India, May 12 -- The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) has partnered with Synergy Quantum India to jointly develop Drone-based Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technology to strengthen India's quantum-secure communication capabilities.

The collaboration will focus on building QKD systems suited for drone deployments using the decoy-based BB84 protocol with polarisation encoding. These systems aim to reach Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6 or higher, indicating mature, real-world-ready solutions. The partnership aligns with the Government of India's "Atmanirbhar Bharat" mission, promoting indigenous innovation in cutting-edge technologies.

C-DOT, the telecom R&D institution under the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), will...