Collaborative Research: CNS Core: Small: Model, Design, and Implement Entanglement Routing Protocols for Quantum Networks

最近发布的《美国量子网络战略愿景》由《国家量子倡议法案》推动，阐述了量子网络对未来通信安全和计算进步的重要性。量子网络是对互联网等传统网络的补充，可以实现安全密钥分发、时钟同步、安全远程计算、分布式共识等重要应用，而这些应用大多是经典互联网无法轻松高效地实现的。本项目重点研究量子网络的基础网络服务，即量子纠缠路由。如果成功，该项目的研究成果将具有变革性，因为它们将提供关键的网络服务和任务，如安全通信和时间同步，这反过来将使新兴和未来的服务，包括物联网，边缘计算及其应用成为可能。为了解决量子纠缠路由问题，该项目将开发与实验物理结果一致的量子网络模型，同时将计算机网络设计技术和研究方法应用于量子网络。所提出的模型将考虑网络协议设计的实际考虑，例如任意网络拓扑、竞争资源的多个并发源和目的地、保真度和净化、每个节点的有限容量以及节点只知道局部短寿命链路状态信息的事实。因此，本研究的预期贡献如下：1)探索不同的路由度量；2)开发离线和在线无争用路由协议；3)量子网络高效拓扑设计；4)使用分析模型和自定义模拟器评估所提出的算法；5)利用真实量子器件实现所提出的协议。该项目开发的网络模型、算法、协议和实验工具将提供给网络研究社区，以帮助启动量子网络的研究工作，例如探索墨水层和传输层服务。该项目将利用量子计算和量子网络的可见性和及时性来招募第一代学生以及来自代表性不足人群的学生。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The recently released "A Strategic Vision for America’s Quantum Networks" driven by the National Quantum Initiative Act addressed the importance of quantum networks on future communication security and computing advancement. Quantum networks supplement traditional networks, e.g., the Internet, and enable important applications such as secure key distribution, clock synchronization, secure remote computation, and distributed consensus, most of which cannot be easily and efficiently achieved by the classical Internet. This project focuses on a fundamental network service for quantum networks, namely quantum entanglement routing. If successful, the research outcomes of this project will be transformative as they will provide critical networking services and tasks such as secure communication and time synchronization, which in turn, will enable emerging and future services including IoT, edge computing, and their applications. To address quantum entanglement routing, this project will develop quantum network models that are consistent with results from experimental physics, while applying computer network design techniques and research methodologies to quantum networks. The proposed models will account for practical considerations from network protocol design, such as arbitrary network topologies, multiple concurrent sources and destinations that compete for resources, fidelity and purification, limited capacity at each node, as well as the fact that nodes only know localized short-lived link-state information. As such, the expected contributions of the proposed research are as follows: 1) Exploration of different routing metrics; 2) Development of offline and online contention-free routing protocols; 3) Design of efficient topologies for quantum networking; 4) Evaluation of the proposed algorithms using analytical models as well as a custom simulator; and 5) Implementation of the proposed protocols with real quantum devices. The network models, algorithms, protocols, and experimental tools developed in this project will be made available to the networking research community to help jump-start research efforts on quantum networks, e.g., exploring ink layer and transport layer services. The project will leverage the visibility and timeliness of quantum computing and quantum networking to recruit first-generation students as well as students from under-represented populations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.