Mathematical model of physical RNGs based on coherent sampling. (English) Zbl 1274.94041

Bernard, Florent; Fischer, Viktor; Valtchanov, Boyan

Tatra Mt. Math. Publ. 45, 1-14 (2010).

Summary: Random number generators represent some basic cryptographic primitives used in creating cryptographic protocols. Their security evaluation represents a very important part in the design, implementation and employment phase of the generator. One important security requirement is the existence of a mathematical model describing the physical noise source and the statistical properties of the digitized noise derived from it. The aim of this paper is to propose a model of a class of generators using two jittery clocks with rationally related frequencies. The clock signals with related frequencies can be obtained using phase-locked loops, delay-locked loops or ring oscillators with adjusted oscillation periods. The proposed mathematical model is used to provide entropy-per-bit estimators and expected bias on the generated sequence. The model was validated by hardware experiments.

MSC:

94A60	Cryptography
65C10	Random number generation in numerical analysis

Keywords:

physical random number generators; stochastic model; random jitter; applied cryptography; data security; hardware architecture