Commit Graph

1 Commits (d9c55defdb3175e84a3fe1722cf6abca977484c0)

Author SHA1 Message Date
Paul Mackerras 1a7aebeef8 Add random number generator and implement the darn instruction
This adds a true random number generator for the Xilinx FPGAs which
uses a set of chaotic ring oscillators to generate random bits and
then passes them through a Linear Hybrid Cellular Automaton (LHCA) to
remove bias, as described in "High Speed True Random Number Generators
in Xilinx FPGAs" by Catalin Baetoniu of Xilinx Inc., in:

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/83ac/9e9c1bb3dad5180654984604c8d5d8137412.pdf

This requires adding a .xdc file to tell vivado that the combinatorial
loops that form the ring oscillators are intentional.  The same
code should work on other FPGAs as well if their tools can be told to
accept the combinatorial loops.

For simulation, the random.vhdl module gets compiled in, which uses
the pseudorand() function to generate random numbers.

Synthesis using yosys uses nonrandom.vhdl, which always signals an
error, causing darn to return 0xffff_ffff_ffff_ffff.

This adds an implementation of the darn instruction.  Darn can return
either raw or conditioned random numbers.  On Xilinx FPGAs, reading a
raw random number gives the output of the ring oscillators, and
reading a conditioned random number gives the output of the LHCA.

Signed-off-by: Paul Mackerras <paulus@ozlabs.org>
4 years ago