Classiq and Rolls-Royce exploring aerospace applications

Rolls-Royce, a global leader in propulsion systems and power solutions for aerospace, defense, and energy applications, established a strategic partnership with Classiq, an Israeli quantum software company specializing in quantum algorithm design and optimization. This collaboration, announced in March 2022, focuses on applying quantum computing to solve complex aerospace engineering challenges, particularly in computational fluid dynamics, materials science, and design optimization. By combining Rolls-Royce’s deep aerospace engineering expertise with Classiq’s quantum algorithm development platform, the partnership aims to enhance engine design processes, improve efficiency, and accelerate development cycles for next-generation propulsion systems.

Problem Statement

Aerospace engineering involves extraordinarily complex computational challenges that impact performance, efficiency, and development timelines. Traditional computational approaches for modeling fluid dynamics, structural mechanics, and thermodynamics in jet engines require significant simplifications that compromise accuracy or demand enormous computational resources that extend simulation timelines. These computational limitations constrain the design space exploration process, potentially leaving innovative solutions undiscovered.

For Rolls-Royce, whose business depends on developing increasingly efficient and sustainable propulsion systems, enhancing computational capabilities represented a strategic priority with direct implications for product performance and market position. The company identified several specific challenges where quantum computational approaches might offer advantages: optimizing aerodynamic designs through enhanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD), accelerating materials discovery for high-temperature applications, and improving system-level optimization across multiple performance parameters.

The computational complexity stems from the multiphysics nature of aerospace propulsion, where fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, structural mechanics, and materials science intersect. Classical simulation approaches struggle with the high-dimensional parameter spaces and non-linear relationships characteristic of these systems. For comprehensive engine design optimization, the computational requirements grow exponentially with each additional parameter or physical domain included in the simulation.

The business implications of these computational constraints are substantial. Extended development cycles increase time-to-market and development costs for new engine programs. Limited simulation fidelity necessitates more extensive physical testing, adding expense and further extending timelines. Constrained design space exploration may result in suboptimal performance characteristics, directly impacting fuel efficiency, emissions, and operating economics, which are all critical competitive factors in the aerospace market. With increasing industry focus on sustainability and emissions reduction, computational limitations that constrain efficiency optimization represent both business and environmental challenges.

Quantum Approach

The Rolls-Royce-Classiq collaboration implemented a sophisticated quantum computational strategy tailored to aerospace engineering challenges. This approach leverages Classiq’s quantum algorithm design platform, which enables engineers to create quantum circuits at a higher level of abstraction without requiring deep quantum physics expertise, another critical advantage for practical industrial implementation.

The technical implementation focuses on three complementary applications: computational fluid dynamics enhancement, materials property simulation, and multi-objective system optimization. For CFD applications, the team developed quantum algorithms that could potentially simulate fluid flows around engine components with greater fidelity than classical methods. These implementations aim to capture turbulence effects and boundary layer behaviors that significantly impact engine performance but are computationally expensive to model accurately with classical approaches.

In materials science applications, the partnership created quantum computational approaches for simulating properties of high-temperature materials used in critical engine components. These methods address the challenge of modeling quantum mechanical interactions that determine material characteristics like thermal stability, creep resistance, and oxidation behaviour. All of which are properties essential for engine performance and durability in extreme operating environments.

For system-level optimization, the team implemented quantum algorithms designed to navigate the complex multi-objective design spaces of aerospace propulsion systems. These approaches seek to identify design configurations that simultaneously optimize multiple competing objectives like thrust, efficiency, weight, and emissions. This is a challenging optimization problem where quantum computational advantages might be particularly valuable.

Given current quantum hardware limitations, the partnership employed a pragmatic implementation strategy focusing on algorithm development and testing on quantum simulators while establishing pathways for hardware implementation as capabilities advance. This forward-looking approach enables meaningful progress on algorithm design and validation while preparing for deployment on increasingly capable quantum processors.

A key innovation in their approach involves Classiq’s quantum algorithm synthesis platform, which automatically generates optimized quantum circuits from high-level functional descriptions. This capability allows Rolls-Royce engineers to express aerospace problems in familiar terms while the platform handles the complex translation to quantum circuits. The resulting implementation efficiency and accessibility significantly accelerate the development process for quantum applications in aerospace engineering.

Results and Business Impact

The collaboration has yielded promising early outcomes demonstrating quantum computing’s potential for aerospace applications. Initial algorithm implementations showed that quantum approaches could potentially address key computational bottlenecks in aerospace simulations, particularly for problems involving quantum mechanical effects in materials and high-dimensional optimization challenges in system design.

