EuroQci: quantum telecommunications for europe

by Luca Mingotti Landriani

The project developed in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), will provide an additional security layer for sensitive data

Photons

We're living in an era when every day and almost without realizing it, we transmit and receive a huge amount of data via our devices, be they smartphones, computers, or tablets. Much of this mass of data contains highly sensitive information: suffice to think of areas such as e-commerce or home banking. It is therefore essential to ensure that their transmission is not only fast, but above all secure. This is the reason why the European Commission is developing EuroQci, a state-of-the-art infrastructure composed of a terrestrial segment relying on fiber communications networks and a space segment, SAGA, based on satellites.

The major novel feature of EuroQci is that it provides an additional security layer based on quantum phy- sics: the key lies in a highly secure way of delivering encryption key material, known as quantum key distribution (QKD). Daniele Dequal, ASI researcher and advisor for optical and quantum telecommunications to the Italian ESA delegation involved in the development of SAGA, explains the rationale for it. The quantum key distribution (QKD) "makes it possible to create a security system that cannot be hacked by any classical or even quantum super-computer," said Dequal. It is a major step forward compared to today's encryption systems, such as public key cryptography, that quantum computing renders vulnerable to potential attacks.

But what is the role played by quantum mechanics? QM produces a cryptographic key, i.e. the cipher

In order to implement EuroQCI’s space-based component, it is important to ensure that the particles transmitted in space - in this case, photons - are not subject to atmospheric effects that could cause perturbation in their quantum state, generating errors in the QKD. This is why it was decided to carry out an important experiment, one of the first of its kind, with the participation of the University of Padua and the ASI Space Centre in Matera. The researchers involved in the experiment used satellites already in orbit to simulate a quantum information transmission system: they sent photons to a satellite one at a time. Photons were sent back to Earth after being appropriately reflected. The experiment showed that a characteristic quantity of photons, their polarization, is preserved on their journey back to earth thus enabling the encoding of bits: a crucial result in view of the implementation of SAGA.

Illustrations from the SAGA spacebased component of EuroQCI. Credits: ESA that allows the parties exchanging keys to decrypt the message. In the QKD, the sender - whom we shall call Alice - generates a random sequence of bits to be transmitted to the receiver - whom we shall call Bob. Each bit is encoded by Alice into one of two given bases of a particle, which are impossible to measure simultaneously with absolute precision: this is guaranteed by the uncertainty principle, one of the pillars of quantum mechanics. To decode each bit, Bob will also choose one of two mutually incompatible bases: if this corresponds to the one selected by Alice, then Bob will actually be able to trace the bit in question, or else the information will be lost. In this way, Alice and Bob will obtain a random subset of bits from the original bit sequence and that will form the required cryptographic key. The advantage of the QKD lies in the fact that it is quite easy to understand whether there is an eavesdropper between Alice and Bob intercepting the message: in such a case, the quantum state of the particles is disrupted, 'creating a measurable communication error between sender and receiver,' Dequal said.

EuroQCI, whose development started in 2019, will not only secure sensitive data across the EU but will also teach us all an important lesson: quantum mechanics is much closer to our lives than we might think.

by Lucia Bonventre, Alberto Caponi and Tanya Scalia

and related algorithms, as well as new paradigms for secure communication systems. The use of quantum cryptography and its implementation capabilities can generate inestimable benefits by enhancing satellite secure communications, as proven by recent satellite experimental missions. The development of quantum computing capabilities will be a game changer in space systems. It will enable the development of advanced systems capable of analysing vast amount of data and supporting critical missions also through AI.

A study on patent titles published between 2010 and 2020 at the international level was carried out in order to achieve a better understanding of the evolution of quantum technologies. Patents legally protect inventors and their technologies, while representing useful innovation indicators whose features, such as geographical distribution, main markets of interest, actors involved, etc. can be analysed.

The Space domain has acquired a planetary strategic relevance while becoming one of the most profitable sectors, also thanks to a multitude of diversified public and private players currently operating in its upstream and downstream segments.

Space is a very dynamic sector as the statistics about patent applications filed at the international level seem to indicate. The sector welcomes both incremental and disruptive innovations that often originate from other industrial sectors, like information technology, computer networks and IoT solutions. It is these innovations that are contributing to an ever increasing exposure of terrestrial and space systems to cyber attacks, which require the implementation of appropriate security measures and solutions.

As a result new security technologies and practices have been gradually emerging in the space sector as well, where the implementation of quantum technologies has been increasing steadily, potentially having a major impact on the security of cryptographic systems

Geographical distribution of patent families related to quantum technologies in the 2010-2020 period Credits: Bing technology, © Australian Bureau of Statistics, GeoNames, Microsoft, Navinfo, Tom Tom, Wikipedia.

The outcome of the study provides an overview of the number (105) and geographical distribution of patent families from the field of quantum technologies. This shows that the main markets of interest are located in the United States of America, Canada, Korea, China, India, Japan and Australia, as well as in several European countries, including Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom.

The analysis confirms a strong increase in the number of inventions in the field of communications and quantum computing, which has developed dynamically in recent years, well above the general trend that has been recorded in all the other technological sectors.