May 2018

Conference Paper

Software-defined quantum network switching

By:
Humble, Travis S; Sadlier III, Ronald J; Williams, Brian P; Prout, Ryan C
Journal Name:
Proceedings of SPIE
Page Number:
106520B
Volume:
10652
Publication Date:
May 2018
Conference Name:
Disruptive Technologies in Information Sciences
Conference Location:
Orlando, Florida, United States of America
Conference Sponsor:
SPIE
View DOI Listing:
https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2303800

Abstract

We present the design and implementation of a software-defined quantum networking protocol and software switch integrated with a numerical quantum channel simulator. Our protocol design leverages recent advances in the OpenFlow protocol that enable software-defined control and management of optical network traffic using side-channel metadata. We implement this design using customization of the open source vSwitch for optical network routing, and we test the implementation using a numerical simulator of the quantum channel alongside actual network traffic. Our results support the integration of quantum communication with existing optical transport methods.