KETS and Airbus partner on Innovate UK grant to secure UAVs with quantum encryption
KETS Quantum Security Ltd is delighted to be working with partners; Airbus, ID Quantique and the Universities of Oxford and Bristol to develop a low-weight, high-speed free-space optical communication system with highly secure quantum encryption and eavesdropping detection.
This project is funded, in part, by Innovate UK – the UK’s innovation agency which recently announced the winners of £14m of national investment into this area. It is part of the £270m government investment in the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme, with a mission to support the translation of revolutionary technology from the lab into the commercial market.
Innovate UK projects must be collaborations between one or more businesses, normally at small/medium-sized enterprises level (SME). Looking to be at the forefront of the new quantum revolution, Innovate UK has invested in these cutting-edge start-ups looking to take quantum technology out of the lab and into the real world. At the same time, they are encouraging close academic involvement from the labs which these technologies came from.
KETS’ CTO and former University of Bristol Quantum Technology Enterprise Fellow, Philip Sibson said. “This is an exciting year for us and this project presents a fantastic opportunity for KETS to demonstrate our chip to chip QKD system in a working prototype. Working with partners such as Airbus means that we also have the benefit of their expertise and experience to ensure that the technology we’ve been developing for years in the lab translates successfully into real world applications. “
The project, which runs until March 2019 will see the development and demonstration of a very low Size Weight and Power (SWaP), QKD enabled unit suitable for the primary target of this proposal; the UAV market. Future potential applications also include space platforms, telecommunications (ground fibre based systems) and critical infrastructure; bringing with it end-users from finance, government, and data centres.
KETS’ Head of Technical Sales, Jake Kennard added, “Both the desktop demonstrator and the prototype UAV system we’re developing will provide an excellent way to demonstrate our technology to these other markets. We’re certainly not taking the easy route starting with drones!”
