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Asia Communications and Photonics Conference

Core and Wavelength Allocation for Synergistic Transmission in Quantum Key Distribution Coexistence with Classical Optical Communications

Weiwen Kong, Yongmei Sun, Yuheng Xie, Qi Zhao, Yaoxian Gao, Jianjun Tang

Published Nov 2, 2024• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a power coupling model for fiber switching and a core and wavelength allocation scheme that enhances the performance of classical communication and QKD, increasing synergistic degree by 0.47.
DOI
10.1109/acp/ipoc63121.2024.10810060

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Optical communications provide high capacity and scalability, while quantum communications, particularly through quantum key distribution (QKD), enable information-theoretic security. However, it still remains challenging to deliver both high throughput communication and long-term security within a hybrid quantum-classical optical network. Specifically, classical optical resources can be reallocated to support QKD, aiming to achieve synergistic resource utilization that surpasses the sum of individual functionalities. In this work, we formulate a networking model that captures the resource allocation constraints, aiming to figure out the necessary conversion of classical optical resources to QKD capacity while maintain the connectivity of classical optical communication. Based on that, we propose a synergistic resource allocation strategy, implemented through heuristic routing, wavelength assignment, and power configuration (SRWP) algorithms. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed SRWP algorithm, with the objective of network-wide average secret key rate (SKR) maximization (SRWP-ARM), enhances the average SKR from the order of kbit/s to Mbit/s at GHz-level pulse repetition rates. In a 9-node mesh network topology with 50 km links, the algorithm achieves this gain with zero service blocking under a traffic load of 100 erlangs. At a higher load of 300 erlangs, it maintains a service blocking probability as low as 1.24% while still achieving an average SKR of 18.05 kbit/s. This represents the best trade-off between classical service connectivity and secret key generation across all evaluated algorithms.