Nationally-significant facility testing laser communications to space officially opens

The UK’s largest indoor optical research facility officially opened at the University of Suffolk’s DigiTech Centre today – a laboratory which is set to play a key role in supporting future space missions and next-generation secure quantum communications.

The Quantum Optics Discovery (QOD) Lab, based at BT Adastral Park, is part of the Space East cluster, and will enable testing of laser communication systems, known as free space optics, through turbulent atmospheric conditions such as rain, fog and wind.

Optical communications use light to carry information vast distances and are more secure than those travelling on cable-based infrastructure.

In addition, the facility will enable testing of real-world laser communications from an optical ground station on site, via satellites in space and received back down to Earth at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.

Grant-funded by the UK Space Agency under its Space Cluster Infrastructure Fund (SCIF), which includes match funding from the project’s commercial and academic partners, the £6.2million project is the first of its kind in the East of England.

The facility will enable research projects and commercial testing opportunities for a wealth of sectors in need of secure and reliable communications, such as emergency services, financial, security, disaster zone recovery, and many more.

In addition, it will help test communications systems which will reduce the reliance on existing cable-based infrastructure.

The facility’s lab includes a free space optics turbulence simulator, which can direct a laser either horizontally or vertically and test the beam in modular rain, fog, temperature and wind controls, to create a controlled environment of testing real-world scenarios.

According to project leaders, the facility can even test wind speeds up to hurricane-level conditions.

Honeywell Aerospace’s on-site transportable optical ground station meanwhile can connect light signals from the Quantum Encryption and Science Satellite (QEYSSAT) and QKDSat satellite in space, before returning the data back to Earth to Adastral Park and Heriot-Watt University’s optical ground station in Edinburgh. That will provide the opportunity to test the communications in live atmospheric conditions.

The tests that can be conducted at the site in real weather conditions could help support the development of next-generation networks, secure communications and even future space missions.

The project helps meet the Government’s national quantum and space strategies, including ambitions to deploy the most advanced quantum network at scale by 2035.

Furthermore, the facility will be available under commercial agreements for testing by firms needing to utilise free space optics communications, and is set to facilitate a host of research projects, including PhD and postdoctoral research opportunities at the University of Suffolk.

At the official launch event on Thursday afternoon, the new facility was opened by University of Suffolk Vice-Chancellor, Professor Jenny Higham, and project partners alongside invited guests.

To find out more about the QOD Lab and to get in touch with the team about commercial or research opportunities, head to the website here or email qodlab@uos.ac.uk.

Quotes from partners

University of Suffolk
Professor Darryl Newport, project lead and Director of the Suffolk Sustainability Institute at the University of Suffolk, said: “The QOD Lab represents a significant opportunity for Suffolk and the East of England to play a vital role in the future testing, research and development of optical communications – technology which will play an increasingly important role in the secure transfer of data and information.

“The ability to create a controlled environment of atmospheric conditions, coupled with our ability to connect with QEYSSAT and QKDSat and our partners in Scotland, means we have created an environment to foster genuine collaboration and innovation in this space.”

UK Space Agency
Space Minister Liz Lloyd said: “The opening of the Quantum Optics Discovery Lab is a landmark moment for British science. This world-leading facility - backed by government funding - will help put the UK at the forefront of next-generation optical and quantum communications and help establish East Anglia as a hub for space sector innovation.

“From making online payments more secure to supporting disaster recovery, the potential applications of this work are genuinely transformative. This is exactly the kind of bold infrastructure investment that will drive economic growth, create skilled jobs, and help establish the UK as a leading space power.”

Heriot-Watt University
Dr Ross Donaldson, Associate Professor in the Institute of Photonics and Quantum Sciences at Heriot-Watt University, said: “The foundations of an advanced UK-wide quantum communications network are being laid today. This begins by linking Scotland’s photonics and quantum research community – through facilities at Heriot-Watt University – with the UK telecommunications sector at BT’s Adastral Park created in this project.

“Innovation is being accelerated by state-of-the-art laboratory facilities, developed alongside optical ground station infrastructure and connected by dedicated dark fibre networks. Together, these capabilities create a powerful testbed for new technologies.

“I’m particularly excited to see both the laboratory and optical ground station used to test emerging products and to gather real-world data from ongoing satellite missions led by UK teams.”

Honeywell Aerospace Technologies
Stefan Lespezeanu, Senior Offering Manager for Space at Honeywell Aerospace, said: “Secure and resilient communications continue to be a top priority for governments and critical industries, and emerging quantum secure communications technologies are poised to address this need.

“Facilities like the QOD Lab help accelerate collaboration between industry, academia and government while advancing the development and adoption of these secure optical and quantum communications technologies.”

Space East
Stuart Catchpole, Regional Director of Space East said "The Quantum Optics Discovery Lab reflects the collaborative ecosystem Space East is building across the region: bringing together industry, academia and government to accelerate innovation in both the UK space sector and in the East of England.

“This facility not only strengthens our region’s capability in advanced optical and quantum communications, but also creates a nationally significant testbed for developing secure, resilient technologies that will underpin future space missions and critical infrastructure.

“By enabling real world testing, commercial collaboration and cutting-edge research, the QOD Lab reinforces East Anglia’s position as a leading hub for space enabled technologies, driving investment, skills development and long-term economic growth across the region.”

BT
Dr Peter Bell, Managing Director of Adastral Park, BT said: “We’re proud to host the Quantum Optics Discovery Lab and the Optical Ground Station at BT’s Adastral Park – a site with a long history of leading UK communications innovation.

“These new facilities will help us better understand how the atmosphere affects light based signals and allow us to explore how future optical networks could operate in space – an area of rapidly growing global interest.

“Having already delivered the UK’s first metro scale quantum secure network, this marks an exciting next step. We can now begin developing and testing secure satellite based quantum communications, including space to ground Quantum Key Distribution, a technology designed keep communications safe from future cyber threats.

“This investment represents a major milestone in building a more secure, resilient and truly ‘quantum ready’ communications infrastructure for the UK.”

Azora
James Schalkwyk, CEO of Azora, said: “We are extremely grateful to the UK Space Agency and the SCIF [Space Clusters Infrastructure Fund] program for supporting this project.

“Programs like SCIF are hugely valuable for young companies working on emerging technologies and help turn research into real infrastructure. As space becomes increasingly important to everyday life, investments like this are helping build the next generation of communications capability.”

University of Glasgow
Professor Martin Lavery, Leader of the Structured Photonics Research Group and Professor of Optics at the University of Glasgow, said: “Designing optical communication systems that perform reliably through fog, clouds, and atmospheric turbulence has always been difficult to validate without extensive and expensive field testing. This facility at the QOD Lab, supported by the UKSA, changes that; offering a controllable emulator capable of reproducing worldwide physical environments on demand.

“Bringing this facility from concept to reality has been a true team effort, and I want to express my sincere thanks to the Structured Photonics Research Group at the University of Glasgow and the project team at the University of Suffolk for their hard work and commitment to the design and delivery of this world-leading turbulence emulator.

“We’re making it available to university research groups and commercial developers alike, because robust, standardised testing infrastructure is something the whole field needs, and, until now, hasn’t had.

"I believe this facility can be a starting gun for the growth of a burgeoning research community in next generation adaptive optical systems, and I’m genuinely excited to see what remarkable future technologies are matured through testing at the QOD Lab.”