11 October 2024
The Quantum Communications Hub (QCH) displayed two exhibits at Farnborough International Airshow this year, aiming to demonstrate quantum key distribution (QKD) for encrypted secure communications from space.
Satellite QKD provides an elegant solution to the currently limited range of terrestrial optical fibre for key distribution, thereby extending the use of quantum secure communications to global scales.
World-leading research
The UK has world-leading research in terrestrial QKD. Through its Satellite Platform for Optical Quantum Communications (SPOQC) mission, the QCH is supporting an accelerated translation of that expertise and leadership into this application space.
Working with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) the QCH provided two exhibits for the airshow, funded through the National Quantum Technologies Programme via the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
The exhibits demonstrated how these new technologies can change society for the better. On show were:
- a model of SPOQC, the Hub’s 12U CubeSat measuring just 20x20x35cm
- a model of HOGS, the Hub’s Optical Ground Station currently under construction at the Heriot-Watt University campus in Scotland.
SPOQC
The SPOQC mission is unique in its ambition to launch a dual quantum payload. Alternating between two specially developed sources transmitting weak coherent pulses (approximate single photons, using two separate wavelengths thus increasing the quantum key rate) and modulated coherent quantum light pulses, an option designed to explore the potential for daylight operation.
HOGS
The Hub Optical Ground Station consists of a 4.5m robotic observatory dome and 70cm-wide observatory reflective telescope, used to both track the low-Earth orbit satellite path with high precision and receive the quantum signals.
Both the HOGS and the satellite will employ laser beacons to accurately point towards each other. Once precisely aligned, the quantum communications will commence. The HOGS will use one of two quantum receivers, dependent upon which quantum source is active on the satellite.
About Farnborough International Airshow
The biennial Farnborough International Airshow is one of the flagship events in the aerospace, aviation and defence industries. Taking place over a week in July it hosts 1,500 exhibitors from over 60 countries and welcomes over 100,000 visitors, including hundreds of school children on a dedicated outreach day.
UKRI had two bespoke exhibition stands across two zones, Pioneering the Future and Space. Across the two stands they demonstrated and displayed their vision to inspire, explore, and exploit new opportunities, whilst protecting our planet and its people.