A random number generator for low power cryptographic application

Random number generator (RNG) is widely used in cryptographic system as the cryptographic keys generator. These keys are the most important component in the system since the security of the cryptographic system relies entirely on its quality. As digital circuit becomes faster and smaller, some of the desired properties a RNG should have are low-power and good statistical quality. This paper presents a low energy consumption RNG including a serial-to-parallel shift register, a 32-bit register and a pseudo random number generator (PRNG) module. The design can be implemented completely in digital circuit and requires no external components. A prototype was implemented using Chartered Semiconductor 0.18 μm CMOS technology and the power consumption was less than 5 mW. The random sequence produced by the proposed architecture has good statistical properties based on National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) statistical test. This RNG can be used to improve the performances such as flexibility and power consumption in communication device and cryptographic application.