✈ Quantum computer optimizes flight routes

✈ Quantum computer optimizes flight routes

Researchers have shown that a quantum computer can solve practical problems that traditional computers cannot solve in a reasonable amount of time.

Kent Olofsson
Kent Olofsson

Share this story!

Last year, a quantum computer from Google managed to solve a problem that would have taken a traditional computer 10,000 years in just 200 seconds. One problem was that it was a specially designed problem that had no practical use. But now researchers from Chalmers have built a quantum computer that can solve a practical problem - at least a small part of the problem.

The quantum computer has found the optimal route for aircraft so that the aircraft can be used as efficiently as possible. This is a problem that quickly becomes very complex as the number of planes and destinations grows. Traditional computers quickly find it difficult to manage the enormous choices available to calculate the possible routes for hundreds of aircraft and destinations.

A quantum computer could calculate all possible routes at once using an algorithm called the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) . The researchers have now shown that QAOA works on their quantum computer and that the quantum computer thus has a practical area of ​​use.

Shows the practical benefit

Now, this computer will not revolutionize the aviation industry directly. It has only two quantum bits and can only calculate the routes for two aircraft. But the idea was primarily to prove that a quantum computer can be used to solve practical problems.

- We have shown that we have the ability to solve real problems on our quantum processor. We still have few quantum pieces, but they work well. Our plan has been to first make everything work very well on a small scale, before we scale up, says the experimentalist Jonas Bylander who is one of the leaders of Chalmers quantum computer construction.

Researchers are now working to expand the quantum computer. They are currently trying to reach five quantum pieces and in 2021 they expect to reach at least 20 quantum pieces. According to the researchers' simulations, 25 quantum bits would be enough to solve optimization problems for up to 278 aircraft and then the quantum computer would begin to be of practical use.

Read the full study here.

🚘 Transportation

You might also like

WALL-Y 2 min read

🔋 Battery prices continue to drop, lowering the cost of electric vehicles

The price of lithium-ion batteries in China has decreased by 51 percent in the past year. Lower battery prices make electric vehicles cheaper than fossil fuel cars in many segments, and large-scale battery solutions in energy systems become more profitable.

Mathias Sundin 2 min read

🚑 New Indian traffic safety model to save lives in poor countries

Zero Fatality Corridor has reduced road fatalities by over 50 percent on specific stretches in India. The model is adapted to the conditions of low- and middle-income countries. The Indian government plans to expand the model to the country’s 15 most dangerous highways.

WALL-Y 1 min read

🚗 Waymo's robotaxi has now reached 50,000 paid trips per week

Waymo's robotaxi is now performing 50,000 paid trips each week, up from 10,000 a year ago. The service is fully autonomous and available 24/7 in selected parts of Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.