Hotbits from WebCam for the AetherOnePi

The latest version of the AetherOnePi contains a processing application which allows you to collect hotbits (TRNG) directly from your webcam.

When you unzip the packages you will see a new processing folder. Inside there is a processing application which can be opened by doubleclicking if you have Processing installed.

When you start the program you will see a noisy image from your webcam. BUT PLEASE cover your camera opening in order to not to collect ordered structures. What we need is only a dark image where a lot of noise is visible.

When you press a key on your keyboard the application reacts with starting the collection process for the hotbits.

It will collect 20000 packages, enough for at least a month of analysis work. Some of the hotbits will be used for broadcasting too, as long as you have enough in your hotbits folder. When one package is consumed it will be deleted. This makes sure that you use only undeterminated random numbers (they stay in a quantum state until observed).

You can leave the application open until it reach 20.000 packages. Then it will show again the fuzzy noisy video. In the meantime you can open the AetherOnePi standalone Gui and work with the fresh hotbits for analysing.

See also:
– https://radionics.home.blog/2020/05/17/the-webcam-as-a-source-for-trng-true-random-number-generator/

Additional notes for Mac users:
If you get errors like “failed to initialize”, this may be connected to a security issue for webcam and processing / java. In the link you can find a solution to the problem: https://github.com/processing/processing-video/issues/134#issuecomment-593909771