idnits 2.17.1 draft-wang-qirg-quantum-internet-use-cases-03.txt: Checking boilerplate required by RFC 5378 and the IETF Trust (see https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info): ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- No issues found here. Checking nits according to https://www.ietf.org/id-info/1id-guidelines.txt: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- No issues found here. Checking nits according to https://www.ietf.org/id-info/checklist : ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- No issues found here. Miscellaneous warnings: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- == The copyright year in the IETF Trust and authors Copyright Line does not match the current year == The document doesn't use any RFC 2119 keywords, yet seems to have RFC 2119 boilerplate text. -- The document date (February 14, 2020) is 1532 days in the past. Is this intentional? Checking references for intended status: Informational ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- == Unused Reference: 'I-D.dahlberg-ll-quantum' is defined on line 702, but no explicit reference was found in the text == Outdated reference: A later version (-11) exists of draft-irtf-qirg-principles-02 Summary: 0 errors (**), 0 flaws (~~), 4 warnings (==), 1 comment (--). Run idnits with the --verbose option for more detailed information about the items above. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 QIRG C. Wang 3 Internet-Draft A. Rahman 4 Intended status: Informational InterDigital Communications, LLC 5 Expires: August 17, 2020 R. Li 6 NICT 7 February 14, 2020 9 Applications and Use Cases for the Quantum Internet 10 draft-wang-qirg-quantum-internet-use-cases-03 12 Abstract 14 The Quantum Internet has the potential to improve Internet 15 application functionality by incorporating quantum information 16 technology into the infrastructure of the overall Internet. In this 17 document, we provide an overview of some applications expected to be 18 used on the Quantum Internet, and then categorize them using the 19 standard telecommunications classification of control plane versus 20 data plane functionality. Other classification schemes are also 21 possible and discussed briefly. We then provide detailed use cases 22 for selected applications, and then derive a few key requirements for 23 the Quantum Internet. The intent of this document is to provide a 24 common understanding and framework of applications and use cases for 25 the Quantum Internet. 27 Status of This Memo 29 This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the 30 provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. 32 Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering 33 Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute 34 working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet- 35 Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/. 37 Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months 38 and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any 39 time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference 40 material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." 42 This Internet-Draft will expire on August 17, 2020. 44 Copyright Notice 46 Copyright (c) 2020 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the 47 document authors. All rights reserved. 49 This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal 50 Provisions Relating to IETF Documents 51 (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of 52 publication of this document. Please review these documents 53 carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect 54 to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must 55 include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of 56 the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as 57 described in the Simplified BSD License. 59 Table of Contents 61 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 62 2. Conventions used in this document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 63 3. Terms and Acronyms List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 64 4. Quantum Internet Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 65 4.1. Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 66 4.2. Control vs Data Plane Classification . . . . . . . . . . 5 67 4.2.1. Control Plane Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 68 4.2.2. Data Plane Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 69 4.3. Other Possible Classifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 70 5. Selected Quantum Internet Use Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 71 5.1. Secure Communication Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 72 5.2. Distributed Quantum Computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 73 5.3. Secure Quantum Computing with Privacy Preservation . . . 11 74 6. General Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 75 7. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 76 8. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 77 9. