2026-04-13T16:50:36Zhttps://recercat.cat/oai/request

oai:recercat.cat:2117/4429082026-03-09T05:05:46Zcom_2072_1033col_2072_452950

Quantum computing for large-scale network optimization: opportunities and challenges Macaluso, Sebastian Geraci, Giovanni Combarro Álvarez, Elías F. Abadal Cavallé, Sergi Arapakis, Ioannis Vallecorsa, Sofia Alarcón Cot, Eduardo José Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Arquitectura de Computadors Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. IDEAI-UPC - Intelligent Data sciEnce and Artificial Intelligence Research Group Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria de la telecomunicació::Telemàtica i xarxes d'ordinadors Quantum computing Optimization Qubit Computers Computational modeling Performance evaluation Quantum annealing Polynomials Neural networks Integrated circuit modeling The complexity of large-scale 6G-and-beyond networks demands innovative approaches for multi-objective optimization over vast search spaces, a task often intractable. Quantum computing (QC) emerges as a promising technology for efficient large-scale optimization. We present our vision of leveraging QC to tackle key classes of problems in future mobile networks. By analyzing and identifying common features, particularly their graph-centric representation, we propose a unified strategy involving QC algorithms. Specifically, we outline a methodology for optimization using quantum annealing as well as quantum reinforcement learning. Additionally, we discuss the main challenges that QC algorithms and hardware must overcome to effectively optimize future networks. The work of Giovanni Geraci was in part supported by the Spanish Research Agency through grants PID2021-123999OB-I00 and CNS2023- 145384 and by the Maria de Maeztu Units of Excellence Programme (CEX2021-001195-M). The work of Elías F. Combarro was partially supported by grant PID2023-146520OB-C22, funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, by grant IDE/2024/000734 funded by Principado de Asturias, and by the Ministry for Digital Transformation and of Civil Service of the Spanish Government through the QUANTUM ENIA project call – Quantum Spain project, and by the European Union through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan — NextGenerationEU within the framework of the Digital Spain 2026 Agenda. The work of Eduard Alarcón was partially supported by the ICREA Academia Award 2024. Peer Reviewed Postprint (author's final draft) 2026-01 Article Macaluso, S. [et al.]. Quantum computing for large-scale network optimization: opportunities and challenges. «IEEE communications magazine», 2026, vol. 64, núm. 1, p. 116-122. 0163-6804 https://hdl.handle.net/2117/442908 10.1109/MCOM.001.2400625 eng https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/11141667 Open Access 7 p. application/pdf Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)