Aircraft and UAS Quantum Key Distribution

We propose to enhance our existing compact optical communications terminal, initially developed under a NASA Select SBIR program, by adding the capability for Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). The addition of QKD ensures secure transmission of encryption keys for encrypted communication with unmanned arial systems. This UAS QKD system could also be used to share keys between two ground locations, allowing point-to-point communication with the security of quantum distributed keys without the necessity of a dedicated fiber-optic connection for QKD. Similarly, the system could be adapted for a satellite, allowing key distribution for secure communication over very long distances. Without the need for a physical link this could provide the security of QKD for remote field applications where a physical link is not possible. There have been limited demonstrations of free-space optical QKD demonstrations and Fibertek’s approach implements several novel techniques to increase the key transfer rate and simplify the hardware implementation on the transmitter and receiver compared to previous demonstrations.