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 78 10. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 79 11. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 80 Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 82 1. Introduction 84 The classical Internet has been constantly growing since it first 85 became commercially popular in the early 1990's. It essentially 86 consists of a large number of end-nodes (e.g., laptops, smart phones, 87 network servers) connected by routers. The end-nodes run 88 applications that provide some value added service for the end-users 89 such as processing and transmission of voice, video or data. The 90 physical connections between the various nodes in the Internet 91 include Digital Subscriber Lines (DSLs), fiber optics, etc. Bits are 92 transmitted across the classical Internet in packets. 94 Research and experimentation have picked up over the last few years 95 for developing a Quantum Internet [Wehner]. It is anticipated that 96 the Quantum Internet will provide intrinsic benefits such as better 97 end-user and network security. The Quantum Internet will have end- 98 nodes, which may be connected by quantum repeaters/routers. These 99 quantum end-nodes will also run value-added applications which will 100 be discussed later. 102 The physical connections between the various nodes in the Quantum 103 Internet are expected to be primarily fiber optics and free-space 104 optics. Optical connections are particularly useful because light 105 (photons) is very suitable for physically encoding qubits. Unlike 106 the classical Internet, qubits (and not classical bits or packets) 107 are expected to be transmitted across the Quantum Internet due to the 108 underlying physics. The Quantum Internet will operate according to 109 unique physical principles such as quantum superposition, 110 entanglement and teleportation [I-D.irtf-qirg-principles]. 112 The Quantum Internet is not anticipated to replace the classical 113 Internet. Instead the Quantum Internet will be integrated into the 114 classical Internet to form a new hybrid Internet. The process of 115 integrating the Quantum Internet with the classical Internet is 116 similar to, but with more profound implications, as the process of 117 introducing any new communication and networking paradigm into the 118 existing Internet. The intent of this document is to provide a 119 common understanding and framework of applications and use cases for 120 the Quantum Internet. 122 2. Conventions used in this document 124 The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", 125 "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this 126 document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119]. 128 3. Terms and Acronyms List 130 This document assumes that the reader is familiar with the quantum 131 information technology related terms and concepts that are described 132 in [I-D.irtf-qirg-principles]. In addition, the following terms and 133 acronyms are defined here for clarity: 135 o Bit - Binary Digit (i.e., fundamental unit of information in a 136 classical computer). 138 o Classical Internet - The existing, deployed Internet (circa 2020) 139 where bits are transmitted in packets between nodes to convey 140 information. The classical Internet supports applications which 141 may be enhanced by the Quantum Internet. For example, the end-to- 142 end security of a classical Internet application may be improved 143 by secure communication setup using a quantum application. 145 o Hybrid Internet - The "new" or evolved Internet to be formed due 146 to a merger of the classical Internet and the Quantum Internet. 148 o Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) - NISQ was defined in 149 [Preskill] to represent a near-term era in quantum technology. 150 According to this definition, NISQ computers have two salient 151 features: (1) The size of NISQ computers range from 50 to a few 152 hundred qubits (i.e., intermediate-scale); and (2) Qubits in NISQ 153 computers have inherent errors and the control over them is 154 imperfect (i.e., noisy). 156 o Packet - Formatted unit of multiple related bits. 158 o Quantum End-node - An end-node hosts user applications and 159 interfaces with the rest of the Internet. Typically, an end-node 160 may serve in a client, server, or peer-to-peer role as part of the 161 application. If the end-node is part of the Quantum Internet it 162 must be able to generate/transmit and/or receive/process qubits. 163 A quantum end-node, if it has quantum memory and quantum computing 164 capabilities, can be regarded as a quantum computer. A quantum 165 end-node must also be able to interface to the classical Internet 166 for control purposes and thus also be able to receive, process, 167 and transmit classical bits/packets. 169 o Quantum Internet - A new type of network enabled by quantum 170 information technology where qubits are transmitted between nodes 171 to convey information. (Note: qubits must be sent individually 172 and not in packets). The Quantum Internet will be merged into the 173 classical Internet to form a new hybrid Internet. The Quantum 174 Internet will use both quantum channels, and classical channels 175 provided by the classical Internet. The Quantum Internet may 176 either improve classical applications or may enable new quantum 177 applications. 