By Dhel Nazario
The Philippines and Japan recently held their first Philippines-Japan Workshop on Wireless, Radio and Antenna Technologies (PJWWRAT) in an aim to bridge the research in both countries.
(MANILA BULLETIN)
The two-day event was themed “Bridging the research on antenna, propagation and wireless technologies between the Philippines and Japan.” The workshop encourages information sharing on the two countries’ research developments in antennas, propagation, radio frequency, microwave, and wireless communication systems.
Clarinda Reyes of the Department of Science and Technology - Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD), Tomoyuki Honda of the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines, and Dr. Joel Joseph S. Marciano Jr. of DOST-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI) officially opened the program.
“This workshop will also be a platform to share best practices and include information and communication technologies of both countries,” said Tomoyuki Honda in his welcome message.
“Radio waves are the essential infrastructures to deliver information to people. The need to utilize radio waves efficiently is becoming a collective issue that needs to be resolved,” he added.
Various topics were discussed by researchers coming from different institutes and universities throughout the workshop. Discussions covered topics related to Radio Spectrum Management and Spectrum Sensing, Antenna Technology, Antenna for Space Applications, 5G Radio Technologies, Propagation and Wireless Technology.
In her opening message, Reyes emphasized current needs in the Philippines and the importance of the collaboration being brewed through PJWWRAT.
“For a disaster-prone country like the Philippines, wireless radio and antenna technology is a glimmer of hope in times that our conventional modes of communication are down,” she said.
This was further emphasized by Dr. Marciano in his opening speech, when he discussed the various DOST-ASTI projects that are currently catering to these developments.
New innovations and initiatives that can be used for disaster management in the Philippines as well as best practices in Japan were discussed in detail during the second day of the event.
In his keynote speech, Dr. Hiroyuki Tsuji of Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) presented their current research and development activities for Future High Throughput Satellite Communications. Challenges, trends, best practices, and developments being done in this area were highlighted during his presentation.
This was followed by the keynote speech by Dr. Gregory L. Tangonan of the Ateneo Innovation Center who emphasized the need for more robust information and communication technologies especially in times of natural disasters in the Philippines.
“This has been happening between Japan and other countries in ASEAN for the past few years. This is the first time that we are holding in the Philippines, and we hope to sustain it with you,” said Dr. Marciano. “This is just the beginning. Next year, we are eagerly looking forward to other universities who may be present here to help organize this event and to sustain it,” he added.