Public Funding for Id Quantique Ltd

Gas sensing is a growing market, with Oil & Gas leak detection alone expected to grow to $3.4Bn in 2022. Natural gas leaks cost companies $30Bn per year, the ability to detect these leaks is limited by the characteristics of existing technologies. The SPRINGS project sets out to develop a quantum-inspired laser radar (LIDAR) capable of detecting the lowest concentration of natural gas leaks required by the industry out to a 200 metres operational distance. This brings a 10-fold sensitivity improvement over our closest competitor and enables fast scanning and imaging. It is lightweight and low-power and unlocks new applications for Oil & Gas and waste management industries, and it delivers an unprecedented 30 miles per hour surveying speed. To ensure long-term leadership, we will also develop a quantum-enhanced prototype, taking us to mid-IR wavelengths, for a further 10-fold performance gain. This opens up the possibility for other gas species and unlocks applications such as Oil & Gas exploration and remote detection of explosives.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have seen a huge increase in commercial uptake in recent years, but their applications have been limited, in part by the inability to securely communicate sensitive data back to the ground. Current encryption methods are becoming increasingly insecure due to advances in computing capability. Project Q-DOS light (Quantum key distribution for Drones with Optimal Size weight and power), led by Airbus, will solve this rapidly growing problem by delivering a low-weight, high-speed free-space optical communication system with highly secure quantum encryption and eavesdropping detection. The system will be demonstrated in flight using a small drone (under 7kg) communicating with a ground-station and will therefore have to use novel, integrated, quantum devices in order to meet challenging Size, Weight and Power (SWaP) requirements. Once proven, this technology will become an essential building block of secure communication payloads for future aircraft and spacecraft systems.