Overview

  • The Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, established the Consortium to utilize the SoftBank original reference sites for Earth and Space Science in August 2022, with the cooperation of SoftBank Corp. and ALES Corp., involving the two companies as well as 18 departments from 12 domestic research institutions.
  • This consortium aims to verify methods for utilizing the data from the high-density GNSS observation network (SoftBank original reference sites) installed by SoftBank Corp. at more than 3,300 sites nationwide across a wide range of Earth science fields, and to promote the creation of new Earth science.
  • Through the activities of this consortium, it is expected that understanding of various natural phenomena will be advanced and that the consortium will make significant contributions to disaster prevention and mitigation, including the prediction of natural hazards.

Details

Accurately characterizing crustal deformation associated with earthquakes and volcanic activity, as well as atmospheric water vapor in the troposphere, with high temporal and spatial resolution is critically important not only for understanding these phenomena but also for predicting natural hazards related to them.

Accurately estimating crustal deformation fields and the dynamics of atmospheric water vapor with high precision has been achieved at Japanese research institutions by using data from GEONET, a nationwide GNSS observation network comprising approximately 1,300 stations operated by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan.
Meanwhile, SoftBank Corp. (hereinafter referred to as SoftBank) has installed its own GNSS observation network, comprising SoftBank’s original reference sites at more than 3,300 locations nationwide, as infrastructure for providing services enabling high-precision GNSS-RTK positioning. Consequently, expectations have been growing for the application of data obtained from this network to Earth science research.

Against this background, the Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, with the cooperation of SoftBank Corp. and ALES Corp. (hereinafter referred to as ALES), established the Consortium to utilize the SoftBank original reference sites for Earth and Space Science, involving the two companies as well as 18 departments from 12 domestic research institutions.
In this consortium, data obtained from SoftBank’s original reference sites, which constitute a high-density GNSS observation network, are used to elucidate the dynamics of crustal deformation, atmospheric water vapor, and the ionosphere with unprecedentedly high temporal and spatial resolution, thereby verifying methods for utilizing SoftBank’s original reference sites in the field of Earth science.

Through the activities of this consortium, a wide range of Earth science research is expected to be advanced, thereby not only deepening understanding of various phenomena but also making significant contributions to disaster prevention and mitigation, including high-precision prediction of natural disasters.
In addition, SoftBank and ALES plan to examine commercialization opportunities and propose applications in disaster prevention and mitigation through industry–academia–government collaboration, based on the research outcomes of this consortium, and to provide GNSS observation data and positioning technologies.