Enabling Quantum Key Distribution Networks via Software-Defined Networking

Aguado, Alejandro; López, Vı́ctor; Brito, Juan P.; Pastor, Antonio; López, Diego; Martín, Vicente

doi:10.23919/ondm48393.2020.9133024

Cited by 21 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Furthermore, there is also the question of software architecture for control planes: whether it is distributed or centralised. For example, software-defined architectures have been considered for QKD networks [2] and more recently have also been proposed for quantum repeater networks [53].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing a quantum network protocol

Kozłowski

Dahlberg

Wehner

2020

Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Emerging Networking EXperiments and Technologies

103

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The second quantum revolution brings with it the promise of a quantum internet. As the first quantum network hardware prototypes near completion new challenges emerge. A functional network is more than just the physical hardware, yet work on scalable quantum network systems is in its infancy. In this paper we present a quantum network protocol designed to enable end-to-end quantum communication in the face of the new fundamental and technical challenges brought by quantum mechanics. We develop a quantum data plane protocol that enables end-to-end quantum communication and can serve as a building block for more complex services. One of the key challenges in near-term quantum technology is decoherence-the gradual decay of quantum information-which imposes extremely stringent limits on storage times. Our protocol is designed to be efficient in the face of short quantum memory lifetimes. We demonstrate this using a simulator for quantum networks and show that the protocol is able to deliver its service even in the face of significant losses due to decoherence. Finally, we conclude by showing that the protocol remains functional on the extremely resource limited hardware that is being developed today underlining the timeliness of this work. CCS CONCEPTS • Networks → Network protocol design; Network layer protocols; • Hardware → Quantum communication and cryptography.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing a quantum network protocol

Kozłowski

Dahlberg

Wehner

2020

Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Emerging Networking EXperiments and Technologies

103

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“…QCN Control Plane: As noted above, recent advances in SDN control and management plane technologies [3,25] can be leveraged to provision quantum connections between nodes on demand. In USN specifically, a separate control plane was deployed to configure high-bandwidth optical connections between sites, wherein encrypted tunnels between firewalls carried the control and management traffic.…”

Section: Generic Quantum-conventional Network Harnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons Learned on the Interface between Quantum and Conventional Networking

Alshowkan,

Rao,

Chapman

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The future Quantum Internet is expected to be based on a hybrid architecture with core quantum transport capabilities complemented by conventional networking. Practical and foundational considerations indicate the need for conventional control and data planes that (i) utilize extensive existing telecommunications fiber infrastructure, and (ii) provide parallel conventional data channels needed for quantum networking protocols. We propose a quantum-conventional network (QCN) harness to implement a new architecture to meet these requirements. The QCN control plane carries the control and management traffic, whereas its data plane handles the conventional and quantum data communications. We established a local area QCN connecting three quantum laboratories over dedicated fiber and conventional network connections. We describe considerations and tradeoffs for layering QCN functionalities, informed by our recent quantum entanglement distribution experiments conducted over this network.

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“…Using network slicing to control encryption is relatively novel, but nevertheless has already been considered theoretically in [10] and [11] by utilising QKD in tandem with a QRA (specifically, a QRA version of Elliptic-Curve Cryptography), and has also performed experimentally over the Bristol City 5G UK Test Network in the works of [12][13][14], by applying QKD to 5G networking. Moreover, in [15], proof-of-transit of the 5G data traffic is demonstrated, using cryptographic techniques with QKD over the Madrid Quantum Network [16] -this network has also been used to demonstrate securing the management of the SDN control plane through QKD in [17,18]. However, what differentiates our work is that we dynamically control the type of encryption -Diffie-Hellman+AES, QRA+AES, QKD+AES, or no encryption at all -to address the realistic scenario in which different data packets in a 5G network will have varying security requirements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

5G network slicing with QKD and quantum-safe security

Wright

White

Parker

et al. 2021

J. Opt. Commun. Netw.

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We demonstrate how the 5G network slicing model can be enhanced to address data security requirements. In this work we demonstrate two different slice configurations, with different encryption requirements, representing two diverse use-cases for 5G networking -namely, an enterprise application hosted at a metro network site, and a content delivery network. We create a modified software-defined networking (SDN) orchestrator which calculates and provisions network slices according to the requirements, including encryption backed by quantum key distribution (QKD), or other methods. Slices are automatically provisioned by SDN orchestration of network resources, allowing selection of encrypted links as appropriate, including those which use encryption with standard Diffie-Hellman key exchange, QKD or quantum-resistant algorithms (QRAs), as well as no encryption at all. We show that the set-up and tear-down times of the network slices takes of the order of 1-2 minutes, which is at least an order of magnitude improvement over manually provisioning a link today.

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Enabling Quantum Key Distribution Networks via Software-Defined Networking

Cited by 21 publications

References 19 publications

Designing a quantum network protocol

Designing a quantum network protocol

Lessons Learned on the Interface between Quantum and Conventional Networking

5G network slicing with QKD and quantum-safe security

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