AtomicRNG: Feeding The Linux RNG With Java & Alpha Ray Visualizer

AtomicRNG is an open-source project started by a Phoronix reader that's an experimental random number generator that feeds the Linux entropy pool and is based on an Alpha Radiation Visualizer.

This experimental random number generator for Linux is currently based in Java, but fear not, as ultimately the plan is t port it to C and turn it into a proper kernel module.

The developer behind AtomicRNG, Thomas "V10lator" Rohloff, wrote into Phoronix and explained his work that he calls a "pseudo open-source hardware RNG."

Some time ago I noticed your Article "An Open Hardware Random Number Generator Proposed" and was immediately reminded of the Alpha Radiation Visualizer (note: Neither this website nor the idea for that hardware is mine), so I rebuilt it and started to thinker with it. The result is an experimental RNG based on it which feeds the Linux entropy pool. Currently it's implemented in Java cause of its simplicity allowing to develop real quick but the ultimate goal is to implement it as a kernel module written in C.

It uses an algorithm based on xxHash and Java's internal RNG to increase the amount of random numbers taken from the image. The images are taken with the help of JavaCV and noise-filtered. For GUI lovers it even shows the unfiltered and the noise filtered (all pixels not used to get random numbers blacked out) image side-by-side as well as statistical data like the average numbers/sec gathered in the last 10 seconds by default (toggled by command-line argument).

More information as well as the LGPL licensed source-code is available at GitHub. Pre-built JAR files are available here. As I'm no expert with randomness/cryptography I would love if you could post about it on Phoronix to attract other developers to review the code.

Find out more about the project at his GitHub site.