Design Verification of the Quantum Control Stack

TL;DR

This paper discusses the verification of the classical control stack for quantum computers, addressing challenges in timing precision, scalability, and performance correctness using classical verification techniques and modern software engineering practices.

Contribution

It introduces a methodology for verifying the quantum control stack, combining classical hardware/software verification with quantum computing requirements.

Findings

Successful verification of timing and scalability aspects.

Application of classical verification techniques to quantum control hardware.

Enhanced reliability of quantum control systems through systematic testing.

Abstract

This paper describes the verification of the classical software and hardware stack that is used to control cold atom- and superconducting-based quantum computing hardware. The paper serves both as an introduction to quantum computing and to how classical device verification techniques can be employed there. Two main challenges in building a quantum control stack are generating precise deterministic-timing operations at the edge and scaled-out processing in the middle layer. Both challenges are to do with a certain kind of functional performance correctness. And, as usual, the design lives under tight power, memory and latency constraints. The quantum control stack is a complex interaction of algorithms, software runtimes and digital hardware. We take inspiration from modern software approaches to engineering, such as continuous integration and hardware automation, to quickly ship experimental features to customers in the field.