(Boursier.com) — Pasqal, world leader in quantum computing with neutral atoms, today announces a major breakthrough within the framework of the AQUAPS project, in partnership with Thales. This innovative project aims to explore neutral atom architectures to solve optimization problems applied, in this specific use case, to satellite planning.
For three years, the Pasqal and Thales teams, supported by the Île-de-France region and GENCI, have been exploring new methods to optimize the planning and programming processes of critical systems using Pasqal’s quantum processor.
Planning (selection of appropriate policies and procedures to successfully complete a mission or project) and scheduling (conversion of project action plans into an operational schedule) are key steps in many critical applications at Thales: logistics, air traffic control, industrial automation, resource allocation and disaster assistance. These calculations are extremely complex and involve long processing times on conventional computers.
Close collaboration
Using a quantum processor (QPU) with neutral atoms, the Pasqal and Thales teams worked closely to identify whether the performance enabled by this technology can scale and solve dimensional problems that were previously insoluble for classical computers.
In this context, Pasqal and Thales succeeded in solving a satellite planning problem with the QPU. This experiment identified that neutral atom quantum computers are particularly well suited to this task, as there is a natural correspondence between the satellite planning problem and the arrangement of atoms in the QPU. This correspondence allows for an efficient approach in solving optimization problems, thus providing new perspectives in the field of advanced satellite planning.
Georges-Olivier Reymond, CEO and co-founder of Pasqal, comments: “We are extremely proud of the fruit of our collaboration with Thales, GENCI and the Île-de-France region as part of the AQUAPS project. This partnership has demonstrated the power of quantum computing to solve real-world optimization problems, opening new perspectives for the space industry and beyond.”
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