Random Number Generation via Hardware

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karthikbalaguru wrote:
> Hi,
> Is it possible to generating Random Numbers via any hardware ?
> 
> Thx in advans,
> Karthik Balaguru

If you check out the piclist.com archives, someone recently made a very
nice truly random number generator using the radioactive americium-241
inside a common smoke detector.


- --
Brendan Gillatt
brendan {at} brendangillatt {dot} co {dot} uk
http://www.brendangillatt.co.uk
PGP Key: http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xBACD7433
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karthikbalaguru ha scritto:
> Hi,
> Is it possible to generating Random Numbers via any hardware ?
> 
> Thx in advans,
> Karthik Balaguru

in small microcontroller i'v made simil_roulette.
the wheel is a fast pseudo_random ring counter (shift_xor).
the pick_number time come from a slow and little variable timer:
the charging time of 1 external capacitor placed on 1 I/O pin;
current is feed from onchip pullup resistor.
if wheel is quite fast (100 rev while timer) then few % variability
in timer period make randomness. (thanks electrical noise from uC itself).

ciao

On Fri, 7 Dec 2007 13:43:40 +0000 (UTC), Alex Colvin
<alexc@TheWorld.com> wrote:

>>Is it possible to generating Random Numbers via any hardware ?
>
>In fact, it's not possible to generate random numbers any other way.

This is not entirely true, as a well seeded PRNG that is cycled in the
backround can be just as random as a true hardware RNG.I guess one
could argue the point that a PRNG seeded by hardware is a hardware
RNG, but that is upto interperation. Also, I have seen plenty of
Hardware RNG's that are less random than some PRNG's.

>
>Do you want random or pseudo-random?
>Do you want numbers that theoretically cannot be predicted, numbers that 
>we don't know how to predict (or if we know, we aren't telling), or 
>numbers that are merely hard to predict?
>Are you defending against COTS technology, nation-states, quantum 
>technology, or alien technology?

The application is the key on exactly what is needed. Knuths books are
a very good start. For true hardware RNG's Tundra used to make a
device (RBG-1210 from memory) but last time I checked the website I
could not find it. I have used many an algorithm for PRNG before, but
I have had good success with Mersenne-Twister seeded with hardware,
although this is not recommended for cryptography. There is a plethora
of info available, but as I said before, the application is the key.

On Dec 7, 11:16=A0pm, "Jim Relsh" <jrel...@gmail.com> wrote:
> "karthikbalaguru" <karthikbalagur...@gmail.com> schreef in berichtnews:be0=
43875-4c67-425a-b97c-7a9b7f779396@s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
>
> > Hi,
> > Is it possible to generating Random Numbers via any hardware ?
>
> Google for 'Noise Diode'

I find that the idea of using Noise for Random Number generator is
really cool :):)

Karthik Balaguru