Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

IEEE Access

Benchmark Performance of Digital QKD Platform Using Quantum Permutation Pad

Dafu Lou, Alex He, Michael Redding, Marc Geitz, Ryan Toth, Ronny Döring, Richard Carson, Randy Kuang

Published Jan 1, 2022• 10 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Quantum permutation pad or QPP is a set of quantum permutation gates. QPP has been demonstrated for quantum secure encryption in both classical and quantum computing systems recently, even at a noisy 5-qubit IBMQ systems. In a classical computing system, QPP encryption is implemented as a permutation gate matrix multiplication with information state vectors. In a quantum computing system, QPP is compiled into a quantum encryption circuit in a native quantum computer and encryption is performed through QPP circuit. Leveraging its quantum mechanical characteristics, we report a digital QKD or D-QKD platform using QPP as a quantum mechanical algorithm implemented in classical systems to distribute quantum entropy, generated from physical quantum random number generators or QRNG, and quantum key over the internet. D-QKD interfaces have been developed to support the photonic QKD standard ETSI-014. This makes any systems with ETSI QKD standards compatible with D-QKD. D-QKD offers point-to-point quantum entropy and quantum key distributions as well as point-to-multi-points quantum key synchronizations with speeds 1000x faster than photonic QKD. This paper reports benchmark performance tests and randomness quality tests for pure quantum entropy generated by a QRNG and expanded entropy using the QPP protocol. The work has been funded by the PlanQK1project and deployed within the OpenQKD2testbed Berlin, operated by Deutsche Telekom.

DOI
10.1109/access.2022.3212738

Related papers

Quantum encryption with quantum permutation pad in IBMQ systems

Randy Kuang, Maria Perepechaenko

Abstract Quantum permutation pad or QPP is a quantum-safe symmetric cryptographic algorithm proposed by Kuang and Bettenburg in 2020. The theoretical foundation of QPP leverages the linear algebraic representations of quantum gates which makes QPP realizable in both, quantum and classical systems. By applying the QPP with 64 of 8-bit permutation gates, holding respective entropy of over 100,000 bits, we accomplished quantum random number distributions digitally over today’s classical internet. The QPP has also been used to create pseudo quantum random numbers and served as a foundation for quantum-safe lightweight block and streaming ciphers. This paper continues to explore numerous applications of QPP, namely, we present an implementation of QPP as a quantum encryption circuit on today’s still noisy quantum computers. With the publicly available 5-qubit IBMQ devices, we demonstrate quantum secure encryption (256 bits of entropy) using 2-qubit QPP with 56 permutation gates, and 3-qubit QPP with 17 permutation gates respectively. Initial qubits of the encryption circuit correspond to the plaintext and after applying quantum encryption operations, cipher qubits are measured with probabilistic distributions, and the results with the highest probability are recorded as cipher bits. The cipher bits are then decrypted with an inverse QPP circuit. The output state plaintext qubits are measured and the most frequent count measurement results are recorded as plaintext bits. This quantum encryption and decryption process clearly demonstrates that QPP quantum implementations works exactly as symmetric encryption and decryption schemes should. The plaintext and ciphertext bits can also be encrypted and decrypted respectively by any classical computing device with the corresponding QPP algorithm as in quantum computers. This work reveals that it is possible to build quantum-secure communications between quantum-to-quantum and quantum-to-classical computers over today’s internet and the future quantum internet.

EPJ Quantum Technology•Oct 12, 2022•34 citations

Quantum Secure Lightweight Cryptography with Quantum Permutation Pad

Randy Kuang, Dafu Lou, Alex He +1 more

Quantum logic gates represent certain quantum operations to perform quantum computations.Of those quantum gates, there is a category of classical behavior gates called quantum permutation gates.As a quantum algorithm, quantum permutation pad or QPP consists of multiple quantum permutation gates to be implemented both in a quantum computing system as a quantum circuit operating on n-qubits' states for transformations and in a classical computing system represented by a pad of n-bit permutation matrices.Since first time proposed in 2020, QPP has been recently applied to create a quantum safe lightweight block cipher by replacing SubBytes and AddRoundKey with QPP in AES called AES-QPP.In AES-QPP, QPP consists of 16 selected 8-bit permutation matrices based on the shared classical key materials.For quantum safe, the key length can be any size from 256 bits to 4 KB.That means, this QPP holds up to 4 KB of Shannon information entropy.Its code size is less than 2 KB with 4 KB of RAM memory.In this paper, we propose to apply QPP for a streaming cipher and carry out its encryption performance and the randomness analysis of this streaming cipher.The proposed QPP streaming cipher demonstrates not only good randomness in its ciphertexts but also huge performance improvement: 13x faster than AES-256, with an overall runtime space (6.8 KB).

