Russian Railways begins to create a quantum communication system for 138 million rubles

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In October 2021, Russian Railways Holding, which is responsible for [1] the development of quantum communications under the national Digital Economy program, announced a tender for the Development and Creation of a Quantum Communication System for Continuous Variables. The amount of the lot is 138 million rubles.

Russian Railways initiated the development and creation of a system of quantum communication on continuous variables

In quantum networks, data is transmitted using photons, and for encoding information, in accordance with the specification, the system should use electromagnetic field parameters that receive a continuous series of values. This approach does not allow hacking or unauthorized downloading of data. When developing the system, it will be necessary to solve the problem of signal attenuation during transmission to the VOLS, since it is assumed that the system will be able to operate in point-to-point mode at a distance of several thousand kilometers. The system should also be integrated with the communication infrastructure of Russian Railways, working organically with traditional communication networks.

According to the terms of the tender, the analysis of the quantum communications market, research documentation and working prototypes of transmitting and receiving equipment, as well as the encoder and optical multiplexing unit should be provided to the customer in December 2022. In May 2023, all improvements should be completed. In addition, according to the results of the work, the executor is obliged to publish at least two scientific articles in specialized publications.

In July 2019 , Russian Railways was determined by the Government of the Russian Federation to be responsible for implementing the direction of quantum communications within the framework of the Digital Economy of the Russian Federation program. The press service of Russian Railways told TAdviser that the roadmap for the development of quantum communications includes more than 120 projects, implies the development of 9 priority technologies, 75 products and services and the achievement of more than 35 targets. One of the indicators is the creation of quantum networks with a length of more than 7,000 km until the end of 2024.

The roadmap involves the creation of a full range of hardware and software necessary to form a single quantum communication infrastructure, including both backbone network equipment and subscriber terminals. It is necessary to create a complete line of equipment, as the development of existing basic solutions that are insufficient to organize full-fledged operator networks and provide services based on them, "TAdviser told Russian Railways

To implement the program, the Department of Quantum Communications was created at Russian Railways, which provides interaction with the scientific community and technology companies. In addition, as part of another project of the program , the Moscow-St. Petersburg quantum network was launched in June 2021 and the first "quantum" video call was made.