Reliable and Robust Quantum Computing
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Computer Science
Abstract
Over 60 years of work in computer science and engineering has defined and refined a tower of abstractions that constitute the solid
foundations of today's classical computer systems. Key challenges to reliability and correctness have been faced-and overcome-at dozens of levels
in the stack, and there is a wealth of insight and expertise in the diverse community of ICT researchers who work across it.
In the last decade, progress on quantum computing has accelerated, and it is becoming an international industry in its own right.
Nevertheless, quantum computing is still at the beginning of its journey. Small-scale prototype devices have demonstrated the potential for
this technology, and milestone experiments have demonstrated a quantum computer's capability to out perform classical hardware on specially
designed problems, but the construction of a reliable and robust large-scale quantum device capable of challenging the world's classical
supercomputers for useful real world problems remains a huge challenge.
We do not think that classical ICT has ready-made solutions to this challenge, but we believe that significant advances in the field will
arise through a broad spectrum of genuinely cross-disciplinary exchange, allowing for close contact of quantum computing researchers with the
scientific tools, methods and (especially) mindsets of the ICT research community - across a broad spread of the key classical computing stacks.
This project will open up a dialogue between quantum computing and ICT research communities, particularly ICT researchers engaged in computer
systems and architecture research, by creating a network of researchers who will co-design a research project to develop and advance
solutions for reliable and robust quantum computation, addressing key layers across the principal computing stacks.
foundations of today's classical computer systems. Key challenges to reliability and correctness have been faced-and overcome-at dozens of levels
in the stack, and there is a wealth of insight and expertise in the diverse community of ICT researchers who work across it.
In the last decade, progress on quantum computing has accelerated, and it is becoming an international industry in its own right.
Nevertheless, quantum computing is still at the beginning of its journey. Small-scale prototype devices have demonstrated the potential for
this technology, and milestone experiments have demonstrated a quantum computer's capability to out perform classical hardware on specially
designed problems, but the construction of a reliable and robust large-scale quantum device capable of challenging the world's classical
supercomputers for useful real world problems remains a huge challenge.
We do not think that classical ICT has ready-made solutions to this challenge, but we believe that significant advances in the field will
arise through a broad spectrum of genuinely cross-disciplinary exchange, allowing for close contact of quantum computing researchers with the
scientific tools, methods and (especially) mindsets of the ICT research community - across a broad spread of the key classical computing stacks.
This project will open up a dialogue between quantum computing and ICT research communities, particularly ICT researchers engaged in computer
systems and architecture research, by creating a network of researchers who will co-design a research project to develop and advance
solutions for reliable and robust quantum computation, addressing key layers across the principal computing stacks.
Publications
Abeywickrama D
(2023)
On Specifying for Trustworthiness
in Communications of the ACM
An J
(2024)
Two-Dimensional Direction-of-Arrival Estimation Using Stacked Intelligent Metasurfaces
in IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications
Bensoussan, A.
(2025)
A Taxonomy of Real Faults in Hybrid Quantum-Classical Architectures
Bere P
(2024)
A Low-Complexity Diversity-Preserving Universal Bit-Flipping Enhanced Hard Decision Decoder for Arbitrary Linear Codes
in IEEE Open Journal of Vehicular Technology
Cai Z
(2022)
Quantum Error Mitigation
Cai Z
(2024)
Biased Estimator Channels for Classical Shadows
Cai Z
(2023)
Quantum error mitigation
in Reviews of Modern Physics
| Description | Compilation and Verification of Quantum Software In The Noisy and Approximate Regime |
| Amount | £34,420 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/Y004493/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2023 |
| End | 03/2025 |
| Description | Compilation and Verification of Quantum Software in the Noisy and Approximate Regime |
| Amount | £221,557 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/Y004140/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2023 |
| End | 03/2025 |
| Description | Compilation and Verification of Quantum Software in the Noisy and Approximate Regime |
| Amount | £277,429 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/Y004736/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2023 |
| End | 03/2025 |
| Description | Scalable Quantum Network Technologies: Collaborative R&D |
| Amount | £1,972,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Innovate UK |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2024 |
| End | 10/2025 |
| Description | Verified Simulation for Large Quantum Systems (VSL-Q) |