While full-scale quantum advantage for comprehensive engine simulations remains a future goal dependent on hardware advances, the partnership has established viable algorithmic approaches for specific computational components where quantum methods might offer near-term advantages. These targeted implementations focus on well-defined subproblems where quantum computational benefits might emerge earliest, providing incremental value while building toward more comprehensive solutions.

The collaboration has successfully developed and tested quantum algorithms for materials property simulation, demonstrating potential advantages in modeling electronic structures of complex alloys used in high-temperature engine components. These enhanced simulation capabilities could accelerate materials discovery and qualification, a critical pathway to improved engine performance and durability.

For Rolls-Royce, these technical achievements translate into valuable strategic positioning and capability development. The enhanced computational approaches support the company’s broader digital transformation initiative, which aims to accelerate development cycles and improve product performance through advanced simulation and design optimization. The quantum algorithms developed through this partnership represent intellectual assets that will appreciate in value as quantum hardware capabilities expand.

Beyond immediate technical outcomes, the collaboration positions Rolls-Royce at the forefront of quantum computing applications in aerospace. This leadership in computational engineering strengthens the company’s innovation profile and creates opportunities for continued competitive differentiation as quantum technology matures. The expertise developed through this partnership, particularly in translating complex engineering problems into quantum computational frameworks, represents a strategic capability that will become increasingly valuable across Rolls-Royce’s business.

Future Directions

Building on their initial progress, Rolls-Royce and Classiq have outlined several promising directions for continued development. Algorithm refinement remains a primary focus, with ongoing work to improve both the effectiveness and computational efficiency of quantum approaches for aerospace applications. These enhancements aim to expand the range of engineering problems that can be effectively addressed while reducing the quantum resources required for implementation.

The partners are extending their quantum computational methods to additional aspects of aerospace engineering, including structural analysis, thermal management, and noise reduction. This expansion follows a strategic roadmap that aligns growing quantum capabilities with increasingly sophisticated engineering challenges across Rolls-Royce’s product portfolio.

Integration with existing engineering workflows represents another key development area. The collaboration is creating seamless connections between quantum-enhanced simulations and Rolls-Royce’s established design and analysis platforms, enabling engineers to leverage quantum computational advantages within familiar environments. These integration efforts focus on creating user-friendly interfaces that deliver quantum benefits without requiring aerospace engineers to become quantum computing specialists.

As quantum hardware advances, the team continuously evaluates opportunities to implement their algorithms on increasingly capable quantum processors, moving from simulation to actual quantum execution for specific subproblems where near-term advantages might emerge. This progressive implementation strategy ensures that aerospace applications can capitalize on quantum computational capabilities as they become available.

The partnership is also exploring quantum machine learning techniques that could enhance pattern recognition in complex simulation data, potentially identifying non-obvious relationships between design parameters and performance outcomes. These hybrid approaches could further accelerate the design optimization process by efficiently navigating vast design spaces based on limited simulation data.

Conclusion

The Rolls-Royce-Classiq partnership demonstrates how forward-thinking aerospace companies can effectively engage with quantum computing today, developing expertise, establishing methodologies, and creating algorithmic frameworks that position them to capitalize on each advancement in quantum hardware. Rather than waiting for fault-tolerant quantum computers, this pragmatic strategy focuses on algorithm development and capability building that will deliver increasing value as quantum technology matures.

The collaboration illustrates the importance of abstraction layers and domain-specific tools in making quantum computing accessible to industry experts. By enabling aerospace engineers to express problems in familiar terms while automatically handling the complex translation to quantum circuits, Classiq’s platform significantly accelerates the development process for quantum applications in aerospace engineering. This approach bridges the knowledge gap between quantum physics and aerospace engineering, a critical factor for practical industrial adoption.

For the aerospace industry broadly, this case study highlights quantum computing’s potential to transform engineering simulation and optimization by addressing computational complexity barriers that fundamentally limit traditional approaches. The ability to more accurately model multiphysics systems, simulate quantum mechanical properties of materials, and navigate complex design spaces could significantly enhance both product performance and development efficiency, supporting both business objectives and sustainability goals.

As quantum computing continues its rapid evolution, aerospace companies that invest in quantum capabilities today may gain substantial competitive advantages in design quality, development speed, and innovation capacity. The Rolls-Royce-Classiq collaboration exemplifies how strategic partnerships between industry leaders and quantum technology specialists can accelerate progress toward practical quantum applications with significant business impact.