Kaleem, Zeeshan;
Khan, Misha Urooj;
Suleman, Ahmad;
Khalid, Waqas;
Wong, Kai-Kit;
Yuen, Chau;
(2026)
Quantum Skyshield: Quantum Key Distribution and Post-Quantum Authentication for Low-Altitude Wireless Networks in Adverse Skies.
IEEE Wireless Communications
10.1109/MWC.2025.3602373.
(In press).
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Abstract
Recently, low-altitude wireless networks (LAWNs) have emerged as a critical backbone for supporting the low-altitude economy, particularly with the densification of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and high-altitude platforms (HAPs). To meet growing data demands, some LAWN deployments incorporate free-space optical (FSO) links, which offer exceptional bandwidth and beam directivity. However, without strong security measures in place, both conventional radio frequency channels and FSO beams remain vulnerable to interception and spoofing, and FSO in particular can suffer from turbulence, misalignment, and weather-related attenuation. To address these challenges in the quantum era, a quantum-secure architecture called Quantum Skyshield is proposed to enable reliable communication between the base transceiver station (BTS) and LAWN. The proposed design integrates BB84 quantum key distribution (QKD) with post-quantum authentication mechanisms. Simulation results confirm the reliable generation of a 128-bit symmetric key when the quantum bit error rate (QBER) remains below the threshold of 11%. Authentication is enforced using Lamport one-time signatures and hash-based message authentication codes (HMAC) to ensure message integrity. A Grover-inspired threat detection mechanism identifies anomalies with up to 89% probability in a single iteration, enabling real-time trust evaluation. Lastly, future research challenges have also been identified and discussed to guide further development in this area.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Quantum Skyshield: Quantum Key Distribution and Post-Quantum Authentication for Low-Altitude Wireless Networks in Adverse Skies |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1109/MWC.2025.3602373 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1109/mwc.2025.3602373 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. It has been made open access under the Creative Commons (CC BY) licence under the terms of the UCL Intellectual Property (IP) Policy and UCL Publications Policy. |
| Keywords: | BB84, FSO, Lamport OTS, NTN, PQC, QKD, Grover’s Algorithm |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Electronic and Electrical Eng |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10222028 |
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