5G network slicing with QKD and quantum-safe security

TY - JOUR

T1 - 5G network slicing with QKD and quantum-safe security

AU - Wright, Paul

AU - White, Catherine

AU - Parker, Ryan

AU - Pegon, Jean-Sebastien

AU - Menchetti, Marco

AU - Pearse, Joseph

AU - Bahrami, Arash

AU - Moroz, Anastasia

AU - Wonfor , Adrian

AU - Penty, Richard

AU - Spiller, Timothy Paul

AU - Lord, Andrew

N1 - © 2021 The Optical Society. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.

PY - 2021/1/22

Y1 - 2021/1/22

N2 - We demonstrate how the 5G network slicing model can be enhanced to address data security requirements. In this work, we demonstrate two different slice configurations, with different encryption requirements, representing two diverse use-cases for 5G networking, namely, an enterprise application hosted at a metro network site and a content delivery network. We create a modified software-defined networking (SDN) orchestrator that calculates and provisions network slices according to the requirements, including encryption backed by quantum key distribution (QKD) and other methods. Slices are automatically provisioned by SDN orchestration of network resources, allowing selection of encrypted links as appropriate, including those that use encryption with standard Diffie–Hellman key exchange, QKD, or quantum-resistant algorithms, as well as no encryption at all. We show that the setup and teardown times of the network slices take approximately 1–2 min, which is at least an order of magnitude improvement over manually provisioning a link today.

AB - We demonstrate how the 5G network slicing model can be enhanced to address data security requirements. In this work, we demonstrate two different slice configurations, with different encryption requirements, representing two diverse use-cases for 5G networking, namely, an enterprise application hosted at a metro network site and a content delivery network. We create a modified software-defined networking (SDN) orchestrator that calculates and provisions network slices according to the requirements, including encryption backed by quantum key distribution (QKD) and other methods. Slices are automatically provisioned by SDN orchestration of network resources, allowing selection of encrypted links as appropriate, including those that use encryption with standard Diffie–Hellman key exchange, QKD, or quantum-resistant algorithms, as well as no encryption at all. We show that the setup and teardown times of the network slices take approximately 1–2 min, which is at least an order of magnitude improvement over manually provisioning a link today.

U2 - 10.1364/JOCN.413918

DO - 10.1364/JOCN.413918

M3 - Article

SN - 1943-0620

VL - 13

SP - 33

EP - 40

JO - IEEE/OSA Journal of Optical Communications and Networking

JF - IEEE/OSA Journal of Optical Communications and Networking

IS - 3 (March 2021)

ER -