Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT) is heading the project QSCAN: Quantum-Enabled Secure Multiparty Computation for Space Surveillance Tracking, funded by NATO’s Science for Peace and Security (SPS) program. Launched in March 2024, QSCAN project, led by Armando Nolasco Pinto, IT researcher and professor at University of Aveiro, aims to transform space surveillance security by incorporating quantum technology into collision probability calculations.

The project focuses on privacy concerns related to third-party data by developing quantum-enabled secure multiparty computation protocols for conjunction analysis. These protocols will enhance cooperation and security, eliminating the need for traditional data-sharing agreements by allowing parties to compute the probability of collision between space objects without revealing their input data to each other.

Key partners include researchers from IT and the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), who will create privacy-preserving cryptographic protocols. These efforts involve developing a framework to generate and distribute oblivious keys, integrated with a key management system, enabling secure and efficient multiparty computation. Deimos Engenharia, as the end-user, will contribute its expertise in Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) software, algorithms, and operations to aid in the project’s implementation and validation.

Spanning three years, the QSCAN project will demonstrate this secure protocol within the Portuguese Quantum Communication Infrastructure, currently being developed in Lisbon under the oversight of the Portuguese National Security Office.

The QSCAN consortium comprises IT from Portugal, the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) from Austria, and Deimos Engenharia. 

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