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ERNIE 4 was developed by Logica CMG. |
"You have to use a natural source of entropy," says Ed Mills, project manager at Logica CMG, the UK-based company that developed ERNIE 4.
"The problem is the difference between a software random number generator and a hardware-based one. It uses a specialised chipset developed by Intel to generate random numbers. Coming up with genuinely random numbers using a computer is deceptively hard because software can only mimic true unpredictability - so eventually patterns can emerge. Software systems are therefore commonly known as 'pseudo random number generators'. Intel's random number generating chip uses thermal noise - changes in the voltage and heat energy given off - from transistors as its source of randomness. The thermal noise measured is a result of random electron and material behaviour in the transistors. The noise is used to control the speed of an oscillator in order to churn out binary numbers."
Logica also developed ERNIE 3.
Acknowledgements
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