A Feedback Strategy to Improve the Entropy of a Chaos-Based Random Bit Generator

In this paper, the guidelines to design a true random bit generator (TRBG) circuit with a predefined minimum entropy are discussed. The approach is proposed for a TRBG based on a one-dimensional piecewise-linear chaotic map; it does not require bit throughput reduction, and it is suitable for the development of integrated TRBG circuits. In particular, the proposed design strategy is based on a feedback control procedure that allows to dynamically change the system parameters for the correction of the circuit “nonidealities” (e.g., the circuit offsets). The correction algorithm does not require a direct measurement of the system “nonidealities” or of the effective value of the map parameters, but only a dynamic estimation of these quantities based on the observation of the TRBG output. The design approach is validated by a hardware prototype implemented on a field-programmable analog array. The results of the NIST FIPS 140–2 test suite, the DIEHARD test suite, and the Coron’s Universal test, applied to the TRBG output sequences before and after a simple post processing without throughput reduction, are reported and discussed.