Monitoring Strategy for Enhanced Adaptability in QKD Networks

Abstract

Monitoring mechanisms are essential in modern telecommunications networks, ensuring reliability, per- formance, and security by continuously tracking network health and status. These mechanisms enable real-time anomaly detection and response, allowing for fast intervention and dynamic optimization of network resources. To advance Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) networks toward becoming a main- stream service within current telecommunication infrastructures, comprehensive monitoring mecha- nisms must be available. This paper explores the integration of such a monitoring approach for QKD. Lever- aging a recently proposed model that utilizes virtualization to create an abstraction layer over the highly heterogeneous array of quantum and classical hardware, this monitoring mechanism offers significant advantages. These include the continuous provisioning of real-time data and traffic statistics on network segments, as well as the detection of potential attacks or failures on critical network elements, enabling dynamic, data-driven routing, operations, and management. The proposed monitoring strategy, which incorporates both passive and active measurements, enables proactive and immediate actions when any network irregularity is detected. Beyond detailing the monitoring mechanism, we demonstrate its feasi- bility through a virtual environment test, validating its effectiveness in a controlled setting.