179 o Quantum Computer (QC) - Compared to a quantum end-node, a QC has 180 more capabilities such as quantum memory and quantum circuits, 181 which are required for performing quantum computing tasks. 183 o Qubit - Quantum Bit (i.e., fundamental unit of information in a 184 quantum computer). It is similar to a classic bit in that the 185 state of a qubit is either "0" or "1" after it is measured and is 186 denoted as its basis state |0> or |1>. However, the qubit is 187 different than a classic bit in that the qubit is in a linear 188 combination of both states before it is measured and termed to be 189 in superposition. A photon or an electron can be used to 190 represent a qubit. 192 4. Quantum Internet Applications 194 4.1. Overview 196 The Quantum Internet is expected to be extremely beneficial for a 197 subset of existing and new applications. We use "applications" in 198 the widest sense of the word and include functionality typically 199 contained in Layers 4 (Transport) to Layers 7 (Application) of the 200 Open System Interconnect (OSI) model. 202 The expected applications using Quantum Internet are still being 203 developed as we are in the formative stages of the Quantum Internet 204 [Castelvecchi] [Wehner]. However, an initial (and non-exhaustive) 205 list of the applications to be supported on the Quantum Internet can 206 be identified and classified using different schemes. We concentrate 207 on the telecom centric classification of control plane versus data 208 plane. We also briefly discuss other possible classification 209 schemes. 211 4.2. Control vs Data Plane Classification 213 Traditionally, in the Internet most applications are classified as 214 either control plane functionality or data plane functionality. 215 Similarly, we classify Quantum Internet applications using the 216 paradigm of control plane applications versus data plane applications 217 where: 219 o Control Plane - Network functions and processes that operate on 220 (1) control bits/packets or qubits (e.g., to setup up end-user 221 encryption); or (2) management bits/packets or qubits (e.g., to 222 configure nodes). 224 o Data Plane - Network functions and processes that operate on end- 225 user application bits/packets or qubits (e.g., voice, video, 226 data). Sometimes also referred to as the user plane. 228 Some examples of classic Internet control plane applications are 229 Domain Name Server (DNS), Session Information Protocol (SIP), and 230 Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP). Furthermore, examples of 231 classic Internet data plane applications are E-mail, web browsing, 232 and video streaming. Note that some applications may require both 233 control plane and data plane functionality. For example, a Voice 234 over IP (VoIP) application may use SIP to set up the call and then 235 transmit the VoIP user packets over the data plane to the other 236 party. 238 4.2.1. Control Plane Applications 240 Control Plane Applications using Quantum Internet: 242 1. Secure communication setup - Refers to secure cryptographic key 243 distribution between two or more end-nodes. The most well-known 244 method is referred to as Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) [Renner]. 246 2. Fast Byzantine negotiation - Refers to a quantum network based 247 method for fast agreement in Byzantine negotiations [Fitzi]. 248 This can be used for the popular financial blockchain feature as 249 well as other distributed computing features which use Byzantine 250 negotiations. 252 3. Network clock synchronization - Refers to a world wide set of 253 atomic clocks connected by the Quantum Internet to achieve an 254 ultra precise clock signal [Komar]. 256 4. Position verification - Refers to a method for an end-node to 257 prove that it is at a particular location to, for example, access 258 a specific service [Unruh]. 260 4.2.2. Data Plane Applications 262 Data Plane Applications using Quantum Internet: 264 1. Distributed quantum computing - Refers to a collection of remote 265 small capacity quantum computers (i.e., each supporting a few 266 qubits) that are connected and working together in a coordinated 267 fashion so as to simulate a virtual large capacity quantum 268 computer [Wehner]. 270 2. Secure quantum computing with privacy preservation - Refers to 271 private, or blind, quantum computation, which provides a way for 272 a client to delegate a computation task to one or more remote 273 quantum computers without disclosing the source data to be 274 computed over [Fitzsimons]. 