IEEE Spectrum’s Top 10 Engineering Milestones for 2021 Include Upcoming Demonstration of Quantum Communication Between Stony Brook U & Brookhaven

(IEEESpectrum) One of the top ten engineering milestones predicted by IEEE Spectrum is the planned demonstration of quantum communication when photons will speed between Stony Brook University and Brookhaven National Laboratory, both in New York. This next-gen communication concept may eventually offer unprecedented security, as a trick of quantum mechanics will make it obvious if anyone has tapped into a transmission. In the demo, “quantum memory buffers” from the startup Qunnect will be placed at each location, and photons within those buffers will be entangled with each other over a snaking 70-kilometer network.
The complete list of top 10 engineering predicted by IEEE Spectrum
1) A shining light: lamps that produce 222-nanometer wavelengths that still kill microbes but don’t penetrate human eyes or skin.
2) Quantum Networking
3) Floating Wind Turbines
4) Indy Autonomous Challenge (Driverless Race Cars)
5) Robots Below (DARPA’s Subterranean Challenge)
6) Mars or Bust: Three spacecraft with rendezvous with Red Planet–from China, United Arab Emerites, and NASA
7) Stopping Deepfakes: Chips for smartphones that capture photos & videos with certificates of authenticity
8) Faster Data
9) Brain Scans Everywhere
10) New Type of TV Display with OLEDs to create blue light, and a QD layer will convert some of that blue light into the red and green light needed to make images