Cyberinfrastructure Technologies Inc., a quantum communications startup and member of the University of Maryland Quantum Startup Foundry, and the VSB – Technical University of Ostrava (VSB-TUO) and University of Sarajevo (UNSA) today announced a cooperative research and development effort to demonstrate Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) multicast communication links using QKD simulation modules and the network testbed at VSB-TUO.
The direct connection between Cyberinfrastructure Technologies’ patented multicast QKD methodology, “Free-Space Quantum Communications Process Operative Absent Line-Of-Sight”, and the university-provided simulation environment, network testbed, allows the consortium to validate the optical technology at the network layer (architectural design, multicast networking, and simulations).
The outcome of the subject research will have a significant impact in defense operations by enabling applications in secure non-line-sight communication channels. In regions lacking infrastructure, or when points of communication are separated by obstructions, traditional methods of communication such as cellular networks, direct radio frequency, or optical signaling, are often inadequate or not secure.
These methods are also prone to interference by environmental scatter. Thus, there is an ongoing need for a short-range, secure communication system that is not dependent on line-of-sight and can tolerate environmental scattering.
Cyberinfrastructure Technologies’ method addresses these issues by utilizing entangled photon pairs to securely communicate information through scattering media. Photonic signals are tagged with a pre-selected modification, such as a polarization signature, to carry data across an obstructed path between sender and receiver.
Communication authentication through polarization variation allows for entangled photon quantum communication protocols to propagate through environmental scattering media such as air, smoke, fog, rain, and water.
The modulated secure signal is transmitted and scattered by the media and simultaneously communicated to one or more recipients exposed to scattered signal portions. The receivers reconstruct the quantum encoded message by demodulating the photonic signals at synchronized time intervals.
