PostQat workshop in Madrid on 28 October 2026

Join the PostQat consortium for our first stakeholder workshop, Concept Development and Stakeholder Alignment.

Date: Wednesday, 28 October 2026.
Location: CRIDA, Kudos Innovation Campus Las Mercedes.
CRIDA address: Calle Campezo, 1, Building 7, 4th floor, 28022 Madrid, Spain.
Online participation is also available.
Arrival at CRIDA: from 14:00.
Workshop: 15:00–18:00.
All times are local to Madrid (CET, UTC+1).

To join in person or online, complete the registration form.
Register for the workshop

The workshop will take place at the same venue as the OpenSky Symposium, one day before the symposium begins on 29 October. For questions, email the PostQat coordinator.
[email protected]

CRIDA address and map
OpenSky Symposium and venue details

Help shape the PostQat concept

PostQat (Post-Quantum Secure Communication and Surveillance for Air Traffic Management) is a SESAR exploratory research project. It examines how ATM communication and surveillance can be protected against attackers equipped with quantum computers.

Much safety-relevant data is exchanged today with little or no authentication. Existing cryptographic protection, such as VPNs securing ground networks, relies on public-key methods that a sufficiently powerful quantum computer could break. Traffic recorded today could then be decrypted later.

The project started in September 2026. This first workshop is a working session to develop the concept and gather stakeholder input. We invite external experts to share their experience and help shape the project roadmap. We will briefly present the concept and our initial analysis before an open discussion.

Project scope

• Air-air and air-ground surveillance: authenticating ADS-B and TCAS data with post-quantum digital signatures.
• Air-ground data exchange: securing CPDLC, ACARS and future links such as LDACS with post-quantum authentication and encryption.
• Ground-ground communication: end-to-end post-quantum protection of data exchanged between ATC centres, airline operations centres and airports. This includes flight plans, flow management and coordination messages, independent of the underlying network.

All three domains are supported by a crypto-agile public key infrastructure for aviation and a phased, hybrid transition path.

Discussion topics

• Which use cases matter most from an operational, regulatory or industry perspective?
• Which constraints must our designs respect, including certification, bandwidth, equipage, system lifecycles and network architecture?
• What would you expect from a post-quantum transition roadmap for ATM?

Your input will feed directly into the project's use case definition and requirements work.