Netherlands - Telecommunications network - EuroQCI 1st Generation: System Concept and Preliminary System Definition (Phase A/B1) plus Security Assessment of EU27 Terrestrial QKD Solutions

The objective of the activity is to define a preliminary EuroQCI 1st Generation system design compliant with the mission goals, objectives and requirements (proposed by ESA and approved by the EC) within the technical and schedule constraints, including those imposed by SAGA and especially NatQCIs trading-off different options based on a cost-benefit analysis. In terms of level of detail and maturity of the design, the activity will provide consolidated system and system’s components technical and security specifications-with special focus on the orchestrator and the interface and integration with the terrestrial component, while relying on ESA’s SAGA mission as the baseline space component-and will baseline the design specification and interfaces of the components’ constituent elements (excluding SAGA’s) such as trusted nodes of the terrestrial component or software modules of theorchestrator. The activity will also design and implement a reference and validation environment with the necessary tools to validate and verify the feasibility and suitability of the specifications and compliance of the design(s). As per ECSS, the activity will conclude with EuroQCI 1st Generation’s System Requirements Review (SRR) where critical technologies shall be at TRL5 or above. It is also an objective of the activity to establish the security readiness of EU27 QKD industry and terrestrial products to engage in governmental applications involving CLASSIFIED information.