Trusted Node QKD at an Electrical Utility

TL;DR

This paper reports on a field demonstration of three quantum key distribution systems integrated into a real-world electric utility network, addressing key deployment challenges such as optical loss, network scalability, and hardware interoperability.

Contribution

It presents practical solutions and experimental results for deploying multiple QKD systems in critical infrastructure environments.

Findings

Successful integration of three QKD systems in an operational electric utility network

Demonstrated management of optical loss and hardware interoperability issues

Provided insights into scalability and robustness of QKD in real-world settings

Abstract

Challenges facing the deployment of quantum key distribution (QKD) systems in critical infrastructure protection applications include the optical loss-key rate tradeoff, addition of network clients, and interoperability of vendor-specific QKD hardware. Here, we address these challenges and present results from a recent field demonstration of three QKD systems on a real-world electric utility optical fiber network.