Burst Communication for DQC

The inter-node gate between distributed quantum nodes is much more error-prone and time-consuming than the local quantum gate. Existing DQC compilers propose executing each inter-node gate with independent quantum communication requests, leading to a small communication throughput and a large communication overhead. We discover it is possible to execute a group of inter-node gates in one quantum communication. We identify such a quantum communication as burst communication and propose a burst-communication-centric compiler framework that is able to convert sparse communications in the DQC network into dense communication units, leading to much higher communication throughput.

Reference Work

  • AutoComm: A Framework for Enabling Efficient Communication in Distributed Quantum Programs, MICRO’22 [paper]

New DQC Communication Layer

In the previous DQC communication model, communication hardware will participate in both the communication preparation process and the execution of inter-node operations. However, this communication model not only hinders the generation speed of quantum communication resources but also limits the size of quantum communication a node can handle. To overcome this challenge, we invent a software-defined intermediate communication layer for DQC, called a communication buffer, to decouple communication hardware from the execution of multi-party quantum operations, thus leading to a breakthrough in DQC’s communication throughput.

Reference Work

  • QuComm: Optimizing Collective Communication for Distributed Quantum Computing, MICRO’23 [paper]