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Drones Communicate With Each Other Using Quantum Encryption

And you thought drones couldn't get more enigmatic; not only can they communicate with each other, they can do it in a way that can't be overheard by humans.


(Quantum network and physical realization
with mobile drone-based nodes.
(a) A practical quantum network consists of multinode
structure and should provide access for users at any time.
(b) If link distance is over the Rayleigh length limit,
the beam aperture will be divergent and become larger
than the receiver telescope, which inevitably brings
loss to the system.)

Entanglement distribution has been accomplished using a flying drone, and this mobile platform can be generalized for multiple mobile nodes with optical relay among them. Here we develop the first optical relay to reshape the wavefront of photons for their low diffraction loss in free-space transmission.

Using two drones, where one distributes the entangled photons and the other serves as relay node, we achieve entanglement distribution with Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt at 1 km distance. Key components for entangled source, tracking, and relay are developed with high performance and are lightweight, constructing a scalable airborne system for multinode connection and toward mobile quantum networks.

(Via Optical-Relayed Entanglement Distribution Using Drones as Mobile Nodes)


(Target acquisition: Beams from one drone visible over testing area)

This reminds me of the talk between robots (TBR) feature discussed by Frederik Pohl in his 1954 short story The Midas Plague. In the story, Henry is a companion robot; these robots cooperate with each other, sharing information to better server their masters:

"Fine! Well, get started on the other things, then."

"Yes, sir," said Henry, and assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits - the Talk Between Robots radio - as it arranged the appointments for its master.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 1/29/2021)

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