Position Paper: On the Application of Recursive Inter-Network Architecture to the Future Quantum-Enabled Internet

Quantum networks present various research challenges that need to be addressed for the development of future quantum Internet architectures, such as the interconnection of large numbers of end devices, and remote long distance connection. The recursive inter-network architecture (RINA) introduces great flexibility, scalability and a set of principles that can be applied to quantum networks, yielding a network model based on RINA, which we refer to as RINA-based quantum network. Such approach offers an appropriate solution to address the challenges posed by quantum networks. This paper presents the authors' vision on the potential of RINA-based quantum networks to advance the quantum Internet. First, a model based on packet switching is proposed to carry quantum payloads in local-area scenarios. Then, a RINA-based approach for entanglement-based teleportation is presented for wide-area scenarios. Last, a full RINA-based quantum network model for end-to-end communication is proposed. The proposed model enables the interconnection of packet-switching networks and entanglement-based networks. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first attempt at designing a RINA-based quantum inter-network model.