| Amount | £620,778 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/Y005244/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2023 |
| End | 03/2025 |
| Description | BT-quantum |
| Organisation | BT Group |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Professor Lajos Hanzo, Lead Investigator of RoaRQ Investigation 011, University of Southampton has established a scientific collaboration dedicated to quantum research. |
| Collaborator Contribution | A joint paper has been published |
| Impact | Publication: IEEEA Lattice-Reduction Aided Vector Perturbation Precoder Relying On Quantum Annealing; Samuel Winter, Yangyishi Zhang, Senior Member, IEEE, Gan Zheng, Fellow, IEEE,Lajos Hanzo, Life Fellow DOI:10.1109/LWC.2024.3365874 |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | New collaboration with researchers from the CS Deparment at the University of Chicago |
| Organisation | University of Chicago |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Together with the graduate student in the CS Department at the University of Chicago and Professor Richard Jozsa from the University of Cambridge we explored ways to enhance computational power of sub-universal computations realizable by the IQP circuits by allowing adaptivity. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Soumik participated in the discussions and helped to develop gadgets to realize 'lean' computations within IQP. |
| Impact | https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.10093 |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Noise-Aware Testing of Large-Scale Quantum Systems, Simula Research Labs, Oslo |
| Organisation | Simula Research Laboratory |
| Country | Norway |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We established a strategic research collaboration with Simula Research Labs in Oslo, Norway on noise-aware testing techniques for large-scale quantum systems. This has led to mutual visits (both undertaken and planned) and planned joint research and publications. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners shared their datasets and code for noise-aware testing of quantum systems and in return, we provided properties and code developed in our past research. We are integrating the bodies of knowledge, techniques and tools, to provide a comprehensive noise-aware framework for testing large-scale quantum systems. |
| Impact | Not applicable (yet). |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Quantum cutting and simulation for HEP |
| Organisation | University of Southampton |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We are working on quantum cutting and quantum simulation for HEP problems. Specifically, we are (1) investigating different quantum circuit cutting methodology, and (2) organizing the simulation of the resulting subcircuits. To achieve these goals performantly we are using our advanced quantum simulator developed within RoaRQ |
| Collaborator Contribution | Southampton did develop several HEP quantum circuit and it is leading on the physics side |
| Impact | we are currently working on a paper together, and we will also release all artifacts open source |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | TITAN |
| Organisation | University of Essex |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| PI Contribution | We formed a larger consortium called TITAN by 16 Universities and 44 academics; We are now engaging in collaborative research; |
| Collaborator Contribution | My closest collaborators are Essex Uni and Loughborough, plus Imperial College; 2.2.5 LP 5: Non-Terrestrial network design and optimisation (Lead: UoS) The objectives of LP5 as stated in the original proposal are to develop: O5.1) develop techniques that will allow maintaining a uniform quality of service in a network with increasing non-terrestrial network elements, and thus effectively mitigating the digital divide; O5.2) develop techniques for prompt, low-delay on-line optimisation allowing each network element to make its decisions independently - ideally based on local constraints and on limited cooperation strictly with immediate neighbours only, while approaching the Pareto-front of centrally controlled solutions; O5.3) conceive Pareto-optimal RA solutions without relying on high-overhead central control. To address these objectives seven MPs are proposed: MP23: Network-slicing aided multi-component optimisation of NTNs/ space-air-ground integrated networks (SAGINs) As an attractive enabling technology for next-generation wireless communications, network slicing supports diverse customised services in the global SAGIN with diverse resource constraints. This is particularly critical in the face of the extremely heterogeneous characteristics of the terrestrial, aerial and satellite layers, where the propagation conditions, including the bandwidth, carrier frequency, distances, line-of-sight (LOS) vs. non-line of sight (NLOS) conditions are substantially different. The throughput, the delay and the coverage area of these three classes of RAN slices will be jointly optimised by carefully considering the distinct channel features and service advantages of the terrestrial, aerial and satellite components of SAGINs. Given the potentially excessive complexity of solving the above problems to find the Pareto optimal solutions in high-Doppler scenarios, sophisticated AI techniques will be conceived for solving the associated