Quantum Network Simulation and Emulation: A Roadmap for Quantum Internet Design

TL;DR

This paper reviews current quantum network simulation and emulation tools, discusses their limitations, and proposes a roadmap for integrating quantum technologies to improve scalability and effectiveness in quantum internet development.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of existing tools, identifies key bottlenecks, and outlines a strategic roadmap for adopting quantum technologies in network simulation and emulation.

Findings

Classical simulation methods face scalability bottlenecks.

Quantum technologies can potentially overcome simulation limitations.

A strategic roadmap for quantum network tool adoption is proposed.

Abstract

Quantum networks are advancing the information technology infrastructure of society. Simulation and emulation software tools have emerged to support the design, development, and deployment of quantum networks, however, classical simulation and emulation methods have major bottlenecks in the error, latency, and cost that they can achieve at scale. In this work, we review quantum network simulation and emulation tools, including foundational principles, state-of-the-art tools, and bottlenecks. We then discuss how quantum technologies can address these challenges, and we construct a roadmap for the adoption of quantum simulation and emulation tools, emphasizing codesign with quantum network testbeds.