Advances in Science Technology and Engineering Systems Journal•Aug 1, 2021•7 citations

Pseudo Quantum Random Number Generator with Quantum Permutation Pad

Randy Kuang, Dafu Lou, Alex He +2 more

Cryptographic random number generation is critical for any quantum-safe encryption. Based on the natural uncertainty of some quantum processes, a variety of quantum random number generators, or QRNGs, have been created with physical quantum processes. These typically generate random numbers with good unpredictable randomness. Of course, physical QRNGs are costic and require physical integrations with computing systems. This paper proposes a pseudo quantum random number generator with a quantum algorithm called a quantum permutation pad, or QPP, leveraging the high entropy of quantum permutation space for its bijective transformation. Unlike Boolean algebra, where the size of information space is 2nfor an n-bit system, an n-bit quantum permutation space consists of 2n! quantum permutation matrices, representing all quantum permutation gates over an n-bit computational basis. This permutation space holds an equivalent Shannon information entropy of log2(2n!). A QPP can be used to create a pseudo-QRNG or pQRNG capable of integration with any classical computing system, or directly with any application, for good-quality deterministic random number generation. Using a QPP pad with 64 8-bit permuation matrices, a pQRNG holds 107,776 bits of entropy for pseudo-random number generation, compared with 4,096 bits of entropy in Linux /dev/random. It can be used as a deterministic PRNG or as an entropy booster for other PRNGs. It can also be used as a whitening algorithm for any hardware random number generator, including QRNGs, without discarding physical bias bits.

arXiv:2303.01315•IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE)•Oct 1, 2021•22 citations

Entropy Transformation and Expansion with Quantum Permutation Pad for 5G Secure Networks

Dafu Lou, Randy Kuang, Alex He

This paper proposes a quantum safe solution for 5G networks using a quantum permutation pad (or QPP) algorithm, originated from quantum computing logic gates or quantum permutation gates. All permutation gates form a unique permutation space, just like a classical key space. An n-bit permutation space consists of the entire 2n! permutation gates, or permutation matrices over its computational basis. The huge equivalent Shannon entropy of this permutation space would be a nice entropy source for information security. Kuang and Bettenburg in 2020 first proposed QPP and proved it to be the Shannon type of perfect secrecy. Here, we extend its capability of entropy transformations for distribution over the Internet to entropy expansions for 5G networks. We analyze the randomnesses following transformations and expansions with QPP, using industry randomness testing suites. Testing results confirm that QPP can maintain the original randomness of QRNG random numbers for transformations and expansions. Leveraging its strong diffusion capability, QPP may also improve the byte-level randomness of input random numbers.

IEEE International Conference on Communication Technology (ICCT)•Oct 13, 2021•10 citations

Quantum Encrypted Communication between Two IBMQ Systems Using Quantum Permutation Pad

Maria Perepechaenko, Randy Kuang

We demonstrate an early functional implementation of the Kuang and Barbeau’s Quantum Permutation Pad (QPP) algorithm on the IBMQ physical quantum computers using the Qiskit development kit. Our implementation of the quantum encryption QPP algorithm uses 2-qubit permutation operators created from the compositions of a few CNOT and NOT gates. With inability to physically transfer qubits between two IBMQ machines we acted as two separate IBMQ computers and described how ideally two quantum systems can securely communicate using QPP. Since the physical qubits are still noisy, we use a simple error correction technique by choosing the correct state with the highest probability. Our implementation can be extended to a hybrid system that consist of a quantum computer communicating with a classical computer securely using QPP. This work can be considered as a toy example of the fully secure implementation of quantum encryption using QPP. Nevertheless, it is a promising first step towards secure quantum communication.

