Quantum Communication Network Routing With Circuit and Packet Switching Strategies

Quantum network extends the ability to transmit information securely from two-party communication to multi-party communication with arbitrarily long distances. The efficiency of secure communication in a quantum network depends on both the topology of the network and the strategy of communication relays. In this paper, we propose a strategy to build a quantum network integrating various types of quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) schemes. A cost optimization model is presented to measure the cost of transmitting secure messages in a quantum network. Within the model, two types of quantum network strategies, the quantum circuit switching strategy and the quantum packet switching strategy, are proposed and compared. Numerical simulations in a specific network show that the quantum packet switching strategy is more favorable in future quantum networks taking into account robustness and cost required when using different types of QSDC schemes.