Hirokazu Ihara

Hirokazu Ihara

Hirokazu Ihara

Fields of study

Transportation

Biography

The development and refinement of the autonomous decentralized system (ADS) by Takemochi Ishii, Hirokazu Ihara, and Atsunobu Ichikawa has enabled the safe and timely operation of urban and long-distance transportation infrastructures. Modeled on biological systems, the ADS incorporates a distributed database and broadcast communication protocols to provide a flexible system that can adapt to environmental disturbances or failures. With ADS, repairs or changes can be made without having to shut down the entire network as with a centralized system. Drs. Ishii, Ihara, and Ichikawa jointly conceived the ADS, developed its theories and tools, and applied it to several high-impact infrastructures. First introduced in 1982 in the Kobe municipal subway system, ADS has been incorporated in practically almost all of subway operations in Japan.

An IEEE Life Fellow, Dr. Ihara is a Member Emeritus of IFIPWG 10,4 Tokyo, Japan.