How an aerospace engineer charted a path to quantum technology

Towards the end of his master’s degree, Yash faced a choice – stay in the US or return to Singapore to work in the space sector. His decision became clear after attending a talk by SGInnovate’s Talent team about apprenticeship opportunities in the quantum sector through the Summation programme.

“This was when quantum computing was very new in Singapore, and these were literally the first few years of the industry starting up here,” Yash says. "I was very interested in working in a startup that's cutting-edge and Deep Tech,” Yash says. “It was good to have the programme as an opportunity to dip my toes."
SpeQtral, a quantum communications startup in Singapore, was his top choice because it offered a chance to apply his aerospace expertise while exploring an entirely new field that he never imagined he was qualified to explore.

Once there, the learning curve was steep. He needed to quickly understand the physics and mathematics underlying quantum key distribution – areas completely outside his aerospace work at university. 

That's where Summation's mentorship model proved crucial. Yash’s mentors assigned him tasks that served the company’s needs and accelerated his learning. He documented the design of SpeQtral’s upcoming satellites and created system simulations, learning hands-on by talking with engineers and reading academic papers. 

Perhaps the most crucial realisation came from Yash’s observation of his colleagues. “Quantum isn’t just for quantum physicists,” he says. “There are actually many disciplines involved. Depending on where you are, if you have a background in software, electronics, optics or mechanics, you could still be working in the quantum industry.” 

After several months of apprenticeship, Yash was offered a full-time position as a Systems Engineer at SpeQtral, where he has continued to expand the scope of his work.

Today, the team is gearing up to launch its SpeQtre satellite, which will generate secure quantum encryption keys with ground stations. The mission tests space-to-ground quantum key distribution to safeguard data against future quantum computers capable of breaking current encryption methods used in banking, defence, and other sectors.

Yash simulates the satellite orbit and generates graphs showing its distance from ground stations and elevation over time. These outputs feed into another model that converts the data into expected key rates, essentially predicting the number of quantum keys the system will generate during each satellite pass over a ground station.

“I take in all of the satellite’s parameters, feed that into the model, and then simulate the orbit of the satellite. I combine that with a model of the hardware and software on the satellite and ground station, and finally output the expected key rate over a pass,” he says. 

A large part of his work means bridging several disciplines, understanding how the various subsystems work together, including optics, electronics, and software, enabling him to translate the complex system knowledge into code that creates reliable simulations to predict SpeQtre’s performance.
 

Yash and his colleague from the hardware team. Part of Yash’s work as a systems engineer is to work collaboratively with other teams.

When the simulations don’t match lab results, he troubleshoots the problem until everything aligns. “That’s where I have to come in,” says Yash. “I have to check on every input parameter in my simulation to see if it’s matching reality; if the model itself, the equations, make sense."

This constant interaction with other disciplines has pushed him to develop capabilities he didn’t anticipate needing. “I feel like I could easily transition these skills to other areas, because a lot of the work as a systems engineer is about understanding something really complex and then being able to translate that to a high level,” says Yash. 

His mentors have also encouraged him to give presentations to the wider team, building his confidence in providing clear answers that advance the work. It’s a skill Yash has had to practice daily, watching senior colleagues strike a balance between providing sufficient detail and losing the audience; between simplifying concepts and being misleading.

Yash with his colleagues.

As SpeQtre’s launch day approaches, there’s palpable excitement. The quantum payload that Yash’s colleagues built in Singapore was sent to the UK and integrated with the optical telescope, and then proceeded to the launch site where the satellite will be jettisoned into space to carry out its important work. 

On his daily walks through the office, Yash passes images of SpeQtral’s previous satellite, SpooQy-1.

“It's easy to forget just how cool it is what we're doing, combining space and quantum tech,” he says. “This is super cutting edge, so it makes me excited to be working here”.

Find out more about Summation here.