International Conference on Communications, Circuits and Systems•May 13, 2022•11 citations

Quantum Encryption and Decryption in IBMQ Systems using Quantum Permutation Pad

Maria Perepechaenko, Randy Kuang

We present a functioning implementation of Kuang et al.’s Quantum Permutation Pad (QPP) using the Qiskit developmental kit on the currently available International Business Machines (IBM) quantum computers. For this implementation, we use a pad with 28 2-qubit permutation gates that provides 128 bits of entropy. In this implementation, we divide the plaintext into blocks of 2-bits each. Each such block is encrypted one at a time. For any given block of plaintext, a quantum circuit is created with qubits initialized according to the given plaintext 2-bit block. The plaintext qubits are then acted on with 2-qubit permutation operators chosen from a 28- permutation QPP pad. Due to the inability to send qubits directly, the ciphertext qubits are measured and transmitted to the decrypting side over a classical channel. The decryption can be performed on either a classical or quantum computer. The decryption uses an inverse Quantum Permutation Pad with the Hermitian conjugates of the corresponding permutation gates used for the encryption. We are currently working on advancing the implementation of QPP to include additional steps for security and efficiency.

Journal of Communications•Jan 1, 2022•15 citations
Quantum permutation pad or QPP is a set of quantum permutation gates. QPP has been demonstrated for quantum secure encryption in both classical and quantum computing systems recently, even at a noisy 5-qubit IBMQ systems. In a classical computing system, QPP encryption is implemented as a permutation gate matrix multiplication with information state vectors. In a quantum computing system, QPP is compiled into a quantum encryption circuit in a native quantum computer and encryption is performed through QPP circuit. Leveraging its quantum mechanical characteristics, we report a digital QKD or D-QKD platform using QPP as a quantum mechanical algorithm implemented in classical systems to distribute quantum entropy, generated from physical quantum random number generators or QRNG, and quantum key over the internet. D-QKD interfaces have been developed to support the photonic QKD standard ETSI-014. This makes any systems with ETSI QKD standards compatible with D-QKD. D-QKD offers point-to-point quantum entropy and quantum key distributions as well as point-to-multi-points quantum key synchronizations with speeds 1000x faster than photonic QKD. This paper reports benchmark performance tests and randomness quality tests for pure quantum entropy generated by a QRNG and expanded entropy using the QPP protocol. The work has been funded by the PlanQK1project and deployed within the OpenQKD2testbed Berlin, operated by Deutsche Telekom.
Abstract Quantum permutation pad or QPP is a quantum-safe symmetric cryptographic algorithm proposed by Kuang and Bettenburg in 2020. The theoretical foundation of QPP leverages the linear algebraic representations of quantum gates which makes QPP realizable in both, quantum and classical systems. By applying the QPP with 64 of 8-bit permutation gates, holding respective entropy of over 100,000 bits, we accomplished quantum random number distributions digitally over today’s classical internet. The QPP has also been used to create pseudo quantum random numbers and served as a foundation for quantum-safe lightweight block and streaming ciphers. This paper continues to explore numerous applications of QPP, namely, we present an implementation of QPP as a quantum encryption circuit on today’s still noisy quantum computers. With the publicly available 5-qubit IBMQ devices, we demonstrate quantum secure encryption (256 bits of entropy) using 2-qubit QPP with 56 permutation gates, and 3-qubit QPP with 17 permutation gates respectively. Initial qubits of the encryption circuit correspond to the plaintext and after applying quantum encryption operations, cipher qubits are measured with probabilistic distributions, and the results with the highest probability are recorded as cipher bits. The cipher bits are then decrypted with an inverse QPP circuit. The output state plaintext qubits are measured and the most frequent count measurement results are recorded as plaintext bits. This quantum encryption and decryption process clearly demonstrates that QPP quantum implementations works exactly as symmetric encryption and decryption schemes should. The plaintext and ciphertext bits can also be encrypted and decrypted respectively by any classical computing device with the corresponding QPP algorithm as in quantum computers. This work reveals that it is possible to build quantum-secure communications between quantum-to-quantum and quantum-to-classical computers over today’s internet and the future quantum internet.
