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International Symposium on Computer Applications and Information Systems (ISCAIS)

Improved Parameter Estimation Methods in the Post-Processing Phase of Quantum Key Distribution

Chuyang Zhong, Yucheng Qiao, Weigang Li, Jiajian Huang

Published Mar 21, 2025• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In the post-processing phase of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), a crucial step involves the parameter estimation of the initial key. Among various techniques, the group parity check method stands out as a prevalent approach for parameter estimation. This method operates by segmenting the received key into groups and applying parity checks within each group to estimate the bit error rate. Theoretically, this method can achieve high precision estimation with minimal information leakage compared to traditional random sampling methods. However, the practical efficiency and estimation accuracy of this method are contingent upon the group size and the statistical properties of the errors, which sometimes may not yield superior results relative to conventional methods. This paper introduces an enhanced group parity check method, which incorporates an additional parity code comparison and employs a dynamic group strategy, effectively reducing information leakage in subsequent error correction steps caused by erroneous estimations. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed parameter estimation method can more accurately estimate and correct errors occurring during the QKD physical process and dynamically optimize the key generation process according to actual communication conditions.

DOI
10.1109/iscait64916.2025.11010475

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การประมาณคาชองสญญาณดวยภาวะนาจะเปนสงสดสำหรบการไกลเกลยความผดพลาดแบบปรบอตราเขารหสเหมาะสมกบการกระจายกญแจรหสลบเชงควอนตม

