Circuits: Digital Page

Introduction: Digital circuits are used by computers as a very efficient way to manipulate numbers, letters, pictures, sound, and more.  Digital values work with voltages that are either 'on=1' or 'off=0', so circuits are just combinations of switches that can be built into very large scale integrated circuits (the basis of your computer).  This lecture will cover the basics of analog and digital, and the basic logic gates (and, or, xor, nand, not) that can be used to manipulate digital voltages.

Reference Material:

Textbook:  Technology Brief 8:  Digital and Analog (p. 154)

 This material will not be on the exam, but it will be used in the labs, and you may choose to try it out in your final project ( a sensor system of your choosing).  You will learn more about digital electronics in your later ECE courses.

Digital Lecture:

digital circuits a brief intro Links to an external site.

Power point to take notes on: L(digital).ppt Download L(digital).ppt

Index of Powerpoint presentation: (pdf Download pdf

EXTRA Resources:

Comparison of Analog and Digital Links to an external site.

A nice tutorial on digital logic Links to an external site.from Bucknell University

Summary of Digital Gates & Digital Math Links to an external site.

Analog to Digital (ADC) and Digital to Analog (DAC) conversion.docx Download Analog to Digital (ADC) and Digital to Analog (DAC) conversion.docx

ASCII printable characters table Links to an external site.

Computer number format Links to an external site.

Comparison of pixels Links to an external site.

RGB color table Links to an external site.

Lab Application:

Overview of 7400 Series digital circuits Links to an external site.

List of 7400 series integrated circuits Links to an external site.

Comparison of Analog vs. Digital Recording Links to an external site.  (See also Technology Brief 24, and there are now several apps for iphone that will let you see your voice on an oscilloscope.)

Additional Resources in your Textbook:

Technology Brief 10: Computer Memory Circuits p. 203

Chapter 4-10: Digital to Analog Converters

Chapter 4-11.1 and 4-13.2 and 4:  Digital Inverter

Technology Brief 13:  Hard Disk Drives. p.293

Chapter 5-7 and 5-8:Parasitic Capacitance and Computer Processor Speed.

Karnaugh Maps: A simple way to design digital circuits (We have not covered this topic in class, but if you want to use more advanced digital designs in your final project, this method is likely to be very helpful.)

Karnaugh Maps (K-maps) Links to an external site.