Yaxing Wang

Quantum key distribution (QKD) can provide point-to-point information-theoretic secure key services for two connected users. In fact, the development of QKD networks needs more focus from the scientific community in order to broaden the service scale of QKD technology to deliver end-to-end secure key services. Of course, some recent efforts have been made to develop secure communication protocols based on QKD. However, due to the limited key generation capability of QKD devices, high quantum secure key utilization is the major concern for QKD networks. Since traditional routing techniques do not account for the state of quantum secure keys on links, applying them in QKD networks directly will result in underutilization of quantum secure keys. Therefore, an efficient routing protocol for QKD networks, especially for large-scale QKD networks, is desperately needed. In this study, an efficient routing protocol based on optimized link-state routing, namely QOLSR, is proposed for QKD networks. QOLSR considerably improves quantum key utilization in QKD networks through link-state awareness and path optimization. Simulation results demonstrate the validity and efficiency of the proposed QOLSR routing protocol. Most importantly, with the growth of communication traffic, the benefit becomes even more apparent.

Quantum key distribution (QKD) can provide point-to-point information-theoretic secure key services for two connected users. In fact, the development of QKD networks needs more focus from the scientific community in order to broaden the service scale of QKD technology to deliver end-to-end secure key services. Of course, some recent efforts have been made to develop secure communication protocols based on QKD. However, due to the limited key generation capability of QKD devices, high quantum secure key utilization is the major concern for QKD networks. Since traditional routing techniques do not account for the state of quantum secure keys on links, applying them in QKD networks directly will result in underutilization of quantum secure keys. Therefore, an efficient routing protocol for QKD networks, especially for large-scale QKD networks, is desperately needed. In this study, an efficient routing protocol based on optimized link-state routing, namely QOLSR, is proposed for QKD networks. QOLSR considerably improves quantum key utilization in QKD networks through link-state awareness and path optimization. Simulation results demonstrate the validity and efficiency of the proposed QOLSR routing protocol. Most importantly, with the growth of communication traffic, the benefit becomes even more apparent.

Due to the intrinsic point-to-point characteristic of quantum key distribution (QKD) systems, it is necessary to study and develop QKD network technology to provide a secure communication service for a large-scale of nodes over a large area. Considering the quality assurance required for such a network and the cost limitations, building an effective mathematical model of a QKD network becomes a critical task. In this paper, a flow-based mathematical model is proposed to describe a QKD network using mathematical concepts and language. In addition, an investigation on QKD network topology evaluation was conducted using a unique and novel QKD network performance indicator, the Information-Theoretic Secure communication bound, and the corresponding linear programming-based calculation algorithm. A large number of simulation results based on the topologies of SECOQC network and NSFNET network validate the effectiveness of the proposed model and indicator.

Due to the intrinsic point-to-point characteristic of quantum key distribution (QKD) systems, it is necessary to study and develop QKD network technology to provide a secure communication service for a large-scale of nodes over a large area. Considering the quality assurance required for such a network and the cost limitations, building an effective mathematical model of a QKD network becomes a critical task. In this paper, a flow-based mathematical model is proposed to describe a QKD network using mathematical concepts and language. In addition, an investigation on QKD network topology evaluation was conducted using a unique and novel QKD network performance indicator, the Information-Theoretic Secure communication bound, and the corresponding linear programming-based calculation algorithm. A large number of simulation results based on the SECOQC network and NSFNET network validate the effectiveness of the proposed model and indicator.