Drone- and Vehicle-Based Quantum Key Distribution
Abstract
Quantum key distribution is a point-to-point communication protocol that leverages quantum mechanics to enable secure information exchange. Commonly, the transmitter and receiver stations are at fixed locations, and the single-photon quantum states are transmitted over fiber or free space. Here, we describe a modular, platform-agnostic, quantum key distribution transmitter and receiver with reduced size, weight, and power consumption to realize a mobile quantum communication system. We deploy the system on different moving platforms, demonstrating drone-to-drone, drone-to-vehicle, and vehicle-to-vehicle quantum communication, achieving secure key rates in the finite-key regime in the range of 1.6 - 20 kbps. To prove the security of the system, we develop advanced physics models of the devices that account for non-ideal behaviors that are of greater importance in mobile platforms. The modular system can be easily upgraded to include sources of entangled photonic quantum states, which will find application in future quantum networks.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2505.17587,
title = {Drone- and Vehicle-Based Quantum Key Distribution},
author = {Andrew Conrad and Roderick Cochran and Daniel Sanchez-Rosales and Samantha Isaac and Timur Javid and Tahereh Rezaei and A. J. Schroeder and Grzegorz Golba and Akash Gutha and Brian Wilens and Kyle Herndon and Alex Hill and Joseph Chapman and Ian Call and Joseph Szabo and Aodhan Corrigan and Lars Kamin and Norbert Lütkenhaus and Daniel J. Gauthier and Paul G. Kwiat},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2505.17587},
year = {2025}
}