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The DTG-01 relies on the immutable randomness of background radioactivity to generate random numbers.
Quantum mechanics states that the nuclear decay of atoms, are fundamentally random and cannot be pre-
dicted.
The detection of a background radioactive particle is a random event trigger for the Random Number be-
cause it is impossible to predict with any accuracy the exact moment a radioactive particle will be detected.
How Random Numbers are Generated from
played on the LCD and sent out serially on the TTL port. Then the program reenters the for-next.
DTG-01
Generation of Random Numbers
Background Radiation:
The way the trigger generates random numbers is best described by
using a mechanical analogy. Imagine numbers one through four paint-
ed on the edge of a revolving carnival wheel.
There is a pointer at the top that indicates the number at the top of the
wheel. The wheel is set into motion, spinning very rapidly, thousands
of revolutions per second. Then the moment a random radioactive par-
ticle is detected the wheel is instantly stopped, and the number indicat-
ed under the pointer is our random number. Once the number is read,
the wheel is set back into motion.
The microcontroller program follows pretty close to the mechanically
analog. The microcontroller spins the sequence of numbers; one
through four, in a for-next loop. The random event instantly stops the
for-next loop, and the current number of the for-next loop is read, dis-
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