276 4.3. Other Possible Classifications 278 Applications may also be classified by the industry sector that they 279 serve. For example, applications may be classified as: 281 o Quantum computing (e.g., distributed quantum computing) 283 o Quantum cryptography (e.g., QKD) 284 o Quantum metrology (e.g., detection of gravitational radiation by 285 measurement on two widely separated masses) 287 o Quantum Internet of Things (IoT) 289 This is a valid and useful classification scheme. However, since the 290 classic Internet community is used to the control plane versus data 291 plane paradigm we will primarily use that approach in this document. 293 5. Selected Quantum Internet Use Cases 295 The Quantum Internet will support a variety of applications and 296 deployment configurations. This section details a few key use cases 297 which illustrates the benefits of the Quantum Internet. In system 298 engineering, a use case is typically made up of a set of possible 299 sequences of interactions between nodes and users in a particular 300 environment and related to a particular goal. This will be the 301 definition that we use in this section. 303 5.1. Secure Communication Setup 305 In this scenario, two banks (i.e., Bank #1 and Bank #2) need to have 306 secure communications for transmitting important financial 307 transaction records (see Figure 1). For this purpose, they first 308 need to securely exchange a classic secret cryptographic key (i.e., a 309 sequence of classical bits), which is triggered by an end-user banker 310 at Bank #1. This results in a source quantum node A at Bank #1 to 311 securely send a classic secret key to a destination quantum node B at 312 Bank #2. This is referred to as a secure communication setup. Note 313 that the quantum node A and B could be either a bare-bone quantum 314 end-node or a full-fledged quantum computer. This use case shows 315 that the Quantum Internet can be leveraged to improve the security of 316 classical Internet applications of which the financial application 317 shown in Figure 1 is an example. 319 One requirement for this secure communication setup process is that 320 it should not be vulnerable to any classic or quantum computing 321 attack. This can be realized using QKD [ETSI-QKD-Interfaces]. QKD 322 can securely distribute a secret key between two quantum nodes, 323 without physically transmitting it through the network and thus 324 achieving the required security. QKD is the most mature feature of 325 the quantum information technology, and has been commercially 326 deployed in small-scale and short-distance deployments. More QKD use 327 cases have been described in ETSI GS QKD 002 [ETSI-QKD-UseCases]. 329 In general, QKD (e.g., [BB84]) without using entanglement works as 330 follows: 332 1. The source quantum node A (e.g. Alice) transforms the secret key 333 to qubits. Basically, for each classical bit in the secret key, 334 the source quantum node A randomly selects one quantum 335 computational basis and uses it to prepare/generate a qubit for 336 the classical bit. 338 2. The source quantum node A sends qubits to the destination quantum 339 node B (e.g. Bob) via quantum channel. 341 3. The destination quantum node receives qubits and measures them 342 based on its random quantum basis. 344 4. The destination quantum node sends the measurement results (i.e., 345 classic bits) to the source quantum node via any public classic 346 channel. 348 5. Both the source node and the destination node inform each other's 349 random quantum basis. 351 6. Both nodes discard any measurement bit under different quantum 352 basis and store all remaining bits as the secret key. 354 It is worth noting that: 356 1. There are some entanglement-based QKD protocols such as 357 [Treiber], which work differently than above steps. The 358 entanglement-based schemes, where entangled states are prepared 359 externally to Alice and Bob, are not normally considered 360 "prepare-and-measure" as defined in [Wehner]; other entanglement- 361 based schemes, where entanglement is generated within Alice can 362 still be considered "prepare-and-measure"; send-and-return 363 schemes can still be "prepare-and-measure", if the information 364 content, from which keys will be derived, is prepared within 365 Alice before being sent to Bob for measurement. 367 2. There are many enhanced QKD protocols based on [BB84]. For 368 example, a series of loopholes have been identified due to the 369 imperfections of measurement devices; there are several solutions 370 to take into account these attacks such as measurement-device- 371 independent QKD [ZhangPeiyu]. These enhanced QKD protocol can 372 work differently than the steps of BB84 protocol [BB84]. 374 3. For large-scale QKD, QKD Networks (QKDN) are required, which can 375 be regarded as a subset of a Quantum Internet. A QKDN may 376 consist of a QKD application layer, a QKD network layer, and a 377 QKD link layer [QinHao]. One or multiple trusted QKD relays 378 [ZhangQiang] may exist between the source quantum node A and the 379 destination quantum node B, which are connected by a QKDN. 381 Alternatively, a QKDN may rely on entanglement distribution and 382 entanglement-based QKD protocols; as a result, quantum-repeaters/ 383 routers instead of trusted QKD relays are needed for large-scale 384 QKD. 386 As a result, the Quantum Internet in Figure 1 contains quantum 387 channels. And in order to support secure communication setup 388 especially in large-scale deployment, it also requires entanglement 389 generation and entanglement distribution 390 [I-D.van-meter-qirg-quantum-connection-setup], quantum repeaters/ 391 routers, and/or trusted QKD relays. 