Rolls-Royce begins to use quantum computing in the development of aircraft engines

On May 21, 2023, Nvidia, Rolls-Royce and Classiq announced a breakthrough in quantum computing that is expected to significantly improve the efficiency of jet engines.

Using the Nvidia platform, the project participants developed the world's largest quantum system for computational fluid dynamics (CFD). This section of continuous mechanics includes a set of physical, mathematical and numerical methods designed to calculate the characteristics of flow processes. Thanks to the architecture with 39 qubits (quantum bits), it becomes possible to simulate up to 10 million layers in depth.

Quantum computing should lead to more efficient jet engines

The design of jet engines, which are one of the most complex installations on Earth, is expensive and complex in terms of calculations. Nvidia's quantum technology gives Rolls-Royce the potential to solve these problems, "said Ian Buck, vice president of hyperscale and high-performance computing at Nvidia.

The new CFD system provides for the use of a hybrid approach: classical and quantum computing are combined, which allows solving the most complex problems. For such projects, Nvidia offers a number of specialized solutions. It is a QODA development environment and an NVIDIA DGX Quantum system that combines accelerated computing tools based on the Grace Hopper superchip, the CUDA Quantum open source programming model, and the advanced Quantum Machines OPX + quantum control platform. It is noted that Rolls-Royce and the Israeli company Classiq developed a system using the Classiq synthesis mechanism, and then modeled it using Nvidia A100 GPUs with tensor cores. Applying both classical and quantum computing techniques directly to the jet engine design task will help Rolls-Royce accelerate the creation of new powertrains^[1]

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