In recent years, noticeable progress has been made in the development of quantum equipment, reflected through the number of successful demonstrations of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technology. Although they showcase the great achievements of QKD, many practical difficulties still need to be resolved. Inspired by the significant similarity between mobile ad-hoc networks and QKD technology, we propose a novel quality of service (QoS) model including new metrics for determining the states of public and quantum channels as well as a comprehensive metric of the QKD link. We also propose a novel routing protocol to achieve high-level scalability and minimize consumption of cryptographic keys. Given the limited mobility of nodes in QKD networks, our routing protocol uses the geographical distance and calculated link states to determine the optimal route. It also benefits from a caching mechanism and detection of returning loops to provide effective forwarding while minimizing key consumption and achieving the desired utilization of network links. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the validity and accuracy of the proposed solutions.

Companies running research and development (R&D) departments invest considerable effort into the protection of results and security of communication channels. In cases where particular expertise is unavailable within the company, R&D may be partially outsourced to external specialists being universities or independent research centers. In any such case where highly valuable data is to be exchanged between departments of a company or a university, quantum cryptography offers a convenient way to protect the investment and revenue tied to the research. Upon recent results within the EU-project SECOQC, we present an application framework that is suitable for meeting R&D security requirements. We draw from the latest experimental results, demonstrating the feasibility and efficiency of using quantum cryptography in that context.