True random bit generators based on current time series of contact glow discharge electrolysis

Abstract

Random bit generators (RBGs) in today's digital information and communication systems employ a high rate physical entropy sources such as electronic, photonic, or thermal time series signals. However, the proper functioning of such physical systems is bound by specific constrains that make them in some cases weak and susceptible to external attacks. In this study, we show that the electrical current time series of contact glow discharge electrolysis, which is a dc voltage-powered micro-plasma in liquids, can be used for generating random bit sequences in a wide range of high dc voltages. The current signal is quantized into a binary stream by first using a simple moving average function which makes the distribution centered around zero, and then applying logical operations which enables the binarized data to pass all tests in industry-standard randomness test suite by the National Institute of Standard Technology. Furthermore, the robustness of this RBG against power supply attacks has been examined and verified.

Band‐Pass Filter and Relaxation Oscillator using Electric Double‐Layer Capacitor

“…Carbon graphite films were prepared using a two‐electrode CGDE setup as reported is previous papers ,,. A polycrystalline graphite rod of 0.5 cm diameter was slightly immersed in a 20 wt.% sulfuric acid solution and served as the plasma‐emitting cathode, and a large surface area platinum coil was used as the counter electrode .…”

Parallel random bitstreams from a single source of entropy based on nonthermal electrochemical microplasma

“…Submerged nonthermal microplasmas can be realized by biasing a small electrode, slightly in contact with an electrolyte, with a high enough positive or negative DC voltage, relative to a much larger counter electrode. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] The optical emissions can be visually localized within a thin gaseous sheath of a few tens of micrometers that forms around the smaller electrode, thus insulating it from the surrounding solution. [1,3,4,7] If, for whatever reason, the gas film is breached by the moving liquid boundary, there will be a very fast surge in power to reform it again and re-establish the plasma regime, which makes the process somehow self-sustaining.…”

“…This is an extension of our previous work in which we analyzed the electrical current time series only for random bit generation (RBG). [6] RBG systems are recognized as very important modules for modern digital communication and financial transaction applications, cryptography and security, Monte Carlo methods, and other numerical computations, which all rely on repeated random sampling. For day-to-day applications, it may be sufficient enough to use deterministic pseudorandom bits generated by means of computer algorithms.…”

“…Optical-based systems are proven to be able to provide much higher rates of true random bits as compared with traditional physical sources of entropy. [29,[33][34][35][36] Here, we employ the electrochemical microplasma system to generate two parallel signals of electrical current [6] and photoemission intensity. The binarized sequences, with no post-processing, pass all the 15 tests of the de facto standard statistical test suite for randomness by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-22, [37] which certifies their applicability as RBG, but nonetheless does not rigorously guarantee their randomness.…”

“…Another advantage of the system is that it is resilient to external power supply attacks, given the relatively high DC voltage needed to initiate and maintain the microplasma regime. [6] 2 | EXPERIMENTAL A schematic diagram of the experimental setup used for the acquisition of time-resolved electrical current and optical emission intensities is depicted in Figure 1. The microplasma system consisted of a small Pt electrode of 0.5-mm diameter, barely in contact with an anolyte solution of 1-mol/L H 2 SO 4 , and a large surface area Pt foil serving as the counter electrode.…”