NEC Begins Research to Establish a Leading Underwater Acoustic Platform Model

TOKYO, Aug 18, 2026 - (JCN Newswire) - NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) has been awarded a contract for "Research on Underwater Acoustic Foundation Models Using Self-Supervised Learning (Part 1)," focusing on dual-use applications, as part of the "Innovative Breakthrough Research" program conducted by the Defense Innovation Science and Technology Institute of Japan's Agency for Defense Equipment. NEC has commenced research on the project and aims to complete development of the foundation model by fiscal year 2027.

The project involves training a model on vast amounts of underwater acoustic data to build a world-leading foundation model for underwater acoustics. The goal is to realize general-purpose generative AI, similar to large language models (LLMs), for underwater acoustics.

Utilizing the foundation model will enable more accurate and rapid understanding of underwater phenomena and facilitate the creation of a digital twin of the ocean. The technology is expected to expand applications beyond defense to areas such as marine life and resource exploration, environmental monitoring, and high-precision earthquake prediction.

Overview of the Underwater Acoustic Foundation Model Under DevelopmentBackground

Oceans cover more than 70% of the Earth's surface and contain many mysteries. Efforts are underway to promote their sustainable use, including the exploration of marine life and resources and the prediction of events occurring on the seafloor.

Because light and radio waves barely penetrate water, sound waves are an effective method for a wide range of observation and recognition tasks. Underwater sound waves are captured as acoustic data using sonar and hydrophones and analyzed by skilled experts using advanced signal-processing techniques and expertise.

However, analyzing vast amounts of data requires significant time and concentration, while limitations remain in the level of accuracy that can be achieved.

About the Underwater Acoustic Foundation Model

While the development of language foundation models is advancing worldwide, few general-purpose foundation models for underwater acoustics have been developed. Existing efforts have largely focused on AI models specialized for specific applications or tasks.

Conventional AI models require large amounts of labeled data, making them difficult to apply to applications or tasks where only limited labeled data is available. In underwater acoustics, collecting labeled data is particularly challenging, making it difficult to develop large-scale AI models.

Building on more than 90 years of experience in sonar technology development, NEC will develop a general-purpose underwater acoustic foundation model. The effort will leverage the large-scale learning expertise gained through "cotomi," NEC's proprietary AI technology, as well as self-supervised learning technology that enables large volumes of data to be used without labeled data.

The large-scale underwater acoustic data used for training will be collected through public-private partnerships.

Future Developments

NEC will collaborate with the Defense Innovation Science and Technology Institute to develop the foundation model, demonstrate its effectiveness, and complete its construction by fiscal year 2027.

Moving forward, NEC will continue research and development aimed at high-precision visualization and a better understanding of the underwater environment. By implementing the foundation model, NEC aims to contribute to strengthening defense capabilities and developing the maritime industry through dual-use applications, supporting a safe, secure, and sustainable society.

(1) Innovative Breakthrough Research Program
The Innovative Breakthrough Research program is conducted under managers recruited from outside Japan's Ministry of Defense. It is part of an initiative by the Agency for Defense Equipment to create innovative and groundbreaking functions and technologies that fundamentally strengthen defense capabilities or transform society.
(2) "cotomi"
"cotomi" is a core AI technology developed by NEC.