Implement QCI network in Central Europe - CEQCI

ongoing

The objective of the project is to establish a Central European QKD network connecting the capitals of Austria (Vienna), Hungary (Budapest), Romania (Bucharest) and Slovakia (Bratislava) with additional endpoints in Innsbruck and Graz (Austria). The primary goal is to enable quantum secure communication between the capitals, endpoints and selected intermediate nodes including Győr and Szeged in Hungary as well as Arad, Deva and Craiova in Romania - comprising a total of 11 locations. The network is planned to be orchestrated by Software-Defined Networking (SDN) techniques to facilitate efficient handling of secret key demands and services. Given that the application of SDN methods to QKD networks is a relatively new field, software development constitutes a fundamental component of the project. The network will integrate both terrestrial and space segments. Two quantum capable optical ground stations located in Innsbruck and Budapest will create QKD links via the Eagle-1 European quantum satellite. While these optical ground stations originate from other projects, this project adds elements required for quantum communication. The space segment will be directly connected to and seamlessly integrated with the terrestrial segment in Budapest. Testing and validation will be conducted to ensure the proper functioning of the network. In a real use case, sensitive, classified data will be transferred between two biology laboratories in Graz and Budapest. During the preparation of the network, the questions of scalability and interoperability will be addressed on all levels, with the aim of ensuring future interoperability with other segments of the planned pan-European QCI network. These questions are strongly related to standardization associated with this new technology, which we address during the development of new solutions within the project.