Towards Programmable All-Digital True Random Number Generator

Random number generator (RNG) is a core component in many applications such as scientific research, testing and diagnosis, gaming, and cryptosystems (e.g., obfuscation, encryption, and authentication). Although, there are various RNG designs targeting specific application goals such as low-power, high-throughput, stronger security guarantees, a universal programmable RNG design has remained elusive. Indeed, it is a challenge to have only one RNG unit in a system with multiple compute modules with different randomness requirements. In this work, we aim to provide a practical solution to this design challenge by proposing a multi-purpose true random number generator (TRNG), which can be configured in real time to generate random sequences with different requirements. Such a programmable TRNG is able to supply random bits to multiple modules with different demands. The proposed TRNG is a highly convenient multi-purpose hardware primitive that can be deployed in many designs as it provides a tunable physical entropy source and a dynamic cost-performance trade-off.