IonQ and DESY Research Highlights Quantum’s Potential Benefits for Airport Flight Gate Optimization

Insider Brief

• IonQ announced early results that suggest quantum computer may be a more effective solution than traditional classical computing at managing gates at a bustling airport.
• The company worked with Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) to run combinatorial optimization problems on IonQ Aria.
• The teams plan to run future algorithms on IonQ Forte and IonQ Tempo.

PRESS RELEASE — IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), a leader in the quantum computing industry, today announced early results from its work with Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) – a German-based research center for fundamental science – to run combinatorial optimization problems on IonQ Aria. The results demonstrate quantum computing’s potential as a more effective solution than traditional classical computing when tackling equations with multiple variables in a dense environment, such as a bustling airport.

IonQ collaborated with researchers from DESY to explore how to better match inbound and outbound flights at airport gates. Specifically, IonQ and DESY were interested in reducing the time travelers spent going from arrival to departure gates and the time planes sat idle at gates before taking off again, while also increasing the number of planes serviced per day at a gate. The novel approach used ‘logarithmic-linear encoding’ to execute flight-gate optimization algorithms on IonQ Aria. In an illustrative example, the team showed how to best cycle nine flights through four gates (up to 36 variables in total) on IonQ Aria. IonQ expects to run future algorithms on IonQ Forte and IonQ Tempo, processing equations sufficient enough to cover the optimization needs of a local European airport.

“The results of our work with DESY are indicative of the real-world value quantum computers can deliver when addressing optimization problems that factor dozens of variable scenarios,” said Peter Chapman, CEO and President of IonQ. “Optimization problems are ubiquitous across all industries, including manufacturing, logistics, finance, pharma, and more. Quantum computing presents a huge opportunity for businesses to innovate across this problem space and remain at the forefront of innovation, tackling problems once deemed unsolvable.”

“We are pleased by the initial results we’re seeing in running quadratic assignment problems across IonQ’s quantum hardware and our collaboration with the IonQ team,” said Dr. Karl Jansen, the head of the Center for Quantum Technology and Applications (CQTA) at DESY. “The learnings gathered here can easily apply to other research and industries where the presence of multiple variables creates too complex of a problem for classical systems to handle.”

A preprint explaining IonQ and DESY’s research is available here, with the final report expected to be published in the coming months, and a summary of these results is available on IonQ’s blog here.

These research results mark the latest effort by IonQ to support the development of quantum applications for the airline industry. In 2022, IonQ and Airbus partnered on a project to develop smarter algorithms based on quantum computers to achieve cost savings due to more efficient cargo loading and distribution. Additionally, Hyundai Motors and Thompson Machinery have partnered with IonQ to develop quantum applications for use cases like image recognition in autonomous vehicles and predictive maintenance for construction machinery.