NICT has a long history of studying wireless communication systems. It began with the study of radio telegraphy in 1896 at the Electricity Test Site of the then Ministry of Communications and Transportation. This was the starting point of the study on wireless communications in Japan.
Since then and up until today, wireless communication technologies have remarkably evolved from radios and televisions to cell phones and satellite communications, enabling us to communicate with each other and transfer data from various places and environments.

When the 5th-generation mobile communication system (generally called “5G”) becomes widespread, the Internet of Things (IoT) where everything will be tied to the Internet, and the artificial intelligence (AI) will be commonly used. This is expected to revolutionize our society.
Meanwhile, various issues may arise; the depletion of frequency resources caused by an explosive growth of traffic in the field of wireless communications, ensuring communication during a major disaster on land or from the sea, and the digital divide between cities and rural areas.

Looking ahead to “Beyond 5G” and “6G”, and focusing on “Society 5.0,” a concept of a future society that Japan should aspire to, the Wireless Networks Research Center of NICT is engaged in R&D of wireless networks under any circumstances or environments on land, in the sea, up in the air and in outer space.

Wireless Networks Research Center puts great efforts on standardization, technology transfer, acquisition of patents, publications, and public relations such as press releases so as our research resutls to be widely used and known in society. Outstanding results and contributions have received many awards, too.

Wireless Networks Research Center promotes and conducts collaborative researches with enterprises, academic organizations and goverments in and outside Japan.

The activity also includes organizing events (workshop, symposium, seminar, exhibition, etc.) and various form of public relations.