Deriving the Variance of the Discrete Fourier Transform Test Using Parseval's Theorem

Abstract: The discrete Fourier transform test is a randomness test included in NIST SP800-22. However, the variance of the test statistic is smaller than expected and the theoretical value of the variance is not known. Hitherto, the mechanism explaining why the former variance is smaller than expected has been qualitatively explained based on Parseval's theorem. In this paper, we explore this quantitatively and derive the variance using Parseval's theorem under particular assumptions. Numerical experiments are then used to show that this derived variance is robust.