A vendor-agnostic benchmarking platform for QKD and beyond
Year: 2026
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: This paper presents a method for homogeneous, vendor-agnostic benchmarking of QKD system performance in coexistence with classical signals. This type of evaluation is necessary to ensure the effective deployment of QKD technology in EuroQCI-type networks and, furthermore, to establish fair and consistent certification platforms for all equipment, as sought by initiatives such as Nostradamus. To this end, the method relies on OTN equipment, to manage physical-layer functions such as amplification, attenuation, multiplexing and transceiver operations. This equipment allows for both the automation of classical power delivery and the collection of metrics, as well as the programmatic development of different testing routines. Indeed, the platform can adapt to the classic setup using different configurations to create a variety of testing routines, depending on the system under test. This work will enable a consistent, systematic and vendoragnostic benchmarking of all the QKD systems deployed in the MadQCI ecosystem.
Language: English
Subfield: Artificial Intelligence
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7215031480