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DIGITAL ELECTRONICS

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Nowadays, most everything that we deal with has some kind of digital technology. Though technology is continuously changing, the fundamentals of digital electronics remain the same. Understanding the fundamental concepts will enable adapting to any changing technology easier.

A digital system is made up of many logical blocks that work together to produce desired results.Those logical blocks could be discrete or integrated in nature with the ability of getting programmed to perform a desired function.

The purpose of this course is to learn the digital fundamentals with the objective of designing and troubleshooting digital systems that can be used in fields such as the automotive, chip design, networking, medical and many others.

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Subjects covered in the digital training session are:

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NUMBER SYSTEMS:

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  • The binary number system and digital codes are essential to digital electronics and systems in general. The binary number system and its relationship to the other number systems such as the decimal, octal and hexadecimal is explained. In addition binary arithmetic operations are explained to computers and other digital systems operate.Methods of detecting errors are also explained. The topics explained in this chapter are:​

    • The Decimal Number System.

    • The Binary Number System.

    • Binary to Decimal Conversion.

    • Binary Arithmetic.

    • 1's and 2's Compliments.

    • Signed number Arithmetic.

    • Octal Numbers.

    • Hexadecimal Numbers.

    • Binary Coded Decimal (BCD).

    • Error Detection.

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LOGIC GATES:

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  • At the heart of any digital system design are the basic logic gates. Basic logic symbols and operations are explained and Boolean algebra is introduced. The topics explained in this chapter are:

    • The Inverter (Not Gate).

    • The AND Gate.

    • The OR Gate.

    • The NAND Gate.

    • The NOR Gate.

    • The Exclusive OR Gate.

    • The Exclusive NOR Gate.

    • Variations of Basic Logic Gates.

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COMBINATIONAL LOGIC PART I:

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  • When Basic logic gates are connected to produce outputs that are based on a combination of  inputs with no storage involved the resulting circuits are known as  combinational logic circuits. In combinational logic circuits, the output level is always dependent on the combination of input levels. Applications such as adders, subtracters, comparators and many others can be designed and implemented. The topics explained in this chapter are: 

    • Basic Combinational Logic Circuits.

    • Boolean Expressions and Truth Tables.

    • DeMorgan's Theorem.

    • Boolean Expressions and Truth Tables.

    • The Universality of NAND and NOR Gates.

    • Design of Combinational Logic Circuits.

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COMBINATIONAL LOGIC PART II:

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  • This chapter is an extension of Chapter 3. In this chapter, several very common functional combinational logic circuits are explored.The topics explained in this chapter are:

    • Half Adder Circuits.

    • Full Adder Circuits.

    • Serial Adders and Parallel Adders Circuits.

    • Comparators Circuits.

    • Decoders Circuits.

    • Encoders Circuits.

    • Multiplexers Circuits.

    • DeMultiplexers Circuits.

    • Parity Generators/Checkers Circuits.


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DIGITAL LATCHES, FLIP-FLOPS AND TIMER CIRCUITS:

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  • The basic memory element is a single bit (binary digit). Such a memory bit state is provided as an output of a latch or flip flop circuit.  In addition timers circuits are explained. Such circuits are used to provide timing delays spanning from a few nano seconds to hours. The topics explained in this chapter are:

    • Latches.

    • NAND and NOR latches.

    • Flip-Flops (FF).

    • Flip-Flop Types.

    • Timers.

    • Introduction To Counters.

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COUNTERS:

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  • Flip Flops can be connected together  to achieve binary counting. UP and Down counter circuits can be designed by connecting flip flops together. Along with basic gates, the counting range whether counting up or down can be achieved. The number of counting states dictate the modulo of the counter. Whether counting up or down, counters can be either synchronous or asynchronous. Synchronous counters are easier to employ in order to have predetermined counting states. They are also faster than their asynchronous counter parts. The topics covered in this chapter are:

    • Asynchronous Counters.

    • Synchronous Counters.

    • UP/Down Asynchronous Counters.

    • Up/Down Synchronous Counters.

    • Cascaded Counters.

    • Decoding counter states and count sequence control.

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SHIFT REGISTERS:

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  • If you are familiar with local area networking (LAN), then you are aware that computers, printers, plotters, servers and clients are all connected to the LAN. Data is transmitted and received at a hardware level using transmitters and receivers commonly known as transceivers.  At their basic levels, transceivers are designed using registers such as parallel registers, shift registers, parallel to serial shift registers, serial to parallel registers and many other shift registers types. The topics explained in this chapter are: 

    • Basic Shift Register Operation.

    • Shift Right Registers.

    • Shift Left Registers.

    • Bidirectional Shift Registers.

    • Serial to Parallel Shift Registers.

    • Parallel To Serial Shift Registers.

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PROGRAMMABLE LOGIC:

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  • Hardware description languages are used those days to design more complicated digital circuits. The typical number of gates can easily be at least 500,000 gates in a programmable logic device (PLD) known as a field programmable gate array  (FPGA).  With PLDs, digital logic is described with software and then implemented using the internal gates of the PLD. This chapter covers the basic characteristics of SPLDs, CPLDs and FPGAs. The topics explained in this chapter are:

    • Simple Programmable Logic Devices.

    • Complex Programmable Logic Devices.

    • Macrocell Modes.

    • Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGAs).

    • Programmable Logic Software.

    • Boundary Scan Logic.

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MEMORY AND STORAGE:​​​

  • Most digital circuits and computers require permanent or semi-permanent storage of large amounts of binary data.. Microprocessor based systems rely on memories and storage devices for their operation since programs exchange data between functions and therefore the need to store the data from one function to be later used by another. Topics covered in this chapter are:

    • Memory Basics.​

    • The Random Access Memory.

    • The Read Only Memory.

    • Programmable ROMs, MROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM.

    • The Flash Memory.

    • Memory Expansion.

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MEMORY AND STORAGE:​​​

  • All operations eventually lead to the real world which is inherently an analog world. Data exists in the real world as analog data. In order to process the data, computers which are digital devices are used. Therefore, the need arise to convert the real world analog data into digital data to be processed by the computer. Therefore the need for an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC). Once the data is processed, it has to be converted to analog form in order to be understood. Therefore the need for a Digital to Analog Converter (DAC). The topics covered in this chapter are:

    • Binary Weighed Digital to Analog Converters.​

    • R2R Digital to Analog Converters.

    • Binary Weighed Analog to Digital Converters.

    • Successive Approximation Analog To Digital Converters.

    • Digital Signal Processing.

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