393 +---------------+ 394 | End User | 395 |(e.g., Banking | 396 | Application) | 397 +---------------+ 398 ^ 399 | User Interface 400 | (e.g., GUI) 401 V 402 +-----------------+ /--------\ +-----------------+ 403 | |--->( Quantum )--->| | 404 | Source | ( Internet ) | Destination | 405 | Quantum | \--------/ | Quantum | 406 | Node A | | Node B | 407 | (e.g., Bank #1) | /--------\ | (e.g., Bank #2) | 408 | | ( Classical) | | 409 | |<-->( Internet )<-->| | 410 +-----------------+ \--------/ +-----------------+ 412 Figure 1: Secure Communication Setup 414 5.2. Distributed Quantum Computing 416 In this scenario, Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) computers 417 distributed in different locations are available for sharing. 418 According to the definition in [Preskill], a NISQ computer can only 419 realize a small number of qubits and has limited quantum error 420 correction. In order to gain higher computation power before fully- 421 fledged quantum computers become available, NISQ computers can be 422 connected via classic and quantum channels. This scenario is 423 referred to as distributed quantum computing [Caleffi] 424 [Cacciapuoti01] [Cacciapuoti02]. This use case reflects the vastly 425 increased computing power which quantum computers as a part of the 426 Quantum Internet can bring, in contrast to classical computers in the 427 classical Internet. 429 As an example, scientists can leverage these connected NISQ computer 430 to solve highly complex scientific computation problems such as 431 analysis of chemical interactions for medical drug development (see 432 Figure 2). In this case, qubits will be transmitted among connected 433 quantum computers via quantum channels, while classic control 434 messages will be transmitted among them via classic channels for 435 coordination and control purpose . Qubits from one NISQ computer to 436 another NISQ computer are very sensitive and cannot be lost. For 437 this purpose, quantum teleportation can be leveraged to teleport 438 sensitive data qubits from one quantum computer A to another quantum 439 computer B. Note that Figure 2 does not cover measurement-based 440 distributed quantum computing, where quantum teleportation may not be 441 required. 443 Specifically, the following steps happen between A and B: 445 1. The quantum computer A locally generates some sensitive data 446 qubits to be teleported to the quantum computer B. 448 2. A shared entanglement is established between the quantum computer 449 A and the quantum computer B (i.e., there are two entangled 450 qubits: |q1> at A and |q2> at B). 452 3. Then, the quantum computer A performs a Bell measurement of the 453 entangled qubit |q1> and the sensitive data qubit. 455 4. The result from this Bell measurement will be encoded in two 456 classic bits, which will be physically transmitted via a classic 457 channel to the quantum computer B. 459 5. Based on the received two classic bits, the quantum computer B 460 modifies the state of the entangled qubit |q2> in the way to 461 generate a new qubit identical to the sensitive data qubit at the 462 quantum computer A. 464 In Figure 2, the Quantum Internet contains quantum channels and 465 quantum repeaters/routers [I-D.irtf-qirg-principles]. This use case 466 needs to support entanglement generation in order to enable quantum 467 teleportation, entanglement distribution or quantum connection setup 468 [I-D.van-meter-qirg-quantum-connection-setup] in order to support 469 long-distance quantum teleportation. 471 +-----------------+ 472 | End-User | 473 |(e.g., Scientist)| 474 +-----------------+ 475 ^ 476 |User Interface (e.g. GUI) 477 | 478 +------------------+-------------------+ 479 | | 480 | | 481 V V 482 +----------------+ /--------\ +----------------+ 483 | |--->( Quantum )--->| | 484 | | ( Internet ) | | 485 | Quantum | \--------/ | Quantum | 486 | Computer A | | Computer B | 487 | (e.g., Site #1)| /--------\ | (e.g., Site #2)| 488 | | ( Classical) | | 489 | |<-->( Internet )<-->| | 490 +----------------+ \--------/ +----------------+ 492 Figure 2: Distributed Quantum Computing 494 5.3. Secure Quantum Computing with Privacy Preservation 496 Secure computation with privacy preservation refers to the scenario: 498 1. A client node with source data delegates the computation of the 499 source data to a remote computation node. 501 2. Furthermore, the client node does not want to disclose any source 502 data to the remote computation node and thus preserve the source 503 data privacy. 505 3. Note that there is no assumption or guarantee that the remote 506 computation node is a trusted entity from the source data privacy 507 perspective. 