Coverage study of the NIST SP 800-22 randomness statistical tests suite
摘要
(Pseudo)random numbers are crucial in multiple disciplines, ranging from Statistics and Simulation to Cryptographic Security. To assess randomness and other desirable features in a sequence, different hypothesis tests are employed, which are usually organized in test suites or batteries. The application of these suites makes it possible to identify possible weaknesses in a sample or a generator, which might discourage their use in the training of statistical models. Although these suites are valuable tools, their application can involve a high computational cost. Therefore, a current line of research focuses on optimizing their design and implementation, improving test efficiency and minimizing test redundancy. In this context, the need arises to evaluate the quality of a set of hypothesis tests. In this work, we will focus on the analysis of the concept of suite coverage as a tool for battery design and apply it to the case of the NIST SP 800-22 battery.