New Delhi: IIT Delhi and a joint team of scientists from DRDO and successfully established a Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) link between Prayagraj and Vindhyachal in Uttar Pradesh, spanning over 100 kilometres.
QKD is basically a secure communication technology that utilizes a cryptographic protocol including multiple quantum mechanics components.
The method allows two communicating parties to generate random secret keys that are shared by both parties and known only to them, allowing them to encrypt and decode communications in a highly secure manner.
A press release on the latest test from the Ministry of Defence said, “This technological breakthrough was achieved over a commercial-grade optical fibre already available in the field. With this success, the country has demonstrated indigenous technology of secure key transfer for bootstrapping military-grade communication security key hierarchy. The performance parameters have been measured and have been found to be repetitively within the reported international standards at sifted key rates of up to 10 kHz. This technology will enable security agencies to plan a suitable quantum communication network with indigenous technology backbone.”
The technique was tested in December 2020 at a distance of 12 kilometres between two DRDO sites in Hyderabad, the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) and Research Centre Imarat (RCI).
Secure communications are critical for defence and strategic agencies all around the world, and the distribution of encryption keys is a significant component of that.
Sharing keys over the air or through wired networks necessitates encryption, which necessitates the pre-sharing of encryption keys. Quantum-based communication provides a safe means of sharing the keys. The DRDO has worked on a number of initiatives to further this technology.
According to DRDO experts, the organization's work on QKD technology would be utilised to help start-ups and small and medium businesses in the field of quantum information technologies.
According to senior officials, the technology will help define standards and formulate crypto technology-related policies that will allow the country to use the QKD system in a unified Cipher Policy Committee (CPC) framework for more secure "key management" for current and future military cryptographic systems.
Dr. G Satheesh Reddy, Secretary of Defense R&D and Chairman of DRDO, thanked the scientists and faculty of DRDO and IIT Delhi on the successful presentation of this technology. He noted this in his speech to the scientific community as one of the shining instances of synergetic research between the DRDO and the IIT, Delhi.
Professor Rangan Banerjee, Director of IIT Delhi, also commended the DRDO professors and scientists involved in this breakthrough for their devoted efforts to improve the country's technical capabilities.
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