Digital Hardware Realization of a Random-Number Generator
J. L. Perry, Ronald W. Schafer, L. R. Rabiner · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1972
Random numbers are used in speech synthesis and psychoacoustic experiments. A digital random number generator that provides both uniform and Gaussian numbers has been constructed in TTL digital hardware and operates as a peripheral device on a Honeywell DDP-516 computer. For generating Gaussian numbers, the hardware operates approximately 700 times faster than an equivalent software generator. Generation of the uniformly distributed numbers is based on an algorithm described by Rader, Rabiner, and Schafer, BSTJ, November 1970. Ganasian numbera are generated by summing N uniform numbers, where N is specified by the user and is in the range 1⩽N⩽214. The number generator was evaluated using a chi-square test, and correlation functions and resulting power spectra of the output were measured. A general description of the hardware organization will be presented.