Kenji Kogo has been with the Central Research Product Research Laboratory, Hitachi America, Ltd.,
Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, since 1997, Detroit, MI. In 2006, he joined the Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi,
where he has been engaged in development of Ltd., Tokyo, as a Chief Researcher. In 2012, he joined the Nippon Institute of
high-speed transmission devices, optical modules for Technology, Saitama, Japan, where he is currently a Professor. He is involved
optical interconnection, power amplifiers, and radar in research on automotive electronics that encompasses in-vehicle networks,
sensors. car navigation, engine control, embedded real-time systems, and model-based
development technologies.
Dr. Oho was a recipient of the R&D 100 Award in 1993 for the development
of fiber optic gyroscopes for automobiles. He is a member of the IEICE, SICE,
and JSAE.