509 As an example illustrated in Figure 3, the client node could be a 510 virtual voice-controlled home assistant device like Amazon's Alexa 511 product. The remote computation node could be a quantum computer in 512 the cloud. A resident as an end-user uses voice to control the home 513 device. The home device captures voice-based commands from the end- 514 user. Then, the home device interfaces to a home quantum terminal 515 node (e.g., a home gateway), which interacts with the remote 516 computation node to perform computation over the captured voice-based 517 commands. The home quantum terminal could be either a bare-bone 518 quantum end-node or a full-fledged quantum computer. 520 In this particular case, there is no privacy concern since the source 521 data (i.e., captured voice-based commands) will not be sent to the 522 remote computation node which could be compromised. Protocols 523 [Fitzsimons] for delegated quantum computing or blind quantum 524 computation can be leveraged to realize secure delegated computation 525 and guarantee privacy preservation simultaneously. Using delegated 526 quantum computing protocols, the client node does not need send the 527 source data but qubits with some measurement instructions to the 528 remote computation node (e.g., a quantum computer). 530 After receiving qubits and measurement instructions, the remote 531 computation node performs the following actions: 533 1. It first performs certain quantum operations on received qubits 534 and measure them according to received measurement instructions 535 to generate computation results (in classic bits). 537 2. Then it sends the computation results back to the client node via 538 classic channel. 540 3. In this process, the source data is not disclosed to the remote 541 computation node and the privacy is preserved. 543 In Figure 3, the Quantum Internet contains quantum channels and 544 quantum repeaters/routers for long-distance qubits transmission 545 [I-D.irtf-qirg-principles]. 547 +----------------+ 548 | End-User | 549 |(e.g., Resident)| 550 +----------------+ 551 ^ 552 | User Interface 553 | (e.g., voice commands) 554 V 555 +----------------+ 556 | Home Device | 557 +----------------+ 558 ^ 559 | Classic 560 | Channel 561 V 562 +----------------+ /--------\ +----------------+ 563 | |--->( Quantum )--->| | 564 | Quantum | ( Internet ) | Remote | 565 | Terminal | \--------/ | Computation | 566 | Node | | Node | 567 | (e.g., Home | /--------\ | (e.g., QC | 568 | Gateway) | ( Classical) | in Cloud) | 569 | |<-->( Internet )<-->| | 570 +----------------+ \--------/ +----------------+ 572 Figure 3: Secure Computation with Privacy Preservation 574 6. General Requirements 576 Based on the above applications and use cases, some general 577 requirements on the Quantum Internet from the networking perspective 578 are identified as follows: 580 1. Methods for facilitating quantum applications to interact 581 efficiently with entanglement qubits are necessary in order for 582 them to trigger distribution of designated entangled qubits to 583 potentially any other quantum node residing in the Quantum 584 Internet. To accomplish this specific operations must be 585 performed on entangled qubits (e.g., entanglement swapping, 586 entanglement distillation). Quantum nodes may be quantum end- 587 nodes, quantum repeaters/routers, and/or quantum computers. 589 2. Quantum repeaters/routers should support robust and efficient 590 entanglement distribution. 592 3. Quantum end-nodes must send additional information on classical 593 channels to aid in transmission of qubits across quantum 594 repeaters/receivers. This is because qubits are transmitted 595 individually and do not have any associated packet overhead which 596 can help in transmission of the qubit. Any extra information to 597 aid in routing, identification, etc., of the qubit must be sent 598 via classical channels. 600 7. Conclusion 602 This document provides an overview of some expected applications for 603 the Quantum Internet and details selected use cases. The 604 applications are classified as either control plane or data plane 605 functionality as typical for Internet applications. One key take 606 away is that a variety of control plane applications will run on the 607 Quantum Internet. In contrast, the data plane applications running 608 on the Quantum Internet will be focused on supporting different forms 609 of remote quantum computing. This set of applications may, of 610 course, naturally expand over time as the Quantum Internet matures. 612 This document can also serve as an introductory text to persons 613 interested in learning about the practical uses of the Quantum 614 Internet. Finally, it is hoped that this document will help guide 615 further research and development of the specific Quantum Internet 616 functionality required to implement the applications and uses cases 617 described herein. To this end, a few key requirements for the 618 Quantum Internet are specified. 620 8. IANA Considerations 622 This document requests no IANA actions. 624 9. Security Considerations 626 This document does not define an architecture nor a specific protocol 627 for the Quantum Internet. It focuses on detailing use cases and 628 describing typical Quantum Internet applications. However, some 629 useful observations can be made regarding security as follows. 