Analysis and Enhancement of Random Number Generator in FPGA Based on Oscillator Rings

Abstract

A true random number generator (TRNG) is an important component in cryptographic systems. Designing a fast and secure TRNG in an FPGA is a challenging task. In this paper, we analyze the TRNG designed by Sunar et al. (2007) based on XOR of the outputs of several oscillator rings. We propose an enhanced TRNG with better randomness characteristics that does not require postprocessing and passes the statistical tests. We have shown by experiment that the frequencies of the equal length oscillator rings in the TRNG are not identical. The difference is due to the placement of the inverters in the FPGA and the resulting routing between the inverters. We have implemented our proposed TRNG in an Altera Cyclone II FPGA. Our implementation has passed the NIST and DIEHARD statistical tests with a throughput of 100 Mbps and with a usage of less than 100 logic elements in the FPGA. The restart experiments have shown that the output from our TRNG behaves truly random and not pseudorandom.