Quantum Datagram Control Protocol (QDCP) for IP Optical Environments

This document specifies the Quantum Datagram protocol a lightweight transport protocol designed to operate over UDP in IP optical environments. QDCP (formerly QFCP) enables the transmission of control- plane parameters required for transporting quantum information and associated optical configurations, including polarization stabilization, timestamp alignment, ROADM port selection, and spectral parameters. The protocol uses a Type-Length- Value (TLV) structure to support versioning and extensibility and is prototyped for the transport of third-order nonlinear generated quantum information on IP optical infrastructure. This work is motivated by recent demonstrations of a classical-decisive quantum internet using integrated photonics.