Documentation

This section provides user and developer documentation for OpenTRNG the open-source TRNG.

Repository organization

Refer to the repository structure below, and based on your requirements, navigate to the relevant directory to get started with OpenTRNG. The repository is organized into the following main folders:

• analysis: contains the tools for the analysis of the resulting random binary sequences (such as entropy estimators and auto-correlations),
• emulator: includes the ring oscillator time series emulator and the raw random number emulators,
• hardware: encloses HDL sources for simulation and FPGA implementation of the PTRNG,
• remote: include scripts for remote control the OpenTRNG hardware target from a PC.

Prerequisites

In order to fully take benefit of OpenTRNG, you will need: Python 3, an HDL simulator and an hardware tool-suite (for FPGA or ASIC).

OpenTRNG requires the following:

• Python 3,
• HDL simulator,
• Hardware tool suite (for FPGA or ASIC).

Python

To get the required installation of Python 3, please install the following packages:

$ sudo apt install python3 python3-venv python3-dev

Create a virtual environment python3 -m venv .venv activate the venv source .ven/bin/activate and install required packages with pip install -r requirements.txt. For other Python environment or package managers (like conda), all required modules are listed in requirements.txt.

HDL simulator

VHDL simulation for OpenTRNG blocks can be performed using GHDL or other simulators such as QuestaSim. Ensure that the ghdl command (or the appropriate simulator command) is accessible in your system’s path. Testbenches for simulation and verification are written in Python using cocotb. The generated waveforms (vcd files) can be visualized with GTKWave.

If not using ghdl, refer to the config.mk file in the hardware/sim directory to configure your preferred simulator for all testbenches.

Hardware

To use more than just the OpenTRNG emulators, a hardware target is required.

Hardware target

OpenTRNG comes with direct compatibility to Digilent Arty7 FPGA 35T board. It can be ordered from Farnell, Digikey, Mouser, etc. Other FPGA targets and boards can be easily supported, please find more information on the hardware documentation page.

Hardware tool-suite

As of now the OpenTRNG project only supports Vivado for Xilinx FPGAs. The project is tested on Vivado versions 2018.3, 2020.2 and 2021.1.