Adaptive coding-based quantum communication system for image transmission

This work presents a quantum communication system enhanced with adaptive coding, aimed at improving compressed image transmission performance in noisy and error-prone environments. The proposed system integrates Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) and High Efficiency Image Format (HEIF) codecs with polar codes at varying code rates. To maintain consistent bandwidth usage, source coding rates are adapted according to the corresponding channel coding rates. After transmission through the quantum channel, the respective polar and source decoders reconstruct the image. The results show that the adaptive coding-based quantum communication system significantly outperforms equivalent classical systems, especially at low signal-to-noise ratios (SNR), achieving Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) improvements up to 65 dB and Structural Similarity Index Measure (SSIM) values up to 0.9999 for HEIF images and PSNR values up to 58 dB with SSIM values up to 0.9994 for JPEG images. These findings demonstrate the superior robustness and higher image quality of adaptive coding-based quantum communication in varying channel noise conditions and bandwidth-restricted applications.