Apparatus and method for digital noise synthesis

Abstract

The disclosure is directed to an apparatus and method for generating noise having characteristics of repeatability and reproducibility. A pseudo-random bit generator is responsive to clock pulses for simultaneously generating, at each clock pulse, a plurality of parallel pseudo-random digital bits which are successive bits of a pseudo-random sequence. In particular each new plurality of parallel bits is a successive group from the same pseudo-random sequence, thereby insuring a maximum number of totally uncorrelated groups. The bits generated at each clock pulse are operated on to produce an output noise signal as a function of the plurality of pseudo-random parallel bits generated at that clock pulse. In an embodiment of the invention, the operation on the plurality of bits comprises summing the value of the bits to produce a noise signal, the noise signal exhibiting a substantially Gaussian distribution with time. In another embodiment of the invention, the operation on the plurality of bits comprises comparing a first group of the plurality of bits to a second group of the plurality of bits and generating an output signal, at each clock pulse, as a function of the comparison. The output signal thereby occurs at substantially random intervals and constitutes a substantially random distributed noise signal.