Paper 2011/637 Original: eprint.iacr.org/2011/637 ↗

Random Number Generation Based on Oscillatory Metastability in Ring Circuits

Laszlo Hars
Abstract

Random number generator designs are discussed, which utilize oscillatory metastability, induced by switching between two stable states of ring-connected digital gates. For a short time after the switch-over the circuits behave quite randomly, influenced by the circuit noise. We provide simple programs, which simulate the fundamental behavior of our circuits. We also present a mathematical model and theoretical explanations of the underlying physical phenomena, the random phase drift and pulse decay. These also illuminate the principles of other recently published random number generators. The feasibility of the designs was confirmed by FPGA prototypes. These random number generators are small, fast and built of standard logic gates. The simplest example contains just one XOR gate as the source of randomness.

Metadata
Available format(s)
PDF
Category
Applications
Publication info
Preprint.
History
2011-11-26: last updated
2011-11-26: published
Short URL
https://ia.cr/2011/637
License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

BibTeX

@misc{cryptoeprint:2011/637,
      author = {Laszlo Hars},
      title = {Random Number Generation Based on Oscillatory Metastability in Ring Circuits},
      howpublished = {Cryptology {ePrint} Archive, Paper 2011/637},
      year = {2011},
      url = {https://eprint.iacr.org/2011/637}
}
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