| 摘要 |
A method and apparatus for generating true random numbers is provided which is hardware based, and which uses unpredictable physical noise produced by an optoisolator. Specifically, the noises resulting from one or more of quantum shot, thermal noise, flicker, and the photoelectric effect are used as variable energy sources for subsequent conversion into a bitstream used for random number selection. The apparatus is preferably provided with a through hole prototype design and construction which requires minimal number of components reducing overall costs. |
| 主权项 |
1. An apparatus for generating random numbers comprising,
an optoisolator including,
a light source operable to output electromagnetic energy,a sensor for sensing electromagnetic energy output by the light source, an optical transmission path for propagating the output electromagnetic energy generated by the light source to the sensor, the sensor being electrically isolated from the light source and operable to convert said sensed electromagnetic energy to electric signals, and whereinthe sensing of said electromagnetic energy by said sensor produces electronic noise signals selected from at least one of the group consisting of flicker, thermal noise, quantum shot noise and photoelectric noise,a digital converter for digitally converting the produced noise signals into a bitstream, and a processor electronically communicating with the digital converter, the processor having programme instructions operable to process input bits from the bitstream and generate output bits based thereon a representative of a random number. |
