A Novel Approach to Quality-of-Service Provisioning in Trusted Relay Quantum Key Distribution Networks

Abstract

In recent years, noticeable progress has been made in the development of quantum equipment, reflected through the number of successful demonstrations of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technology. Although they showcase the great achievements of QKD, many practical difficulties still need to be resolved. Inspired by the significant similarity between mobile ad-hoc networks and QKD technology, we propose a novel quality of service (QoS) model including new metrics for determining the states of public and quantum channels as well as a comprehensive metric of the QKD link. We also propose a novel routing protocol to achieve high-level scalability and minimize consumption of cryptographic keys. Given the limited mobility of nodes in QKD networks, our routing protocol uses the geographical distance and calculated link states to determine the optimal route. It also benefits from a caching mechanism and detection of returning loops to provide effective forwarding while minimizing key consumption and achieving the desired utilization of network links. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the validity and accuracy of the proposed solutions.

The Evolution of Quantum Key Distribution Networks: On the Road to the Qinternet

“…4) QKD Network Controller: The QKD network controller of Fig. 17 several network control functions, such as QKD connection control (including node access control and node authentication), routing control (including routing for secret-key relaying and rerouting for failure recovery), and QoS control (including QoS-differentiated customization and end-to-end QoS assurance) [212].…”

Quantum Key Distribution Secured Optical Networks: A Survey

“…The TRNs need to be credible since they know the secret keys between various node pairs of the network [126]. Therefore, TRN placement is another important problem in the QKD secured optical networks [24], [126], [191]. Fig.…”

Quantum Key Distribution

“…The specific QKD issues and constraints described above pose significant challenges in QKD network design. However, analysis of the characteristics of QKD networks has shown similarities in Reference [136] to Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANET) and Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANET) [137][138][139].…”

“…Therefore, novel metrics are introduced to uniquely describe the state of the public and quantum channels as well as the overall QKD link [147,148]. With the aim of minimizing key consumption, network flooding should be avoided and a single-layer network organization and Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing Protocol for QKD networks (GPSRQ) was introduced [136]. The GPSRQ routing protocol uses distributed geography and reactive routing to achieve high-level scalability.…”