R-2 composition tests: a family of statistical randomness tests for a collection of binary sequences

Abstract

In this article a family of statistical randomness tests for binary strings are introduced, based on Golomb's pseudorandomness postulate R-2 on the number of runs. The basic idea is to construct recursive formulae with computationally tenable probability distribution functions. The technique is illustrated on testing strings of 2(7), 2(8), 2(10) and 2(12) bits. Furthermore, the expected value of the number of runs with a specific length is obtained. Finally the tests are applied to several collections of strings arising from different pseudorandom number generators.