IEEE Conference on Telecommunications, Optics and Computer Science (TOCS)
Co-propagation of CV-QKD and classical signals over DWDM-based 5G fronthaul optical networks
Wenpeng Gao, Weiwen Kong, J.D. van der Tang, Yuheng Xie, Tianqi Dou, Zhenhua Li, Qi Zhao, Na Chen, Yuanchen Hao
Abstract
This study investigate the integration of discrete modulated coherent state (DMCS) continuous variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) with wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) in 5G fronthaul optical networks. Firstly, an architecture of quantum-classical co-propagation in C-band DWDM-based 5G fornthaul network is constructed and the wavelength assignment scheme for classical/quantum channels is designed. By assigning the quantum channels in band of low Raman scattering coefficient and setting the quantum-classical channel space to be 200 GHz, the proposed scheme can effectively reduce the spontaneous Raman scattering (SpRS) and four-wave-mixing (FWM) noise. Then, the secret key rate (SKR) of DMCS protocol and the excess noise induced by SpRS are analyzed theoretically to furtherly character the co-propagation architecture. Lastly, numerical simulation is carried out to evaluate the impact of SpRS noise on the CV-QKD performance. The simulation results show that by employing the proposed wavelength assignment scheme, the co-propagation system can support positive SKR at a maximum distance of approximately 41 km for 8 classical channels use and 30 km for 16 classical channels use, respectively. Our work can provide a reference for practical deployment of quantum secured 5G fronthaul optical networks.