The Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2) was successfully launched on the 24th May 2014. The mission is equipped with a Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar called PALSAR-2, which is the state of the art of L-band SAR system. Successful completion of the initial checkout phase, ALOS-2 has been contributing to numerous applications with a special emphasize on emergency observations of natural disasters in Japan as well as regional and global space based disaster supporting systems. Furthermore, based on the Basic Observation Scenario (BOS) of ALOS-2, 10m global map data and other mode data are routinely collected and archived. This paper describes the status of ALOS-2 operation after completion of nominal operation period by May 2019, especially extend mission plan to have ALOS-2 operation with ALOS-4.

The Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2) was successfully launched on the 24th May 2014. The mission is equipped with a Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar called PALSAR-2, which is the state of the art of L-band SAR system. Successful completion of the initial checkout phase, ALOS-2 has been contributing to numerous applications with a special emphasize on emergency observations of natural disasters in Japan as well as regional and global space based disaster supporting systems. Furthermore, based on the Basic Observation Scenario (BOS) of ALOS-2, 10m global map data and other mode data are routinely collected and archived. This paper describes the status of ALOS-2 operation after completion of nominal operation period by May 2019.

Toward 6 dimensional synthetic aperture radar (SAR), i.e., the combination of three dimensional SAR tomography (To-moSAR) and three dimensional differential SAR interferometry (3DInSAR), continuous three dimensional deformation monitoring using SAR is an arising theme. In this paper, we report initial results using the dataset for the active volcano in the Pacific Ocean, Nishinoshima. We observed the island frequently for three months from three identical orbits including left observation and recovered three dimensional deformation of the volcanic island continuously. Experimental results revealed several small events in the volcano and showed the possibility of the method.

The Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2) was successfully launched on 24th May 2014. The mission sensor of ALOS-2 is the Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar-2 called PALSAR-2 which is the state of the art L-band SAR system. Until now after the successful completion of initial checkout after launching, ALOS-2 has been contributed to a lot of emergency observations for natural disasters, not only in Japan but also in the world. Furthermore, based on the Basic Observation Scenario (BOS) of ALOS-2, 10m global map data and other mode data are routinely collected and archived. This paper describes the results of ALOS-2 operation in nominal operation phase and outline of future ALOS series missions.

In this paper we introduce recent results of studies performed under the cooperated activities between Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) for disaster monitoring. Under this cooperation, we performed simulation study of coordinated observation by ALOS-2, COSMO-SkyMed and other SAR satellites in case of huge Nankai Trough Earthquake in Japan. The result proved that coordinated observation could improve observation frequency and reduce time to acquire seamless dataset over vast disaster areas. The COSMO-SkyMed PSInSAR study over Sakurajima in Japan revealed possible deformation caused by volcanic activities. We challenged flood detection case study by using both L band and X-band SAR images for developing semi-automatic discrimination of inundated areas in urban areas in northern Kyushu where were suffered by an unprecedented heavy rain in 2011. The comparative study to investigate the sensitivity of polarimetric parameters of L-band SAR and X band SARs shows the single image L band polarimetry provides effective information on landslides in mountainous area covered by vegetation.

The purpose of the present study is to control human biological rhythm and life cycle by optimization of awakening timing. We developed a wearable interface for controlling awakening time named "BRAC (biological rhythm based awakening timing controller)". BRAC could estimate bio-rhythm by pulse wave from finger tip and send awake signal to user. An ordinary alarm clock operates according to set times that have to be set in advance. However, humans have a rhythm in their sleep, which affects one's sleep depth and wake-up timing. We consider the simplest way to control or reset human's bio-rhythm or life style is to optimize the awakening timing and the sleeping hours. We examined the relationship between controlling awakening timing based on autonomous nerve rhythm and equilibrium function. Our findings suggest indicate that the prototype "BRAC" could evaluate user's biological rhythm and awakes user at the time optimized for physical function of equilibrium.

The purpose of this research is to control human state and biological rhythm. The system has to be adaptive and intelligent because it must deal with human information including personal differences. As a first step to achieve the function, we try to estimate a human's state in sleep using a wearable sensor device, under less physical movement than daytime. In the next step, we try to control human biological rhythm using the method to estimate human sleep state. We consider the simplest way to control human's sleep is to control awakening timing and sleep time. The proposed system can estimate human sleep quality and rhythms, and provide stimuli based on wake up timing. The system uses only pulse wave to estimate sleep quality because the pulse wave can be measured more easily than PSG.