Quantum logic gates represent certain quantum operations to perform quantum computations.Of those quantum gates, there is a category of classical behavior gates called quantum permutation gates.As a quantum algorithm, quantum permutation pad or QPP consists of multiple quantum permutation gates to be implemented both in a quantum computing system as a quantum circuit operating on n-qubits' states for transformations and in a classical computing system represented by a pad of n-bit permutation matrices.Since first time proposed in 2020, QPP has been recently applied to create a quantum safe lightweight block cipher by replacing SubBytes and AddRoundKey with QPP in AES called AES-QPP.In AES-QPP, QPP consists of 16 selected 8-bit permutation matrices based on the shared classical key materials.For quantum safe, the key length can be any size from 256 bits to 4 KB.That means, this QPP holds up to 4 KB of Shannon information entropy.Its code size is less than 2 KB with 4 KB of RAM memory.In this paper, we propose to apply QPP for a streaming cipher and carry out its encryption performance and the randomness analysis of this streaming cipher.The proposed QPP streaming cipher demonstrates not only good randomness in its ciphertexts but also huge performance improvement: 13x faster than AES-256, with an overall runtime space (6.8 KB).
Cryptographic random number generation is critical for any quantum-safe encryption. Based on the natural uncertainty of some quantum processes, a variety of quantum random number generators, or QRNGs, have been created with physical quantum processes. These typically generate random numbers with good unpredictable randomness. Of course, physical QRNGs are costic and require physical integrations with computing systems. This paper proposes a pseudo quantum random number generator with a quantum algorithm called a quantum permutation pad, or QPP, leveraging the high entropy of quantum permutation space for its bijective transformation. Unlike Boolean algebra, where the size of information space is 2nfor an n-bit system, an n-bit quantum permutation space consists of 2n! quantum permutation matrices, representing all quantum permutation gates over an n-bit computational basis. This permutation space holds an equivalent Shannon information entropy of log2(2n!). A QPP can be used to create a pseudo-QRNG or pQRNG capable of integration with any classical computing system, or directly with any application, for good-quality deterministic random number generation. Using a QPP pad with 64 8-bit permuation matrices, a pQRNG holds 107,776 bits of entropy for pseudo-random number generation, compared with 4,096 bits of entropy in Linux /dev/random. It can be used as a deterministic PRNG or as an entropy booster for other PRNGs. It can also be used as a whitening algorithm for any hardware random number generator, including QRNGs, without discarding physical bias bits.
This paper proposes a quantum safe solution for 5G networks using a quantum permutation pad (or QPP) algorithm, originated from quantum computing logic gates or quantum permutation gates. All permutation gates form a unique permutation space, just like a classical key space. An n-bit permutation space consists of the entire 2n! permutation gates, or permutation matrices over its computational basis. The huge equivalent Shannon entropy of this permutation space would be a nice entropy source for information security. Kuang and Bettenburg in 2020 first proposed QPP and proved it to be the Shannon type of perfect secrecy. Here, we extend its capability of entropy transformations for distribution over the Internet to entropy expansions for 5G networks. We analyze the randomnesses following transformations and expansions with QPP, using industry randomness testing suites. Testing results confirm that QPP can maintain the original randomness of QRNG random numbers for transformations and expansions. Leveraging its strong diffusion capability, QPP may also improve the byte-level randomness of input random numbers.
We demonstrate an early functional implementation of the Kuang and Barbeau’s Quantum Permutation Pad (QPP) algorithm on the IBMQ physical quantum computers using the Qiskit development kit. Our implementation of the quantum encryption QPP algorithm uses 2-qubit permutation operators created from the compositions of a few CNOT and NOT gates. With inability to physically transfer qubits between two IBMQ machines we acted as two separate IBMQ computers and described how ideally two quantum systems can securely communicate using QPP. Since the physical qubits are still noisy, we use a simple error correction technique by choosing the correct state with the highest probability. Our implementation can be extended to a hybrid system that consist of a quantum computer communicating with a classical computer securely using QPP. This work can be considered as a toy example of the fully secure implementation of quantum encryption using QPP. Nevertheless, it is a promising first step towards secure quantum communication.
We present a functioning implementation of Kuang et al.’s Quantum Permutation Pad (QPP) using the Qiskit developmental kit on the currently available International Business Machines (IBM) quantum computers. For this implementation, we use a pad with 28 2-qubit permutation gates that provides 128 bits of entropy. In this implementation, we divide the plaintext into blocks of 2-bits each. Each such block is encrypted one at a time. For any given block of plaintext, a quantum circuit is created with qubits initialized according to the given plaintext 2-bit block. The plaintext qubits are then acted on with 2-qubit permutation operators chosen from a 28- permutation QPP pad. Due to the inability to send qubits directly, the ciphertext qubits are measured and transmitted to the decrypting side over a classical channel. The decryption can be performed on either a classical or quantum computer. The decryption uses an inverse Quantum Permutation Pad with the Hermitian conjugates of the corresponding permutation gates used for the encryption. We are currently working on advancing the implementation of QPP to include additional steps for security and efficiency.