Applicability and Design Considerations of Chaotic and Quantum Entropy Sources for Random Number Generation in IoT Devices

This article presents a comparative analysis of two types of generators of random sequences: one based on a discrete chaotic system being the logistic map, and the other being a commercial quantum random number generator QUANTIS-USB-4M. The results of the conducted analysis serve as a guide for selecting the type of generator that is more suited for a specific IoT solution, depending on the functional profile of the target application and the amount of random data required in the cryptographic process. This article discusses both the theoretical foundations of chaotic phenomena underlying the pseudorandom number generator based on the logistic map, as well as the theoretical principles of photon detection used in the quantum random number generators. A hardware IP Core implementing the logistic map was developed, suitable for direct implementation either as a standalone ASIC using the SkyWater PDK process or on an FPGA. The generated bitstreams from the implemented IP Core were evaluated for randomness. The analysis of the entropy levels and evaluation of randomness for both the logistic map and the quantum random number generator were performed using the <i>ent</i> tool and NIST test suite.