Abstract
Due to the intrinsic point-to-point characteristic of quantum key distribution (QKD) systems, it is necessary to study and develop QKD network technology to provide a secure communication service for a large-scale of nodes over a large area. Considering the quality assurance required for such a network and the cost limitations, building an effective mathematical model of a QKD network becomes a critical task. In this paper, a flow-based mathematical model is proposed to describe a QKD network using mathematical concepts and language. In addition, an investigation on QKD network topology evaluation was conducted using a unique and novel QKD network performance indicator, the Information-Theoretic Secure communication bound, and the corresponding linear programming-based calculation algorithm. A large number of simulation results based on the SECOQC network and NSFNET network validate the effectiveness of the proposed model and indicator.
Highlights
With the rapid development and increasing applicability of quantum key distribution (QKD) technology [1,2,3,4], its intrinsic point-to-point feature [5] has become one of the major bottlenecks limiting the scale of its application
This paper has proposed a flow-based mathematical model of a QKD network
The major contributions of this study include: (I) The flow-based mathematical (FM) model was proposed by modeling a QKD network as a graph with nodes, edges, and QKD-flows; (II) Based on the created model, a unique QKD network performance indicator was proposed and the corresponding linear programming-based calculation algorithm was designed; (III) The validity and necessity of the proposed FM model and performance indicator were verified through subtly designed simulations addressing two typical topology planning tasks
Summary
With the rapid development and increasing applicability of quantum key distribution (QKD) technology [1,2,3,4], its intrinsic point-to-point feature [5] has become one of the major bottlenecks limiting the scale of its application. In order to reflect the state of a practical network, we designed a practical QKD network simulation model in our previous work [7] In this model, the point-to-point key generation capability was modeled by the Gottesman-LoLutkenhaus-Preskill (GLLP) theory [25] and the volatile end-to-end communication demand was modeled by the Poisson stochastic process. The results of our simulation model [7] demonstrate that the performance of a practical QKD network primarily depends on how its key generation capability satisfies the communication demand. With emphasis on this characteristic, we are motivated to study the mathematical model of a QKD network, and its applications.
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