New Delhi: In a step towards establishing safe communication without the need of optical fiber cables, DRDO and IIT Delhi have successfully demonstrated free-space quantum safe communication using quantum complication at a distance of more than one km.
It was obtained through a free-space optical link set up by a research group led by Professor Bhaskar Kanseri in the IIT Delhi campus.
Free space optical link is a line-off-vision technique that uses lease to provide optical bandwidth connection. A statement issued by the Ministry of Defense said that the experiment received a safe significant rate with a quantum bit error rate of about 240 bits per second per second.
Show full article
This entangled quantum secure communication paves the way for real-time applications in quantum cyber security, including long distance quantum key distribution (QKD), development of quantum network and future quantum internet.
These efforts said that the Ministry aligned with India’s widespread objectives to pursue quantum technologies for national development.
The Ministry of Defense said that quantum complication-based QKD provides many important benefits on traditional preparation-and-pap method by increasing both security and functionality.
“Even if equipment is compromised or incomplete, the use of quantum complication ensures the safety of major distribution. Any attempt to measure or disrupt the tangled photon disturbs the quantum state, allowing authorized users to detect the presence of an EVSDROPOper,” said this.
This means that quantum communication provides fundamentally unbreakable encryption, making it a dual-use technique with applications in obtaining data in strategic fields such as defense, finance and telecommunications, as well as data in protecting national security-related communications.
This process reduces the need to lay optical fiber, which can be both disruptive and expensive, especially in challenging areas and dense urban environments.
India’s first Intercity Quantum Communications Link was established between Vindechal and Prayagrag in 2022. However, this commercial-grade was obtained through the use of underground dark optical fibers and was displayed by DRDO scientists with Professor Bhaskar’s team.
“Recently, in 2024, the team successfully distributed quantum keys, using more than 100 km spool of telecom-grade optical fibers in another DRDO-supported project,” said in the statement.
It states, “These technologies are being developed through DRDO-Intustry-Academia-Centers of Exclens (Dia-COS)-an initiative of DRDO, where 15 centers have been established for the development of cutting age defense technologies in major educational institutions, IISC and universities.”
Congratulating DRDO and IIT Delhi, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said with this achievement, “India entered a new quantum era of safe communication, which would be a game changer in the future war”.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also read: What is 155 mm/52 caliber barrel drdo