# Quantum Inspired Security on a Mobile Phone

**Authors:** Yu Qin, Wanjiaman Li  
**arXiv:** [1711.07120](https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.07120)  
**Date:** 2017-11-20  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/paper/1711.07120v1/

## Key points

- Mobile electronic devices are widely used, leading to an increase in mobile security complexity
- One-time pad encryption is considered one of the most secure methods, but has a key distribution problem that can be solved by quantum key distribution (QKD)
- The project aims to design an Android application that uses QR codes to exchange one-time keys between mobile phones
- The QR code's omnidirectional readability and error correction capability make it suitable for real-life applications
- The application allows for capturing and decoding 1800 bytes of random data in just 600ms, with a maximum transmission rate of around 2200 bytes/s in continuous scanning mode
- Security is guaranteed since QR codes are exchanged face-to-face, eliminating any risk of eavesdropping and only transmitting the ID of the QR code through the communication process
- Experimental results show superior transmission performance compared to existing technologies
- Using QR codes as carriers for exchanging one-time keys on mobile phones can significantly improve overall transmission efficiency while ensuring high levels of security.

## Summary

In today's world, mobile electronic devices are widely used and this has led to an increase in the complexity of mobile security. To address this issue, researchers have been exploring various methods to provide a secure communication environment for smartphone users. One such method is the use of the one-time pad encryption technique which is considered to be one of the most secure encryption methods available. However, the key distribution problem associated with this technique can be solved by using quantum key distribution (QKD). The objective of this project is to design an Android application that enables the exchange of several random keys between mobile phones. Inspired by QKD, the developed application uses quick response (QR) codes as carriers to dispatch large amounts of one-time keys. The QR code's omnidirectional readability and error correction capability make it suitable for real-life applications. After evaluating the performance of the application, it was found that it allows mobile phones to capture and decode 1800 bytes of random data in just 600ms. The continuous scanning mode designed for improving overall transmission performance and user experience has a maximum transmission rate of around 2200 bytes/s. The security of this application is guaranteed since QR codes are exchanged face-to-face, eliminating any risk of eavesdropping. Additionally, only the ID of QR code would be transmitted through the whole communication process. The experimental results show that this project can achieve superior transmission performance. The correlation between system parameters like QR code size and transmission rate has also been analyzed in detail. This paper provides a critical comparison between existing technologies and main findings in context with this project. It concludes that using QR codes as carriers for exchanging one-time keys on mobile phones can significantly improve overall transmission efficiency while ensuring high levels of security.