Quality of Service in aggregated quantum networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a QoS-based routing approach for quantum networks, analyzing how resource allocation, coherence time, and error correction jointly affect communication fidelity across multi-path quantum channels.

Contribution

It extends classical QoS concepts to quantum networks, exploring the interplay of path assignment, coherence, and QEC, providing insights for optimizing quantum routing protocols.

Findings

Fidelity depends on memory lifetime and resource allocation.

QEC can improve performance but adds constraints.

Path asymmetries influence the effectiveness of error correction.

Abstract

Future quantum networks will enable the interconnection of multiple users distributed across vast geographic distances. Due to these large separations and limited physical resources, communication will often rely on multi-path routing strategies, where physical resources are distributed across channels of varying lengths and delivered to end users. Efficient long-distance quantum communication therefore requires optimizing the allocation of these resources across available paths. In this work, we introduce a performance-oriented approach to quantum network routing by extending the classical concept of Quality of Service (QoS) to the context of multi-path quantum resources distribution. Unlike prior models that consider entanglement generation or quantum memory coherence in isolation, we investigate the interplay between path assignment strategies, coherence time constraints, and quantum error correction (QEC), and how they jointly impact end-to-end communication fidelity. We analyze both unencoded and encoded transmissions over aggregated network paths, quantifying the effects of resource allocation on transmission success. Our findings show that fidelity cannot be optimized independently of memory lifetimes, and that while QEC can enhance performance under specific conditions, it also imposes additional constraints depending on network topology and path-length asymmetries. This work provides a foundation for developing QoS-aware quantum routing protocols that balance fidelity, throughput, and memory utilization -- key considerations for near-term quantum repeater networks.