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International Conference on Software, Telecommunications and Computer Networks (SoftCOM)

Quality of Service Evaluation over a 496 km Quantum Key Distribution Network

Miryeong Park, Kyungwoon Lee, Kanghee Seol, Minsoo Lee, Hyung‐Soo Kim

Published Sep 22, 2022• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Quantum key distribution (QKD) technology has remarkably developed, and some countries are in the stage of preparing quantum cryptography communication services beyond the PoC. To ensure the stability of QKD network operation telecommunication service providers and engineers need to verify the quality of service (QoS). To do this, we built a quantum cryptography communication network testbed for 496km distance with nine trusted relay nodes in Korea, to evaluate the QoS of the quantum cryptography communication network. Also, we apply four QoS parameter values defined which are quantum key response delay, quantum key response delay variation, quantum key loss rate, and availability. By measuring each parameter in a real quantum cryptography communication network, we show that this method is valid to evaluate QoS, and it is expected to contribute to the realization of quantum cryptography communication services.

DOI
10.23919/softcom55329.2022.9911280

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Quantum key distribution (QKD) technology has remarkably developed, and some countries are in the stage of preparing quantum cryptography communication services beyond the PoC. To ensure the stability of QKD network operation telecommunication service providers and engineers need to verify the quality of service (QoS). To do this, we built a quantum cryptography communication network testbed for 496km distance with nine trusted relay nodes in Korea, to evaluate the QoS of the quantum cryptography communication network. Also, we apply four QoS parameter values defined which are quantum key response delay, quantum key response delay variation, quantum key loss rate, and availability. By measuring each parameter in a real quantum cryptography communication network, we show that this method is valid to evaluate QoS, and it is expected to contribute to the realization of quantum cryptography communication services.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a symmetric key exchange mechanism designed to enhance the security of current communication systems. Although QKD provides unconditional security, it also comes with deployment challenges. One challenge is the distance limitation between the transmitter and receiver, which restricts the large-scale adoption of QKD. To overcome this, trusted relays are used as intermediate nodes, allowing QKD to evolve from distance-limited point-to-point connections to unlimited QKD networks (QKDN). With an increasing deployment of QKD and a growing number of applications requesting keys, quality of service (QoS) constraints must be set for efficient key resource management to alleviate the risk of rejecting application requests. In this work, we integrate key delivery delay and maximum requested key size as QoS constraints in a novel key allocation algorithm built on three QKDN layers – quantum, key management and service. Moreover, we design key relaying using quantum key pools and virtual quantum key pools as storage mechanisms. We use static and dynamic weights for relay path computation and evaluate their impact on the proposed key allocation strategies with QoS constraints and find that static weights show a good overall performance for QKDN, while performance with dynamic weights varies based on historical key consumption data.
In recent years, noticeable progress has been made in the development of quantum equipment, reflected through the number of successful demonstrations of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technology. Although they showcase the great achievements of QKD, many practical difficulties still need to be resolved. Inspired by the significant similarity between mobile ad-hoc networks and QKD technology, we propose a novel quality of service (QoS) model including new metrics for determining the states of public and quantum channels as well as a comprehensive metric of the QKD link. We also propose a novel routing protocol to achieve high-level scalability and minimize consumption of cryptographic keys. Given the limited mobility of nodes in QKD networks, our routing protocol uses the geographical distance and calculated link states to determine the optimal route. It also benefits from a caching mechanism and detection of returning loops to provide effective forwarding while minimizing key consumption and achieving the desired utilization of network links. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the validity and accuracy of the proposed solutions.
The development of quantum cryptographic communication technology and the establishment of quantum cryptographic communication infrastructure and services have been presented in the public and private business sectors. In this paper, quantum cryptography communication equipment from various vendors is established in the Korea Advanced Research Network (KOREN) operated by the National Information Society Agency(NIA), and functions and interoperability are verified in the test network. So far, basic verification standards and operation guidelines for quantum cryptography communication equipment have not been established. In this paper, we would like to examine the basic functions, linkage functions, and long-term driving requirements of each device that provides quantum cryptography communication services.
ABSTRACT Quantum key relay over trusted relay nodes is a practical approach to overcoming the distance limitation of quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols in quantum-secured networking. However, the processing delay incurred by the quantum key relay function increases the quantum key response delay (KRD) which serves as a representative quality-of-service (QoS) metric for quantum-secured services. This QoS degradation becomes more pronounced in large-scale quantum-secured networks. To address this issue, we investigate a proactive quantum key relay algorithm that relays and prepares quantum keys for pairs of QKD nodes prior to requests for quantum-secured services. By jointly considering the length of the relay path, the available quantity of quantum keys, and the remaining lifetimes of the quantum keys, the proposed algorithm selects a pair of QKD nodes and performs proactive quantum key relay to establish a quantum key for the selected pair. The proposed algorithm enables more flexible operation by sequentially dividing the proactive quantum key relay algorithm into two parts: one for a relatively short distance pair of QKD nodes and the other for a long-distance pair of QKD nodes. The simulation results demonstrate that, compared with the on-demand quantum key relay algorithm, the proposed algorithm achieves a relative reduction of up to 89.7% in the modeled KRD, accompanied by a corresponding relative decrease of 13.9% in the provisioning ratio of quantum-secured service. Overall, these findings confirm the effectiveness of the proposed proactive quantum key relay algorithm in achieving short-latency quantum-secured networking.
Secure communication makes the widespread use of telecommunication networks and services possible. With the constant progress of computing and mathematics, new cryptographic methods are being diligently developed. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is a promising technology that provides an Information-Theoretically Secure (ITS) solution to the secret-key agreement problem between two remote parties. QKD networks based on trusted relay nodes are built to provide service to a larger number of parties at arbitrary distances. They function as an add-on technology to traditional networks, generating, managing, distributing, and supplying ITS cryptographic keys. Since key resources are limited, integrating QKD network services into critical infrastructures necessitates effective key management. As a result, this article provides a comprehensive review of key management approaches for trusted-relay QKD networks. They are analyzed to facilitate the identification of potential strategies and accelerate the future development of QKD networks.
As a technology of providing different service qualities to the different applications/users, QoS is a research hotspot in communication field. For quantum key distribution (QKD) networks which provide unconditional security for distribution of cryptographic keys, its unique characteristics, like extreme quantum key resource constraint and the different time requirements of secure key distribution, pose unprecedented challenges for the QoS support in QKD networks. In this paper, a service model is presented firstly, which includes three service classes with different distribution time requirements: key-guaranteed service, key-prioritized service and key-best-effort service. Then, a QoS-supported scheme is proposed to support this service model. Particularly, Quantum Key Reservation Approach (QKRA) is designed to reserve quantum keys for the key-guaranteed service. The simulation is conducted to investigate the performance of this QoS-supported scheme.