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IEEE Information Technology, Networking, Electronic and Automation Control Conference (ITNEC)

A Quantum Key Distribution and Access Scheme Based on Seafloor Observation Network

Ning Nie, Yuanyuan Zhou, Xuejun Zhou

Published Oct 15, 2021• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Based on the Seafloor Observation Network, a scheme is proposed for underwater mobile platform to achieve secure communication by achieving quantum key distribution with network nodes and then accessing the backbone network. We construct a mathematical model of underwater quantum key distribution, and verify the feasibility of the underwater quantum key distribution and access scheme through simulation. The simulation results show that the quantum key distribution in clear, mixed and chaotic sea water can reach respectively the maximum secure communication distances of 339m, 56m, and 33m. It has a certain reference for the close-distance confidential communication between underwater mobile platforms and underwater network nodes.

DOI
10.1109/itnec52019.2021.9586896

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Based on the Seafloor Observation Network, a scheme is proposed for underwater mobile platform to achieve secure communication by achieving quantum key distribution with network nodes and then accessing the backbone network. We construct a mathematical model of underwater quantum key distribution, and verify the feasibility of the underwater quantum key distribution and access scheme through simulation. The simulation results show that the quantum key distribution in clear, mixed and chaotic sea water can reach respectively the maximum secure communication distances of 339m, 56m, and 33m. It has a certain reference for the close-distance confidential communication between underwater mobile platforms and underwater network nodes.
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Considering the ocean water’s optical attenuation and the roughness of the sea surface, we analyze the security of continuous-variable (CV) quantum key distribution (QKD) based air-to-water channel. The effects of the absorption and scattering on the transmittance of underwater quantum channel and the maximum secure transmission distance are studied. Considering the roughness of the sea surface, we simulate the performance bounds of CV QKD with different wind speeds using the Monte Carlo method. The results show that even if the secret key rate gradually reduces as the wind speed increases, the maximum transmission distance will not be affected obviously. Compared to the works regarding short-distance underwater optical communication, our research represents a significant step towards establishing secure communication between air platform and submarine vehicle .
We experimentally demonstrated the feasibility of an underwater continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) system based on four-state protocol, which is promising to guarantee the unconditionally secure underwater wireless optical communication. CV-QKD parameter estimation is performed after transmitting quantum coherent signal from Alice to Bob through a water tank. The secure key rate under collective attack of the demonstrated CV-QKD system is estimated as 22.9 kbits/s at a channel loss of 12.4 dB. In addition, the performance is also investigated with various water types and the maximum underwater transmission distance of the demonstrated CV-QKD system is estimated as 148.7 m in the pure sea water.
Security is a crucial aspect of underwater acoustic networks, that are often used in mission critical scenarios, such as coastal surveillance, rapid environmental assessment and mine countermeasure applications. The broadcast nature of the acoustic channel makes it vulnerable to a variety of attacks, such as spoofing, men-in-the-middle and jamming. Moreover, the lack of a standardized key distribution system makes data confidentiality challenging. In this paper we investigate the use of quantum key distribution (QKD) in underwater networks, in order to ensure confidentiality and integrity of the communication. While in the terrestrial domain the use of the one-time-pad protocol (requiring the key length to be equal to the message length) is limited by the low rate of the QKD rate compared to the bitrate of radio transmissions, in the underwater domain the limited bandwidth of the acoustic channel makes QKD a valid approach also for the one-time-pad protocol. The system is tested both with an emulator and a field test: results show that QKD can be a valuable system to secure underwater acoustic networks.
The growing importance of underwater networks (UNs) in mission-critical activities at sea enforces the need for secure underwater communications (UCs). Classical encryption techniques can be used to achieve secure data exchange in UNs. However, the advent of quantum computing will pose threats to classical cryptography, thus challenging UCs. Currently, underwater cryptosystems mostly adopt symmetric ciphers, which are considered computationally quantum robust but pose the challenge of distributing the secret key upfront. Post-quantum public-key (PQPK) protocols promise to overcome the key distribution problem. The security of PQPK protocols, however, only relies on the assumed computational complexity of some underlying mathematical problems. Moreover, the use of resource-hungry PQPK algorithms in resource-constrained environments such as UNs can require nontrivial hardware/software optimization efforts. An alternative approach is underwater quantum key distribution (QKD), which promises unconditional security built upon the physical principles of quantum mechanics (QM). This tutorial provides a basic introduction to free-space underwater QKD (UQKD). At first, the basic concepts of QKD are presented, based on a fully worked out QKD example. A thorough state-of-the-art analysis of UQKD is carried out. The paper subsequently provides a theoretical analysis of the QKD performance through free-space underwater channels and its dependence on the key optical parameters of the system and seawater. Finally, open challenges, points of strength, and perspectives of UQKD are identified and discussed.