problem. This MP will address O5.2 and O5.3. MP24: Adaptive physical layer design for NTN/SAGIN systems In the 2G, 3G and 4G terrestrial systems different Gaussian minimum shift keying (GMSK)/ time division multiple access (TDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA) and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) solutions have been used, but the 5G systems opted for a similar OFDM-based physical layer (PHY) to that of the 4G systems. However, current PHY layer technologies fall short of accommodating the demands of high-mobility scenarios envisioned for 6G networks. One significant limitation is their inability to effectively handle the elevated Doppler spread commonly encountered in SAGINs. This MP will develop new PHY layer techniques for NTN/SAGIN networks and will address O5.1. MP25: Task Specific Security Solutions for Space-Air-Ground Networks Ensuring security, reliability, and resilience in NTN/SAGIN networks is an open challenge. In this mini project, we will develop an innovative task-specific security protocol leveraging physical layer security (PLS) techniques that aims to provide security measures for the semantics of the data rather than the data itself and adjust to requirements of the different parts of SAGIN. This MP will address O5.2. MP26: Semantic Aware Modulation Schemes for Space-Air-Ground Networks (Lead: UoEs) NTN/SAGIN networks suffer from long delays and cannot guarantee sufficient bandwidth resources to facilitate emerging applications based on extended reality, among other applications. These applications typically require transmission capabilities in the region of 10s -100s of Mbps at less than 10 ms delay. Semantic communication has been proposed as an efficient way to improve the effectiveness of communication by considering the semantics of the data rather than trying to reconstruct the data faithfully. In this MP, we aim to revolutionise the design of modulation schemes for SAGIN networks by considering the content/context (semantics) of the data to deal with excess delay and inefficient use of network resources. This MP addresses O5.1 MP27: Quantum Signal Processing and Optimisation Algorithms for Non-Terrestrial Communications The computational capability outpaced by demand has become the bottleneck in the development of future non-terrestrial communications that cannot be dealt with by today's supercomputers. Quantum computing has emerged as a new tool, but its current applications in communications are still very limited, and are yet to show tangible advantages over classical methods. This MP will address the computational bottleneck by exploiting quantum computing techniques through effective modelling and algorithm design for channel estimation and prediction, channel decoding and quantum optimization algorithms. This MP will address O5.1 and will leverage synergies with LP6. MP28: NTN design and optimisation Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) play a critical role in future NTNs. However, the flight trajectory must be optimised to maximise coverage. In this context, multi-objective (MO) optimisation plays a pivotal role in the realm of airport flight planning, and its relevance extends to the domain of UAV swarm trajectory planning in NTNs. In addition to conventional objectives, e.g., communication quality, energy consumption, and collision avoidance, UAV swarm introduces a new optimisation domain, i.e., swarm structures. This MP will develop MO soft actor and critic (SAC) algorithms to find the full potential of a sensing and communication system under bandwidth constraints. This MP will address O5.2. MP29: Low-complexity Channel Estimation and Data Detection in High Doppler Non-Terrestrial Networks The currently used orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation technique is primarily designed for time-invariant frequency-selective scenarios. However, in the high-mobility NTNs, mainly doubly selective fading is encountered and the substantially increased Doppler frequency leads to intercarrier interference (ICI) that damages the OFDM's subcarrier orthogonality. Orthogonal time-frequency space (OTFS) has been proposed as a promising candidate for high-mobility communications. However, OTFS modulation will dramatically increase the system complexity, especially at the receiver side. Thus, designing low complexity OTFS receiver with high reliability is essential for OTFS modulation to be adopted by new-generation wireless communication systems. To address these challenges, this MP contributes to development of signal processing and ML solutions for channel estimation and signal detection for OTFS-based NTNs. This MP address O5.3 |
| Impact | See under the publications |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | UKRI - FNI |
| Organisation | University of Essex |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| PI Contribution | Essex University - Prof. Gerard Parr UCL - Prof. Steve Hailes Surrey U - Prof. Rahim Tafazolli Indian Institute of Science - Prof. KVS Hari Indian Institute of Technology - Numerous Colleagues BT - Nader Azarmi |
