About ALLEGRO ‘Agile ultra low energy secure networks’
ALLEGRO aims at designing and validating a novel end-to-end sliceable, reliable, and secure architecture for next-generation optical networks, achieving high transmission/switching capacity
- with 10 Tb/s for optoelectronic devices and 1 Pbt/s for optical fiber systems
- low power consumption/cost
- with > 25% savings
- and secure infrastructures and data transfers.
The architecture relies on key enabling innovations:
- smart, coherent transceivers exploiting multi-band & multi-fiber technologies for P2P and P2MP applications, based on e.g., high-speed plasmonic modulators/photodetectors and programmable silicon photonic integrated waveguide meshes;
- loss-less, energy-efficient transparent photonic integrated optical switches, eliminating OEO conversions, e.g., with on-chip amplification in the O-band for datacom applications;
- a consistent approach to security, in terms of functional/ protocol architectures and communications, further improving QKD systems, enabling optical channel co-existence and researching on quantum-resistant (post-quantum) cryptography, developing systems based on physically unclonable functions; and
- a scalable AI/ML assisted control and orchestration system, responsible for autonomous networking, dynamic and constrained service provisioning, function placement and resource allocation, leveraging devices increasing programmability and overall network softwarization.
To achieve the target objectives and KPIs, ALLEGRO has defined a clear methodology ending in ambitious demonstrators. The consortium includes a good balance of industry and research/academia with know-how in complementary fields.
The results of ALLEGRO will be disseminated in leading conferences, events, and high-impact journals. They will have a concrete and measurable economic and social impact, contributing towards achieving key European objectives, reinforcing European leadership and digital sovereignty in the ongoing digital and green transition.
Project News
Allegro Project Update: Robust Quantum Communication Under Classical Coexistence
In our latest experiment, we explored a realistic deployment scenario where Bob* (B*) is co-located with node D—a setup detailed in Figure 28(c). 📊 Figure 29(a) highlights the performance of our quantum network without classical light interference. Using the BB92...
Allegro Project Milestone: Advancing Entanglement Distribution for Quantum Networks
We're excited to share a major step forward in the Allegro project! To enable entanglement distribution, we’ve deployed a broadband Spontaneous Parametric Down-Conversion (SPDC) source, centered at 1550.12 nm. This entangled photon source connects to our quantum...
ALLEGRO Project Update: Evaluating QKD Performance in a Heterogeneous Quantum-Classical Network
Continuing our exploration of dynamic, quantum-secured networking, Figure 27(e) highlights the Secret Key Rate (SKR) performance of our QKD channel across multiple switching scenarios. We established the dedicated quantum link between Node 1 and Node 2 (grey line) as...
Dynamic QKD-Secured Optical Network with Co-existence of Quantum and Classical Channels
Excited to share our latest work on ALLEGRO, where we successfully implemented a quantum-secured optical network supporting dynamic co-switching and coexistence of quantum and classical channels over deployed fiber infrastructure. By integrating FPGA-based hardware...
Allegro Project Update: AI-Driven Insights into Quantum-Classical Co-Existence
As part of our ongoing efforts to explore the seamless integration of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and classical optical communication, we’ve taken a deep dive into noise prediction accuracy and system performance in co-existence scenarios. 🧠 Model Precision...
Project Spotlight: AI-Assisted Quantum-Classical Co-Existence System
Excited to share our latest work as part of the Allegro Project—an innovative step toward optimizing the co-existence of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and classical optical communication on the same fiber infrastructure. 🔍 What we did:We developed a novel machine...
Machine Learning for Smarter Quantum Networks ALLEGRO Project Update
We're excited to share a key innovation from our recent work in the ALLEGRO project — a complete ML pipeline for classifying impairments in Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) systems. ⚙️💡 📊 While the QKD system is actively distributing keys, we collect sequential values...
Project Update from ALLEGRO! ML-based, Technology-Independent Diagnostic Tool for QKD Systems
As Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) continues to evolve, one of the major challenges remains its integration into existing metropolitan optical networks. Two key obstacles have been identified:1️⃣ Attenuation of quantum signals over fiber and through network...
Final DV-QKD Tests: Successful Integration into a Telecom Production Network
As we conclude our DV-QKD testing within the ALLEGRO project, we achieved a major milestone—integrating our QKD system into a real-world Telecom production network! 🚀 📡 Key Integration Details✔️ Testbed: QC transmission through a looped fiber link between Distrito...
Integrating DV-QKD into Amplified Optical Networks
In our latest work within the ALLEGRO project, we explored the integration of DV-QKD systems into amplified fiber-optic routes. Our goal was to assess how quantum communication (QC) coexists with high-speed classical data channels and determine its impact on secure...