A Scalable Cloud-Orchestrated and Service-Oriented Multi-Domain QKD Network with PQC Integration

Abstract

Quantum key distribution (QKD) offers unconditional security but existing QKD networks remain difficult to scale across heterogeneous infrastructures and administrative domains due to vendor-specific interfaces, trusted-node constraints, and limited interoperability. This work presents a flexible multi-domain and multi-site quantum-secure network architecture integrating vendor-agnostic QKD, SDN orchestration, and cloud-managed trust services. Communication is based on Zero Trust Network Access protocols featuring multi-level authentication mechanisms building upon post-quantum cryptography (PQC) signature and key encapsulation algorithms. The system is deployed on a real-world testbed with domains incorporating QKD nodes from 3 vendors, as well as domains without QKD infrastructure elements. Experimental results show that PQC and SDN overhead remain relatively low even on constrained devices, with the main bottleneck being QKD key retrieval and vendor-specific key streaming limitations. The proposed framework extends quantum-safe key transport beyond native QKD boundaries while preserving flexibility, interoperability, and compatibility with existing infrastructures.