| Collaborator Contribution | As an attractive enabling technology for next-generation wireless communications, network slicing supports diverse customized services in the global space-air-ground integrated network (SAGIN) with diverse resource constraints. In this paper, we dynamically consider three typical classes of radio access network (RAN) slices, namely high-throughput slices, low-delay slices and wide-coverage slices, under the same underlying physical SAGIN. The throughput, the service delay and the coverage area of these three classes of RAN slices are jointly optimized in a non-scalar form by considering the distinct channel features and service advantages of the terrestrial, aerial and satellite components of SAGINs. A joint central and distributed multi-agent deep deterministic policy gradient (CDMADDPG) algorithm is proposed for solving the above problem to obtain the Pareto optimal solutions. The algorithm first determines the optimal virtual unmanned aerial vehicle (vUAV) positions and the inter-slice sub-channel and power sharing by relying on a centralized unit. Then it optimizes the intra-slice sub-channel and power allocation, and the virtual base station (vBS)/vUAV/virtual low earth orbit (vLEO) satellite deployment in support of three classes of slices by three separate distributed units. Simulation results verify that the proposed method approaches the Pareto-optimal exploitation of multiple RAN slices, and outperforms the benchmarkers. |
| Impact | 1/ We surveyed the entire field of open radio access networks and composed a technical report; 2/ Organized a workshop in India with the objective of building a long-term consortium for an India - UK project; 3/ Currently we are organizing a similar one in the UK; 4/ We published numerous research studies; |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Unified Framework for Hybrid Quantum-Classical Systems, Quantum Hub, University of Copenhagen |
| Organisation | University of Copenhagen |
| Country | Denmark |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Mohammad Reza Mousavi delivered a lecture in the hybrid quantum-classical computing course at the University of Copnehagen. As a result of the lecture and the visit, we planned a long-term mutual collaboration. We have now submitted an outline proposal to the Danish research funding agency. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Guest lecture Planned collaboration |
| Impact | Delivered a guest lecture; planned a formal research collaboration. Outcomes to be posted in subsequent reports. |
| Start Year | 2025 |
| Title | QuCheck: A Property-based Testing Framework for Quantum Programs in Qiskit |
| Description | We present QuCheck, a property-based testing framework for Qiskit quantum programs. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Open Source License? | Yes |
| Impact | Just published; the predecessor to this tool, called QSharpCheck, has been cited about 100 times and has been used in many subsequent research activities. |
| URL | https://figshare.com/articles/software/QuCheck_A_Property-based_Testing_Framework_for_Quantum_Progra... |
| Description | Computerphile YouTube Episode on Quantum Software Engineering |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I produced an episode of Computerphile on Quantum Software Engineering. The episode has been viewed more than 57,000 times to date. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l909v-D8Z0s |
| Description | Medicine, Life Sciences, and Quantumhow do we join the dots? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We organised a workshop with about 40 participants ranging from policy makers (such as DSIT), funders (such as MRC and NIHR), healthcare professionals and companies to discuss the possibilities of using quantum computing and sensing in the healrthcare domain. The event led to many follow up plans for joint activities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/medicine-life-sciences-and-quantumhow-do-we-join-the-dots-tickets-108... |
| Description | Quantum Computing for Healthcare Engineering |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We held a workshop explaining the principles of quantum computing and the available practical frameworks (e.g., for quantum annealing, variational quantum algorithms and quantum machine learning) to healthcare professionals at the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering. We also reviewed the recent application of such techniques in the healthcare domain. The event was recorded and was provided as preliminary material to the larger group of participants in the subsequent event in March. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/quantum-computing-for-healthcare-engineering-tickets-1106292032249?af... |
| Description | Quantum Demystified Podcast |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | We planned and so far delivered four episodes of the Quantum Demystified Podcast. They discuss the general landscape of quanrtum technologies and specifically discuss applications in healthcare. Moreover, we discuss the foundations and applications of superposition and entangelemtn in quantum computing. All episodes feature speakers across different disciplines (involving chemists, computer scientists, philosophers, physicists, and biologists) and are designed to be accessible for the general public. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| URL | https://www.buzzsprout.com/2318723 |
| Description | Quantum NQCC periodic meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Prof Antonio Barbalace, Co-Investigator, University of Edinburgh attended meeting and engaged with other participants. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |