Simulators for quantum network modeling: A comprehensive review

Oceane Bel, Mariam Kiran

Quantum network research, is exploring new networking protocols, physics-based hardware and novel experiments to demonstrate how quantum distribution will work over large distances. Current work explores much of these concepts in simulations, that are developed to understand how quantum networking will be set up and researchers can experiment virtually. Exposing flaws in network designs, like unsustainable topologies, or develop protocols that efficiently utilize network resources, simulators can also help assess whether workloads are balanced across virtual machines in the network. However, much of these simulation models come without reliable verification methods, for testing performance in real deployments. In this paper, we present a review of, to the best of our knowledge, currently used toolkits for modeling quantum networks. With these toolkits and standardized validation techniques, we can lay down the foundations for more accurate and reliable quantum network simulators.

Shahad A. Hussein, Alharith A. Abdullah

Joaquín Chung, Rajkumar Kettimuthu, Martin Suchara +1 more

Xiaoliang Wu, Alexander Kolar, Joaquín Chung +4 more

Recent advances in quantum information science enabled the development of quantum communication network prototypes and created an opportunity to study full-stack quantum network architectures. This work develops SeQUeNCe, a comprehensive, customizable quantum network simulator. Our simulator consists of five modules: hardware models, entanglement management protocols, resource management, network management, and application. This framework is suitable for simulation of quantum network prototypes that capture the breadth of current and future hardware technologies and protocols. We implement a comprehensive suite of network protocols and demonstrate the use of SeQUeNCe by simulating a photonic quantum network with nine routers equipped with quantum memories. The simulation capabilities are illustrated in three use cases. We show the dependence of quantum network throughput on several key hardware parameters and study the impact of classical control message latency. We also investigate quantum memory usage efficiency in routers and demonstrate that redistributing memory according to anticipated load increases network capacity by 69.1% and throughput by 6.8%. We design SeQUeNCe to enable comparisons of alternative quantum network technologies, experiment planning, and validation and to aid with new protocol design. We are releasing SeQUeNCe as an open source tool and aim to generate community interest in extending it.

Md. Rayhan Uddin, NUR ZIADAH HARUN

With the rapid growth of 5G networks that introduce better speed, connectivity, and scalability than previous generation networks, new security threats have also started to arise, especially from quantum computing. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and Zero Trust (ZT) have emerged as viable solutions to overcome these security issues. Previous literature has discussed the independent implementation of these two frameworks in 5G networks. However, several new studies have been proposed and examined the integration of QKD and ZTA together in the same network in order to enhance the security against quantum threats, which leaves room for a new comprehensive review that will encompass the current research and development of QKD and ZTA in 5G networks. Therefore, this paper aims to address this gap by reviewing state-of-the-art progress, implementation approaches, and drawbacks of QKD and ZTA in 5G. This review also recommends future research direction by discussing the potential implementation of QKD and ZTA integration together in 5G networks.

Zenisha Devani, Zeel Kanudawala, Rohan Thakar +2 more