Quantum-safe technology stack

Engineering secure infrastructure for a post-quantum world.

SIMAQ’s technology spans the full quantum-safe stack: physics-based key distribution (QKD, fibre and satellite), the optical hardware that carries it, the algorithmic layer that protects classical systems (PQC), and quantum sensing. Every section cites its underlying source.

01: Context

Why quantum computing changes the cybersecurity baseline

Quantum computers exploit superposition and entanglement to solve problems, including integer factorization, far faster than classical machines. Those are exactly the problems RSA, Diffie–Hellman and elliptic-curve cryptography rely on. A sufficiently large quantum computer would break the public-key cryptography protecting most of today’s internet traffic.

“Harvest now, decrypt later” means the risk window has already opened: intercepted ciphertext can be decrypted retroactively once hardware matures.

Two responses, one strategy

Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) Classical algorithms resistant to quantum attack. Standardized by NIST in 2024.
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) Physics-based key exchange, secured by quantum mechanics rather than computational hardness.
02: Terrestrial

QKD via Fibre

QKD encodes cryptographic key material onto individual photons; any interception disturbs their quantum state, revealing an eavesdropper, a guarantee rooted in physics.

Design considerations

Coexistence Quantum and classical channels on shared fibre via wavelength multiplexing
Range class Metro fibre, up to 120 km
Deployment Point-to-point or trusted-node mesh for national backbones
03: Free-space

QKD via Satellite

Free-space channels lose far less signal than fibre over long distances. China’s Micius satellite achieved kHz-rate decoy-state QKD between a low-Earth-orbit satellite and ground stations up to 1,200 km apart, and separately demonstrated ground-to-satellite quantum teleportation.

Satellite QKD extends secure key exchange beyond what any single fibre network can reach, connecting distributed sites nationally and internationally.

Why free-space over fibre, here

Loss profile Near-vacuum propagation vs. exponential fibre attenuation
Reach National and cross-border links without cable infrastructure
Constraint Requires clear-sky optical line of sight and precision tracking
04: Hardware

SIMAQ Transmitter

A compact, low size-weight-and-power (SWaP) quantum transmitter module built around a common photonic core operating at gigahertz-class clock and modulation rates, generating decoy-state weak-coherent quantum states. The module is designed for two deployment paths from one engineering platform: (a) integration into a CubeSat payload for satellite-to-ground QKD downlinks, and (b) a rack-mounted variant for direct injection into existing telecom fiber networks.

05: Ground segment

Optical Ground Station & Precision Ranging

An Optical Ground Station acquires and holds a link to a fast-moving satellite pass. The underlying tracking discipline draws on satellite laser ranging, coordinated globally since 1999 by the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS).

SIMAQ is building a modular optical ground station that will serve as a quantum node, connecting Saudi Arabia to the global QKD network. The same ground station also supports high-data-rate optical communications.

Core capabilities

Tracking Sub-arcsecond pointing for LEO pass acquisition
Timing High-precision time-of-flight, informed by SLR practice
Zemax OpticStudio surface sag map of the secondary mirror

Surface sag map, secondary mirror. Peak-to-valley 2.19 mm across a 227 mm aperture.

Zemax OpticStudio surface sag map of the primary mirror

Surface sag map, primary mirror. Peak-to-valley 8.99 mm across a 700 mm aperture.

Zemax OpticStudio wavefront function plot for the optical ground station telescope

Wavefront function at the image plane. Peak-to-valley 0.46 waves, RMS 0.096 waves.

06: Sensing

Quantum Sensing

Quantum gravimeters and magnetometers achieve sensitivity beyond classical instruments. A 2022 Nature demonstration used a portable quantum gravity gradiometer to detect a buried utility tunnel invisible to conventional surveys.

Application areas we track

Infrastructure mapping Sub-surface utility and cavity detection via gravity gradiometry
Monitoring Magnetometry for power-grid and asset-integrity monitoring
07: Algorithmic layer

Post-Quantum Cryptography

In August 2024, NIST finalized the first three federal PQC standards after an eight-year evaluation process:

FIPS 203: ML-KEM Module-lattice key-encapsulation, derived from CRYSTALS-Kyber
FIPS 204: ML-DSA Module-lattice signatures, derived from CRYSTALS-Dilithium
FIPS 205: SLH-DSA Stateless hash-based signatures, derived from SPHINCS+

A layered strategy

PQC protects systems QKD hardware cannot reach; QKD offers information-theoretic guarantees for the highest-sensitivity links.

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Every claim above is cited.

Full bibliographic details are on our Research & Publications page.

View full bibliography

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