Odisha based startup Quanshium AI Core Pvt Ltd has tested a quantum secure communication link between a ground control station and a 4G and 5G enabled drone over 10 km. The system uses an indigenous quantum random number generator (QRNG) with post-quantum cryptography (PQC) to protect telemetry, video and command signals. The trial moves quantum safety from the laboratory to a live aerial platform.
What the 10 Km Quantum-Secure Drone Test Achieved
Quanshium AI Core tested its system on a live drone link over regular 4G and 5G networks up to 10 km. One end of the link was the ground control station. The other end was a network connected drone in flight.
The QRNG hardware stayed at the ground control station. The PQC encryption layer ran at both ends. This design protected telemetry, video feeds and command signals end to end without placing heavy quantum hardware on the drone.
The company developed both technologies in house. Founder and chief executive Shaswat Kumar Lenka led the work with chief development engineer Kundan Kumar Munda and chief hardware engineer Alish Patel, with mentoring from Hanumantha Rao Bokkisam of the electrical engineering department. The startup is incubated at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela in Odisha.
Quanshium now plans to extend the same approach to satellite links. The next step is free space optical links for quantum key distribution (QKD) between ground stations and satellites, and later between satellites.
How QRNG and Post-Quantum Cryptography Secure Drone Links
Every encryption system needs secret keys, and every key starts as a random number. If an attacker can guess that number, the strongest lock still fails.
What is a quantum random number generator
A quantum random number generator (QRNG) is a hardware device that creates truly random numbers from a quantum process. It measures an event that nature leaves unpredictable, such as which path a photon takes at a beam splitter or when a photon arrives at a detector. The result is converted into zeros and ones, then cleaned and tested before use.
This differs from common software generators. Software generators start from a fixed seed value and follow fixed maths, so their output can repeat if the seed is found. QRNG output has no seed to steal and no pattern to reverse. The Quanshium system uses this quantum randomness to create encryption keys with very high unpredictability.
What is post-quantum cryptography
Post-quantum cryptography (PQC) is new maths based encryption that runs on ordinary computers and resists attacks from both normal computers and future quantum computers. Quantum computers threaten widely used public key methods such as RSA and ECC (elliptic curve cryptography) because algorithms such as Shor’s algorithm could one day solve the maths behind them very fast.
PQC replaces those vulnerable methods with problems that remain hard even for a quantum computer, such as certain lattice problems and hash based structures. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the United States finalised the first PQC standards in August 2024, namely ML-KEM (FIPS 203) for key exchange and ML-DSA (FIPS 204) and SLH-DSA (FIPS 205) for digital signatures. These standards now guide migration worldwide.
In the drone test, QRNG strengthens the keys while PQC protects the data in transit. The combination closes two gaps at once, weak keys and weak locks.
What Is Quantum Communication and How Does It Work
Quantum communication is a method that uses the laws of quantum physics to share secret keys and detect spying. It often uses single photons, the smallest particles of light, sent over fibre or through open air and space. Any attempt to intercept the photons disturbs them and alerts the users.
The best known method is quantum key distribution (QKD). In QKD, the quantum channel carries only the key, not the message itself. The actual message is then locked with normal symmetric encryption such as AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) using that securely shared key.
Two main QKD designs exist. The BB84 protocol, proposed in 1984 by Charles Bennett and Gilles Brassard, uses single photons prepared and measured in chosen states. The E91 protocol, proposed in 1991 by Artur Ekert, uses pairs of entangled photons whose measurements stay linked even at a distance.
Quantum entanglement is that link between two photons. When two photons are entangled, measuring one fixes the result for the other. If a third party touches one photon, the link breaks in a visible way. The system measures this disturbance as the quantum bit error rate (QBER) and discards unsafe keys.
Quantum communication is not faster than light. It still sends photons and normal messages at normal speeds through fibre, air or space. Its power is security, not speed.
