The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is seeking proposals to combine current and near-future quantum networking infrastructure—hardware and protocols—with classical infrastructure.
A major challenge of integrating quantum links into classical networks “is the secure, configurable connection of quantum optical links to today’s computers,” says Allyson O’Brien, DARPA’s QuANET program manager in a statement on DARPA’s website. “We want to make the networking and optical communications networking community more quantum-aware—where the capabilities are now and where they’re going—and we want the quantum networking community to understand better all of the complexities and issues facing classical networks. By bringing these two communities together, we may be able to create a new paradigm in networking.”
The project’s initial scope is to enable network infrastructure to use quantum comms in various ways and isn’t focusing on quantum key distribution (QKD) to scale up the size of a metropolitan area network. It also isn’t focusing on quantum interconnects, such as quantum repeaters, switches, and routers.
For more information about the program and instructions for proposal submission, visit https://sam.gov/opp/60917f7ea74845bf8f6aaa1382813f86/view.