The advent of the fifth-generation (5G) technology has revolutionized the way we think about communication networks, enabling a plethora of new use cases and scenarios that were not possible with previous generations of wireless technology. The existing 5G communication networks predominantly rely on terrestrial communication infrastructure, which, however, exhibits several notable limitations such as capacity constraints, latency issues, and energy inefficiencies, necessitating this next-generation leap. The 6G aims to provide a comprehensive solution for a hyperconnected, intelligent, and immersive digital ecosystem, seamlessly integrating terrestrial, airborne, and spaceborne networks which is referred to as the space-air-ground-sea integrated network (SAGSIN). A traditional SAGSIN scenario mainly includes 3 segments: spaceborne network, airborne network, and terrestrial network. The classical SAGSIN architecture has shown remarkable capabilities in providing massive connectivity by integrating spaceborne, airborne, and terrestrial cellular networks, which, however, encounters inherent technical challenges against their respective practical implementation. On the other hand, the philosophy of near-space communications (NS-COM) is gradually emerging. The distinctive location of near space which is 20 ~ 100 km above Earth’s surface positiones at the core of the SAGSIN, thus allowing the NS-COM network to address the shortcomings of traditional spaceborne, terrestrial, and airborne networks. NS-COM present a promising addition to SAGSIN, making them the final piece of the SAGSIN puzzle.

An Osaka Metropolitan University-led research team conducted a review that summarized key advances in nanopore fabrication, surface modification, and integration with chip-based nanofluidic devices. 

For the first time worldwide, we have achieved remote, real-time control of fusion plasma using a digital twin running on a supercomputer located about 1,000 km away (round-trip network path ~2,000 km).

In magnetic confinement fusion power, sustaining and precisely controlling plasma at temperatures exceeding 100 million ℃ over long durations is essential. Yet “predicting-while-controlling” has been challenging due to model accuracy limits, computation speed, and unresolved physics. Our team has developed a system that applies data assimilation, continuously updating the predictive model with real-time measurements to improve accuracy and using accelerated parallel prediction to determine optimal unrehearsed control actions.

A research team from Kyoto University, the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS), the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST), and the Institute of Statistical Mathematics (ISM), has connected the Large Helical Device (LHD) in Toki, Gifu, Japan to the new “Plasma Simulator” supercomputer in Rokkasho, Aomori, jointly procured by NIFS and QST, via the high-quality, high-bandwidth academic network SINET6. By exclusively using more than 20,000 Central Processing Unit (CPU) cores and minimizing communication latency, the team has realized real-time predictive control of LHD from a remote supercomputer. This approach — linking a large experimental facility and a large computing system over a ~2,000 km network loop — can serve as a foundation for real-time control beyond fusion.

With the advancement of Internet applications, the global demand for broadband satellite communication services is incessantly escalating. Furthermore, there exists an exponential surge in the requisition for the capacity of satellite communication systems. In response to this evolving demand, the domain of satellite communication technology is progressively evolving toward the realm of high-throughput satellite (HTS) communication systems. The typical technical characteristics of HTS are: (a) the satellite adopts multibeam technology for beam overlapping coverage of the service area, which improves the quality of the wireless link while realizing the spatial dimension segmentation; (b) based on this, the system adopts multiple frequency multiplexing to improve the communication capacity of a single satellite; (c) the gateway station is tightly coupled with the user beam clusters are tightly coupled to complete 2-hop communication, which makes multiple gateway stations share the communication resources of the same satellite, forming a spatial isolation of the gateway stations, and once again realizing the frequency multiplexing of the gateway station links. A key requirement for future multibeam broadband satellite communication systems is the ability to flexibly adjust beam capacity according to changes in business distribution, in order to meet time-varying business requirements. Beam hopping technology provides an efficient solution to achieve the efficient use of frequency resources and power resources. At the same time, the use of beam hopping makes the beam hopping of satellite payload need to match the business signals of ground signal stations, bringing about the need for synchronization of beam hopping between satellite and ground.

In a landmark study from the Journal of Sport and Health Science, an international team of researchers has gathered evidence from 27 reviews and 135 studies to provide a first global consensus on the definition and classification of short bouts of accumulated exercise. They expect its implementation to empower populations to avoid sedentary behavior, such as prolonged sitting, and move increasingly often, promoting improvements in public health.

An Osaka Metropolitan University-led research team assessed how varying IVM durations affect developmental competence and embryo quality in oocytes with fast- or slow-predicted NMS classified via machine learning.

A new study published in Biochar reveals that alkaline biochar, a type of carbon-rich soil amendment, significantly improves microbial carbon use efficiency and nutrient cycling in saline-alkali soils. These findings could help farmers and land managers restore degraded soils in arid and semi-arid regions around the world.