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In the post-processing phase of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), a crucial step involves the parameter estimation of the initial key. Among various techniques, the group parity check method stands out as a prevalent approach for parameter estimation. This method operates by segmenting the received key into groups and applying parity checks within each group to estimate the bit error rate. Theoretically, this method can achieve high precision estimation with minimal information leakage compared to traditional random sampling methods. However, the practical efficiency and estimation accuracy of this method are contingent upon the group size and the statistical properties of the errors, which sometimes may not yield superior results relative to conventional methods. This paper introduces an enhanced group parity check method, which incorporates an additional parity code comparison and employs a dynamic group strategy, effectively reducing information leakage in subsequent error correction steps caused by erroneous estimations. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed parameter estimation method can more accurately estimate and correct errors occurring during the QKD physical process and dynamically optimize the key generation process according to actual communication conditions.
Post-processing is a significant step in quantum key distribution (QKD), which is used for correcting the quantum-channel noise errors and distilling identical corrected keys between two distant legitimate parties. Efficient error reconciliation protocol, which can lead to an increase in the secure key generation rate, is one of the main performance indicators of QKD setups. In this paper, we propose a multi-low-density parity-check codes based reconciliation scheme, which can provide remarkable perspectives for highly efficient information reconciliation. By testing our approach through data simulation, we show that the proposed scheme combining multi-syndrome-based error rate estimation allows for a more accurate estimation of the error rate as compared with random sampling and single-syndrome estimation techniques before the error correction, as well as a significant increase in the efficiency of the procedure without compromising security and sacrificing reconciliation efficiency.
In a quantum key distribution (QKD) system, the error rate needs to be estimated for determining the joint probability distribution between legitimate parties, and for improving the performance of key reconciliation. We propose an efficient error estimation scheme for QKD, which is called parity comparison method (PCM). In the proposed method, the parity of a group of sifted keys is practically analysed to estimate the quantum bit error rate instead of using the traditional key sampling. From the simulation results, the proposed method evidently improves the accuracy and decreases revealed information in most realistic application situations.
การกระจายกุญแจรหัสลับเชิงควอนตัมถือเป็นหนึ่งในเทคโนโลยีความปลอดภัยด้านการสื่อสาร โดยอาศัยหลักกลศาสตร์ควอนตัมเพื่อกำเนิดและแลกเปลี่ยนข้อมูลกุญแจรหัสลับระหว่างคู่สื่อสารให้มีความปลอดภัยสูงสุดสำหรับระบบวิทยาการรหัสลับ ซึ่งต้องอาศัยกระบวนการไกล่เกลี่ยความผิดพลาดเพื่อจุดประสงค์ในการยืนยันความถูกต้องของข้อมูลกุญแจรหัสลับระหว่างคู่สื่อสารให้มีค่าที่ตรงกัน ในบทความนี้ นำเสนอวิธีการประมาณค่าอัตราความผิดพลาดของช่องสัญญาณเชิงควอนตัมบนพื้นฐานของการประมาณค่าภาวะน่าจะเป็นสูงสุดจากชุดข้อมูลซินโดรมในระหว่างขั้นตอนการไกล่เกลี่ยความผิดพลาดสำหรับการปรับค่าอัตราการเข้ารหัสให้เหมาะสมกับความผิดพลาดของบิตข้อมูลกุญแจเชิงควอนตัมที่เกิดขึ้นในแต่ละช่วงเวลาด้วยรหัสตรวจสอบพาริตี้แบบความหนาแน่นต่ำ ตลอดจนการนำมาประยุกต์ใช้แทนขั้นตอนการเปิดเผยบิตข้อมูลกุญแจบางส่วนที่สูญเสียไปในการประมาณค่าความผิดพลาดแบบดั้งเดิม นำไปสู่ผลลัพธ์ของขนาดบิตข้อมูลกุญแจที่เพิ่มสูงขึ้น โดยจากการวิเคราะห์และทดสอบผลพบว่า วิธีการที่นำเสนอให้ความแม่นยำในการประมาณค่าอัตราความผิดพลาดครอบคลุมเงื่อนไขของการกระจายกุญแจรหัสลับเชิงควอนตัม นำไปสู่การเพิ่มประสิทธิภาพการไกล่เกลี่ยความผิดพลาดที่สูงขึ้นทั้งในด้านความปลอดภัยและอัตราการกำเนิดกุญแจรหัสลับ สนับสนุนการประยุกต์ใช้งานจริงในระบบการกระจายกุญแจรหัสลับเชิงควอนตัมความเร็วสูงQuantum Key Distribution (QKD), one of the communication security technologies, employs the properties of quantum mechanics to guarantee and exchange the perfectly-secured key generation between two legitimate parties for cryptographic purposes. The reconciliation process is required to correct the transmission error after the distribution of quantum objects. In this paper, the channel parameter estimation is proposed to estimate the error rate in the quantum channel by using the Maximum-Likelihood Estimation (MLE) based on the syndrome information for rate-adaptive reconciliation. The specific Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) codes are adapted to optimize their coding rates responding to the possible cases of error in QKD. The proposed method can be applied to avoid wasting sample keys in the traditional channel estimation, and led to increase the final secret key length. The simulation results show an accuracy of the estimated quantum bit error rate (QBER) for covering the range in QKD system. The gain of rate-adaptive reconciliation based on MLE confirms an improvement in the reconciliation efficiency that significantly impacts on the achievable secret key generation rate for high QKD throughput applications.
An effective post-processing algorithm is essential for achieving high rates of secret key generation in quantum key distribution. This work introduces an approach to quantum key distribution post-processing by integrating the three main steps into a unified procedure: syndrome-based error estimation, rate-adaptive reconciliation, and subblock confirmation. The proposed scheme employs low-density parity-check codes to estimate the quantum bit error rate using the syndrome information, and to optimize the channel coding rates based on the Slepian-Wolf coding scheme for the rate-adaptive method. Additionally, this scheme incorporates polynomial-based hash verification in the subblock confirmation process. The numerical results show that the syndrome-based estimation significantly enhances the accuracy and consistency of the estimated quantum bit error rate, enabling effective code rate optimization for rate-adaptive reconciliation. The unified approach, which integrates rate-adaptive reconciliation with syndrome-based estimation and subblock confirmation, exhibits superior efficiency, minimizes practical information leakage, reduces communication rounds, and guarantees convergence to the identical key. Furthermore, the simulations indicate that the secret key throughput of this approach achieves the theoretical limit in the context of a BB84 quantum key distribution system.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) stands as a pioneering method for establishing information-theoretically secure communication channels by utilizing the principles of quantum mechanics. In the security proof of QKD, the phase error rate serves as a critical indicator of information leakage and directly influences the security of the shared key bits between communicating parties, Alice and Bob. In estimating the upper bound of the phase error rate, phase randomization and subsequent postselection mechanisms serve pivotal roles across numerous QKD protocols. Here we make a precise phase error rate analysis for QKD protocols with phase postselection, which helps us to accurately bound the amount of information an eavesdropper may obtain. We further apply our analysis in sending-or-not-sending twin-field quantum key distribution (SNS-TFQKD) and mode-pairing quantum key distribution (MP-QKD). The simulation results confirm that our precise phase error analysis can noticeably improve the key rate performance especially over long distances in practice. Note that our method does not require alterations to the existing experimental hardware or protocol steps. It can be readily applied within current SNS-TF-QKD and MP-QKD for higher key rate generation.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) stands as a pioneering method for establishing information-theoretically secure communication channels by utilizing the principles of quantum mechanics. In the security proof of QKD, the phase error rate serves as a critical indicator of information leakage and directly influences the security of the shared key bits between communicating parties, Alice and Bob. In estimating the upper bound of the phase error rate, phase randomization and subsequent postselection mechanisms serve pivotal roles across numerous QKD protocols. However, the nonzero interval of phase postselection will introduce intrinsic errors, leading to an overestimation of phase error rate. Here we make a precise phase-error-rate analysis for QKD protocols with phase postselection, which eliminates error rate associated with nonzero interval and helps us to accurately bound the amount of information an eavesdropper may obtain. We further apply our analysis in sending-or-not-sending twin-field quantum key distribution (SNS-TFQKD) and mode-pairing quantum key distribution (MP-QKD). The simulation results confirm that our precise phase error analysis can noticeably improve the key rate performance especially over long distances in practice. Note that our method does not require alterations to the existing experimental hardware or protocol steps. It can be readily applied within current SNS-TF-QKD and MP-QKD for higher key rate generation.