Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Quantum technology affects autonomous shipping along two paths that are usually studied separately. First, a cryptographically relevant quantum computer can break the public-key algorithms that authenticate maritime communications and adversaries can then harvest encrypted traffic to decrypt it later. Second, quantum gravimeters, magnetometers, and atomic clocks can help supply position and time when satellite navigation is jammed or spoofed. An autonomous vessel faces both of these situations at once with little human fallback. Based on the structured, reproducible review reported here, we found no framework that treats these two quantum-related axes as a single posture and scales it to vessel autonomy. This paper proposes such a framework. It is conceptual, not an empirically validated model. It defines a cryptographic axis and a resilient positioning, navigation, and timing axis, each read through anticipate, withstand, and recover and mapped to the four International Maritime Organization degrees of autonomy. Its central, testable claim is that the two axes are functionally non-substitutable, which we distinguish from statistical independence. A proposed autonomy-scaling principle, mediated by effective human-intervention capability, sets a non-compensatory required posture. A worked illustration, a real-vessel desk assessment, a validation programme, and a comparison with IMO, NIST, and ISO/IEC instruments are provided.
DOI: 10.3390/jmse14151362
Author: Simon Baradziej
Institution: UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Language: English
Subfield: Ocean Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,137
OpenAlex ID: W7171301632