Quantum Key Distribution Versus Post-Quantum Cryptography
QKD and PQC both defend against quantum computers, but they solve different problems. QKD is physics. PQC is maths. Many experts now treat them as complementary layers, with QRNG supplying true randomness under both.
| Feature | Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) | Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) |
|---|---|---|
| Basis of security | Laws of quantum physics | Hard maths problems that resist quantum attacks |
| What it does | Shares secret keys and detects spying | Provides key exchange and digital signatures |
| Hardware needed | Single photon sources, detectors, dedicated fibre or free space link | Runs as software on existing computers and networks |
| Distance | Point to point, about 100 km on fibre without help, longer with trusted nodes or satellites | Works over any internet distance |
| Authentication | Needs a separate authenticated channel | Includes signature standards for identity |
| Standards | ETSI and ITU-T technical specifications | NIST FIPS 203, 204 and 205 finalised in August 2024 |
| Best use | High value backbone and strategic links | Protection for all digital systems |
Agencies in the United States, Britain, France and Germany advise PQC as the main defence for most systems because it can be rolled out through software updates. QKD suits selected links where keys must stay secret for decades. The Quanshium drone link uses the PQC path, which fits mobile platforms that cannot carry delicate photon hardware.
What Is India’s National Quantum Mission
The National Quantum Mission (NQM) is India’s dedicated programme to build capability in quantum computing, communication, sensing and materials. The Union Cabinet approved the mission on 19 April 2023 with an outlay of ₹6,003.65 crore for the period 2023-24 to 2030-31. The Department of Science and Technology (DST) under the Ministry of Science and Technology implements the mission.
The mission works through four Thematic Hubs (T-Hubs) set up in leading institutes for quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum sensing and metrology, and quantum materials and devices. The hubs link academic teams, startups and industry and support 17 startups with rolling calls for new proposals.
Key communication targets under the mission include satellite based secure communication between two ground stations over 2,000 km within India, intercity QKD over 2,000 km of fibre with trusted nodes, and a multi node quantum network with quantum memories. Computing targets include intermediate scale quantum computers with 20 to 50 qubits in three years, 50 to 100 qubits in five years and 50 to 1,000 qubits in eight years.
India has already shown steady progress. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi demonstrated QKD over about 100 km of fibre between Vindhyachal and Prayagraj in 2022, over 100 km of telecom grade fibre in 2024, and entanglement based free space communication over 1 km on the IIT Delhi campus in June 2025 with a secure key rate near 240 bits per second. China leads globally in distance with its Micius satellite, which has shown QKD over more than 1,200 km. The 10 km drone test adds a mobile, field usable link to India’s largely fixed network record.
Why Quantum-Secure Drones Matter for Defence and Critical Systems
Drones now handle military surveillance, border monitoring, reconnaissance, logistics and infrastructure checks. Each drone depends on a radio link that carries control commands upward and telemetry and video downward. That link is a clear target for interception, jamming and manipulation.
A compromised link can expose surveillance feeds, disrupt a mission or let an outsider inject false commands. Normal encryption helps today, but stored intercepts face a future risk called harvest now, decrypt later, in which an attacker saves encrypted traffic and unlocks it when a powerful quantum computer arrives.
The impact reaches beyond drones. The same QRNG and PQC building blocks can protect government networks, defence communication, satellite systems, banks, power grids and telecom networks. Indigenous supply matters here because imported security modules create dependence for critical functions. A home built system that is tested on a moving platform, not only on a bench, reduces that dependence.
Key Takeaways
- Quanshium AI Core Pvt Ltd, incubated at NIT Rourkela, tested a quantum secure drone link over 10 km between a ground station and a 4G and 5G enabled drone.
- The system pairs an indigenous quantum random number generator (QRNG) at the ground station with post-quantum cryptography (PQC) at both ends.
- QRNG creates truly random keys from quantum processes, while PQC uses maths that resists both classical and quantum computers.
- QKD shares keys through physics over dedicated links, while PQC runs as software over existing networks and also provides digital signatures.
- The National Quantum Mission, approved on 19 April 2023 with ₹6,003.65 crore to 2031 and run by DST, targets 2,000 km secure quantum communication and 50 to 1,000 qubit computers.
