Introduction to Digital Systems

Introduction
 In science, technology, business, and, in fact, most other
fields of endeavor, we are constantly dealing with
quantities.
 Quantities are measured, monitored, recorded,
manipulated arithmetically, observed, or in some other
way utilized in most physical systems.
 It is important when dealing with various quantities that
we can be able to represent their values efficiently and
accurately.
 There are basically two ways of representing the
numerical value of quantities: analog and digital.
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 Digital versus Analog systems
Analog Representation: Analog voltage vs time
 In analog representation 5

a quantity is represented 3
by a voltage, current, or
meter movement that is 1

Voltage(V)
proportional to the value
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
of that quantity. -1

 Analog quantities such -3

as those cited above

have an important -5
Time (s)
characteristic: they can
vary over a continuous
range of values.

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Digital Representation:
 In digital representation the
quantities are represented not by Digital voltage vs time
proportional quantities but by 5
symbols called digits.
 As an example, consider the digital 3

watch, which provides the time of

day in the form of decimal digits 1

Voltage(V)
which represent hours and minutes
-1 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
(and sometimes seconds).
 As we know, the time of day -3
changes continuously, but the
digital watch reading does not -5
Time (s)
change continuously; rather, it
changes in steps of one per minute
(or per second). The major difference between
 In other words, this digital analog and digital quantities is
representation of the time of day
changes in discrete steps, as
Analog 
compared with the representation
of time provided by an analog
watch, where the dial reading Continuous
changes continuously. Digital 
Discrete 3
 Advantages and Limitations of Digital Techniques
 Advantages
 Digital systems are easier to design.
 The switching circuits in which there are only two
voltage levels, HIGH and LOW, are easier to design.
The exact numerical values of voltages are not
Limitation
important because they have only logical There is really only
significance; only the range in which they fall is
important. one major drawback
 Information storage is easy. when using digital
 There are many types of semiconductor and
magnetic memories of large capacity which can techniques:
store data for periods as long as necessary.
 Accuracy and precision are greater.
 Digital systems arc much more accurate and precise “ The real world is
than analog systems, because digital systems can
be easily expanded to handle more digits by adding
more switching circuits. Analog systems will be quite mainly analog”
complex and costly for the same accuracy and
precision.
 Digital systems are more versatile.
 It is fairly easy to design digital systems whose
operation is controlled by a set of stored instructions
called the program. Any time the system operation
is to be changed, it can easily be accomplished by
modifying the program
 Digital circuits are less affected by
noise.
 Unwanted electrical signals are called noise. Noise is
unavoidable in any system. Since in analog systems 4
the exact values of voltages are important and in
digital systems only the range of values is
 To take advantage of digital techniques when dealing with
analog inputs and outputs, three steps must be followed :
 Convert the real-world analog inputs to digital form. (ADC)
 Process (operate on) the digital information.
 Convert the digital outputs back to real-world analog form. (DAC)
The following diagram shows a temperature control system that
requires analog/digital conversions in order to allow the use of
digital processing techniques.
(Analog) (Digital)
Temperature
(analog) Measuring Analog-to-Digital Digital
Device Converter (ADC) Processing

Digital-to- Analog Adjust

Controller
Converter (DAC) temperature
(Digital) (Analog)

Block diagram of a typical temperature control system.

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 The need for conversion between analog and digital forms of
information can be considered a drawback because of the
added complexity and expense.
 Another factor that is often important is the extra time required
to perform these conversions.
 In many applications, these factors are outweighed by the
numerous advantages of using digital techniques, and so the
conversion between analog and digital quantities has become
quite commonplace in the current technology.
 There are situations, however, where using only analog
techniques is simpler and more economical.
 For example, the process of signal amplification is most easily accomplished
using analog circuitry.
 It is becoming more and more common to see both digital and
analog techniques employed within the same system in order
to profit from the advantages of each.
 In these hybrid systems, one of the most important parts of the
design phase involves determining what parts of the system
are to be analog and what parts are to be digital.

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 Binary logic Gates
 The general public as being magical sometimes looks upon
computers, calculators, and other digital devices.
 Actually, digital electronic devices are extremely logical in
their operation.
 The basic building block of any digital circuit is a logic gate.
 The logic gates we will use operate with binary numbers,
hence the term binary logic gates.
 Logic gates are the building blocks for even the most
complex computers.
 Logic gates can be constructed by using simple switches,
relays, transistors and diodes, or lCs.
 Because of their availability, wide use, and low cost, ICs will
be used to construct digital circuits.
 A variety of logic gates are available in all logic families
including TTL and CMOS.
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 Digital Signals
 Digital systems use the binary number system.
 Therefore, two-state devices are used to represent the two binary digits 1 and 0 by
two different voltage levels, called HIGH and LOW.
 If the HIGH voltage level is used to represent 1 and the LOW voltage level to
represent 0, the system is called the positive logic system.
HIGH

Leading Trailing
edge edge

LOW

a) Positive pulse
 On the other hand, if the HIGH voltage level represents 0 and the LOW voltage level
represents 1, the system is called the negative logic system.
HIGH
Leading
Trailing
edge
edge
LOW

b) Negative pulse
 Normally, the binary 0 and 1 are represented by the logic voltage levels 0V and +5 V.
 So, in positive logic system, 1 is represented by + 5 V (HIGH) and 0 is represented by
0 V (LOW); and in a negative logic system, 0 is represented by + 5 V (HIGH) and l is
represented by 0 V ( LOW).
 Both positive and negative logics are used in digital systems, but the positive logic
is more common.

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 In reality, because of circuit variations, the 0 and 1 would be
represented by voltage ranges instead of particular voltage
levels.
 Example of Voltages Level in TTL family

5.0V HIGH
(Logic 1)

2.0 V Indeterminate
range

0.8V LOW
(Logic 0)

0V
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Waveform Characteristics
 Most waveforms encountered in digital
systems are composed of series of pulses,
sometimes called pulse trains, and can be
classified as either periodic or nonperiodic. T1 T2 T3
 A periodic pulse waveform is one that repeats Period = T1 = T2 =T3 =…=Tn
itself at a fixed interval, called a period (T). Frequency=1/T
The frequency (f) is the rate at which it
repeats itself and is measured in hertz (Hz). Periodic pulse-train
 A nonperiodic pulse waveform, of course,
does not repeat itself at fixed intervals and
may be composed of pulses of randomly
differing pulse widths and/or randomly differing
time intervals between the pulses. An example
of each type is shown in Figure 1.5. Non-Periodic pulse-train
 The frequency (f) of a pulse (digital) waveform
is the reciprocal of the period. The relationship Tw
between frequency and period is expressed as
follows: 1 1 T
f T
T f Duty cycle = 50%
 An important characteristic of a periodic digital
waveform is its duty cycle. The duty cycle is Tw
the ratio of the pulse width (tW) to the period
(T) and can be expressed as a percentage.
T
t 
Duty cycle  W 100% Duty cycle = 75%
10
 T 