Obtaining true-random binary numbers from a weak radioactive source

Authors:
Ammar Alkassar;Thomas Nicolay;Markus Rohe
Affiliations:
Sirrix AG security technologies, Homburg, Germany;Radio-Frequency Research Group, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany;Cryptography Research Group, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
Venue:
ICCSA'05 Proceedings of the 2005 international conference on Computational Science and Its Applications - Volume Part II
Year:
2005

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Abstract

In this paper, we present a physical random number generator (RNG) for cryptographic applications. The generator is based on alpha decay of Americium 241 that is often found in common household smoke detectors. A simple and low-cost implementation is shown to detect the decay events of a radioactive source. Furthermore, a speed-optimized random bit extraction method was chosen to gain a reasonable high data rate from a moderate radiation source (0.1 μCi). A first evaluation by applying common suits for analysis of statistical properties indicates a high quality of the data delivered by the device.