Can you blend the best of both classical and quantum communications to produce a scalable, vastly more secure networking infrastructure?
That is the question DARPA seeks to answer through its Quantum-Augmented Network (QuANET) program.
It’s well known that even the most advanced classical networks, such as the internet, are susceptible to the constant barrage of ever-evolving cyberattacks. Quantum networks could mitigate these vulnerabilities and protect data by using quantum properties. The challenge, however, is that today’s various quantum implementations lack cohesion, resulting in systems that can’t work together.
Through QuANET, DARPA will explore how integrating quantum and classical approaches to networking could provide quantum physics-based security capabilities to critical network infrastructures. QuANET researchers will focus on combining current and near-future quantum networking infrastructure (both hardware and protocols) with classical infrastructure with the goal of delivering security capabilities relevant to national security. DARPA experts estimate that by doing so, they can achieve the efficient security and covertness properties of quantum networks with the pervasiveness of classical networks.
“A major challenge of integrating quantum links into classical networks is the secure, configurable connection of quantum optical links to today’s computers,” said Dr. Allyson O’Brien, DARPA’s QuANET program manager in the Information Innovation Office. “We want to make the networking and optical communications community more quantum-aware – where the capabilities are now and where they’re going – and we want the quantum networking community to understand better all of the complexities and issues facing classical networks. By bringing these two communities together, we may be able to create a new paradigm in networking.”
QuANET seeks to enable network infrastructure to use quantum systems that incorporate quantum communications in various ways and does not focus on quantum key distribution (QKD) – the typical application of quantum communications. Additionally, quantum interconnects such as quantum repeaters, switches, and routers are not in the initial program’s scope. The QuANET program seeks solutions for networks that scale up to the size of a metropolitan area network.
A Broad Agency Announcement solicitation with all program details and instructions for proposal submission is available on SAM.gov: https://sam.gov/opp/60917f7ea74845bf8f6aaa1382813f86/view
