Jumpstarting Air Navigation Services with Quantum Solutions

Objective

Like all ground-breaking technology, quantum computing will create many opportunities, as well as challenges, in the coming years. Air traffic management and aviation in general are one of the areas where those opportunities may be effectively transformed into measurable impact, but also where unaddressed challenges could create substantial difficulties and even hazards. This project aims to lay the groundwork for exploiting the opportunities of quantum computing in ATM while mitigating the risks involved with it.

The main goal is to systematically investigate and map how quantum computing technologies could transform air traffic management systems, including unmanned operations, by identifying high-impact applications, quantifying potential benefits, and addressing emerging cybersecurity challenges in the post-quantum era.

Our specific objectives are to:
- Identify, describe in technical detail, and prioritize (by effort vs. impact) computationally complex problems in ATM/UTM that are compatible with quantum computing algorithms
- Develop a use case for application of quantum computing in ATM/UTM (proposed SESAR solution at TRL1)
- Develop a post-quantum cryptography roadmap for ATM/UTM including the analysis of applicability of European quantum network infrastructure

Our methodology relies on involving wider research community, with the purpose of inviting input regarding the problems and use-cases in which quantum computing could produce highest impact but also with the purpose of educating the ATM community on the opportunities and challenges of quantum computing. On the experimental side, as part of our research we will identify the use-cases which show the most potential in terms of impact and effort for implementation. Having completed that analysis, we will iteratively experiment with implementing quantum algorithms on several of those use-cases. Our goal is to have better understanding of this process and to develop a candidate SESAR Solution at TRL1.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

• natural sciences computer and information sciences computer security cryptography
• engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering computer hardware quantum computers
• social sciences social geography transport transport planning air traffic management

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

• ATM
• UTM
• quantum computing
• post-quantum cryptography

Coordinator

Participants (5)