Quantum Technology for Future Networks

• Applicant: Dr. Janis Nötzel
• Subject Area: Communication Technology and Networks, High-Frequency Technology and Photonic Systems, Signal Processing and Machine Learning for Information Technology
• Term: since 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 389690694

Historical developments and current trends include the emergence of local, nationwide and even global information processing systems that connect a growing number of sensors, machines and people. Sixth-generation networks will not only connect mobile devices for data and voice communication, but also countless small sensors and devices designed to provide a variety of new services to an ageing society. Despite their great potential, the distributed nature of modern communication networks makes them extremely vulnerable to attacks at multiple levels. The transformation of more and more services into network services makes this initially academic knowledge an important component for future system design. Typical attacks make parts of information inaccessible, replace it with false information, steal it or hide it in false information. The simultaneous development of quantum technologies gives hope that at least some of the above-mentioned problems can be solved by the new technology. For example, it promises completely new low-latency coordination mechanisms for multiple access channels, as well as completely secure information transmission guaranteed by the laws of physics - as soon as there is robustness against environmental noise and interference attacks, long-term quantum memories are available and if new physical transport media compensate for the low data rates of the new technology or generate certain interference channels. Based on our reasoning, the relevance of quantum information technology could be questioned. However, the development of the fundamentals of this technology also showed, for example, the impossibility of secure function computation without a trusted third party. Given our need for new network services, thorough modelling of communication systems using quantum theory is therefore clearly unavoidable. The aim of this project is therefore to advance the modelling of transport mechanisms, secure data transmission systems and detection- as well as computational mechanisms at the physical layer. These mechanisms will be analysed in the larger context of physically transparent networks. We define a physically transparent network as a network that can transport a physical degree of freedom, possibly influenced by noise, between endpoints. This term implies the (at least partial) absence of analogue-to-digital conversion, so that any infinitesimal change of the physical parameter by a transmitting endpoint leads to a corresponding change of the physical parameter at one or more receiving endpoints of the network. Physical transparency does not necessarily imply the ability to transmit quantum information.

• DFG Programme: Emmy Noether Independent Junior Research Groups
• International Connection: Italy, Spain
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Matteo Rosati; Professorin Angeles Vazquez-Castro