{"id":648462,"date":"2013-03-22T18:53:37","date_gmt":"2013-03-22T22:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=623553"},"modified":"2013-03-22T18:53:37","modified_gmt":"2013-03-22T22:53:37","slug":"lockheed-martin-wants-to-use-a-quantum-computer-to-develop-radar-aircraft-systems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/648462","title":{"rendered":"Lockheed Martin wants to use a quantum computer to develop radar, aircraft systems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lockheed Martin is looking at several challenging applications for the quantum-computing hardware it has purchased from from D-Wave Systems, the New York Times<\/em> reported<\/a> Friday. The use of quantum computing is a big deal because as we depend more on computing, we\u2019re going to need different types of processors. Lockheed\u2019s commercial use suggests that the probabilistic problem-solving approach and breakneck speed of quantum computing could be more widely adopted in the near future.<\/p>\n

For the record, D-Wave and Lockheed formed<\/a> their commercial relationship a couple of years ago, although at the time the defense contractor apparently didn\u2019t discuss possible applications. Now there are some specifics on how Lockheed could employ its D-Wave computer, following projections<\/a> on other types of applications.<\/p>\n

Lockheed Martin will use its D-Wave computer \u201cto create and test complex radar, space and aircraft systems,\u201d the Times\u2019 Quentin Hardy wrote. \u201cIt could be possible, for example, to tell instantly how the millions of lines of software running a network satellites would react to a solar burst or a pulse from a nuclear explosion \u2014 something that can now take weeks, if ever, to determine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than working with binary yes-or-no questions \u2014 ones and zeros \u2014 quantum computing is more probabilistic, also allowing a combination of zero and one to simultaneously answer many questions with quantum bits of information, or qubits, and tell users more about the likelihood of a situation. It\u2019s not necessarily useful for all kinds of computing, but it could solve problems that current computers can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a great way forward for computing to keep following the spirit of Moore\u2019s Law, in the sense that it could permit more powerful computing than what\u2019s possible today. The question is how soon it will become commercially viable. The quantum computer cost Lockheed $10 million, according to one report<\/a>, so it will take some time and more commercial interest before the price can come down.<\/p>\n

Commercial applications of quantum computing are a long time coming<\/a>. In a 2010 GigaOM Research report on quantum computing<\/a> (subscription required), my colleague Stacey Higginbotham wrote that commercial viability could take decades, not years.<\/p>\n

Feature image courtesy of Shutterstock user R.T. Wohlstadter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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