631 It has been clearly identified that once large-scale quantum 632 computing becomes reality it will be able to theoretically break many 633 of the public-key (i.e., asymmetric) cryptosystems currently in use 634 because of the exponential increase of computing power with quantum 635 computing. This would negatively affect many of the security 636 mechanisms currently in use on the classic Internet. This has given 637 strong impetus for starting development of new cryptographic systems 638 that are secure against quantum computing attacks [NISTIR8240]. 640 Paradoxically, development of a Quantum Internet will also mitigate 641 the threats posed by quantum computing attacks against public-key 642 cryptosystems. Specifically, the secure communication setup feature 643 of the Quantum Internet as described in Section 5.1 will be strongly 644 resistant to both classical and quantum computing attacks. 646 Finally, Section 5.3 provides a method to perform remote quantum 647 computing while preserving the privacy of the source data. 649 10. Acknowledgments 651 The authors want to thank Xavier de Foy, Patrick Gelard, and Wojciech 652 Kozlowski for their very useful reviews and comments to the document. 654 11. Informative References 656 [BB84] Bennett, C. and G. Brassard, "Quantum Cryptography: Public 657 Key Distribution and Coin Tossing", 1984, 658 . 661 [Cacciapuoti01] 662 Cacciapuoti, A., "Quantum Internet: Networking Challenges 663 in Distributed Quantum Computing", IEEE Network, (Early 664 Access), 2019, 665 . 667 [Cacciapuoti02] 668 Cacciapuoti, A., "When Entanglement meets Classical 669 Communications: Quantum Teleportation for the Quantum 670 Internet", 2019, . 672 [Caleffi] Caleffi, M., "Quantum internet: From Communication to 673 Distributed Computing!", NANOCOM, ACM, 2018, 674 . 676 [Castelvecchi] 677 Castelvecchi, D., "The Quantum Internet has arrived (and 678 it hasn't)", Nature 554, 289-292, 2018, 679 . 681 [ETSI-QKD-Interfaces] 682 ETSI GR QKD 003 V2.1.1, "Quantum Key Distribution (QKD); 683 Components and Internal Interfaces", 2018, 684 . 687 [ETSI-QKD-UseCases] 688 ETSI GR QKD 002 V1.1.1, "Quantum Key Distribution (QKD); 689 Use Cases", 2010, . 692 [Fitzi] Fitzi, M. and et. al., "A Quantum Solution to the 693 Byzantine Agreement Problem", 2001, 694 . 696 [Fitzsimons] 697 Fitzsimons, J., "Private Quantum Computation: An 698 Introduction to Blind Quantum Computing and Related 699 Protocols", 2017, 700 . 702 [I-D.dahlberg-ll-quantum] 703 Dahlberg, A., Skrzypczyk, M., and S. Wehner, "The Link 704 Layer service in a Quantum Internet", draft-dahlberg-ll- 705 quantum-03 (work in progress), October 2019. 707 [I-D.irtf-qirg-principles] 708 Kozlowski, W., Wehner, S., Meter, R., and B. Rijsman, 709 "Architectural Principles for a Quantum Internet", draft- 710 irtf-qirg-principles-02 (work in progress), November 2019. 712 [I-D.van-meter-qirg-quantum-connection-setup] 713 Meter, R. and T. Matsuo, "Connection Setup in a Quantum 714 Network", draft-van-meter-qirg-quantum-connection-setup-01 715 (work in progress), September 2019. 717 [Komar] Komar, P. and et. al., "A Quantum Network of Clocks", 718 2013, . 720 [NISTIR8240] 721 Alagic, G. and et. al., "Status Report on the First Round 722 of the NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization 723 Process", NISTIR 8240, 2019, 724 . 727 [Preskill] 728 Preskill, J., "Quantum Computing in the NISQ Era and 729 Beyond", 2018, . 731 [QinHao] Qin, H., "Towards Large-Scale Quantum Key Distribution 732 Network and Its Applications", 2019, 733 . 736 [Renner] Renner, R., "Security of Quantum Key Distribution", 2006, 737 . 739 [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate 740 Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, 741 DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997, 742 . 744 [Treiber] Treiber, A. and et. al., "A Fully Automated Entanglement- 745 based Quantum Cyptography System for Telecom Fiber 746 Networks", New Journal of Physics, 11, 045013, 2009, 747 . 749 [Unruh] Unruh, D., "Quantum Position Verification in the Random 750 Oracle Model", 2014, . 753 [Wehner] Wehner, S., Elkouss, D., and R. Hanson, "Quantum internet: 754 A vision for the road ahead", Science 362, 2018, 755 . 758 [ZhangPeiyu] 759 Zhang, P., "Integrated Relay Server for Measurement- 760 Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution", 2019, 761 . 763 [ZhangQiang] 764 Zhang, Q., Hu, F., Chen, Y., Peng, C., and J. Pan, "Large 765 Scale Quantum Key Distribution: Challenges and Solutions", 766 Optical Express, OSA, 2018, 767 . 769 Authors' Addresses 771 Chonggang Wang 772 InterDigital Communications, LLC 773 1001 E Hector St 774 Conshohocken 19428 775 USA 777 Email: Chonggang.Wang@InterDigital.com 778 Akbar Rahman 779 InterDigital Communications, LLC 780 1000 Sherbrooke Street West 781 Montreal H3A 3G4 782 Canada 784 Email: rahmansakbar@yahoo.com 786 Ruidong Li 787 NICT 788 4-2-1 Nukui-Kitamachi 789 Koganei, Tokyo 184-8795 790 Japan 792 Email: lrd@nict.go.jp