mQUIET: Maximum Quantum Communication Network Transmission under Reliability Constraint

Quantum communications using entangled photons as qubits offer a promising approach to quantum key distribution, enhancing network security. However, establishing successful entanglement links between distant nodes is challenging due to factors like distance and rapid entanglement decay, resulting in low network transmission efficiency for quantum key distribution. This paper studies the problem of finding the maximum quantum communication network transmission scheme for multiple source-destination pairs with considering the success rate of quantum entangle establishments. We propose the Feasible Quantum Communication Network Transmission (fQUIET) algorithm, which leverages network transformation and auxiliary network construction. The Maximum Quantum commUnIcation nEtwork Transmission (mQUIET) algorithm is further proposed by iteratively searching for augmenting paths. Through theoretical analysis, we demonstrate that the mQUIET algorithm is capable of achieving the maximum QCN transmission scheme. Extensive experiments are carried out and the results reveal that our suggested algorithms have superior performance compared to existing methods.