Chapter 1

Introductory Concepts
Prepared by
MIR MUNTASIR HOSSAIN
Lecturer, EEE
Northern University Bangladesh
Chapter Outline
 Digital and Analog Quantities
 Binary Digits and Logic Levels
 Digital Waveforms
 The Pulse
 Data Transfer
 Complexity Classifications for Fixed-Function ICs

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Digital and Analog Quantities
 Electronic circuits can be divided into two broad categories, digital and analog.
 An analog quantity is one having continuous values. For example, the air
temperature changes over a continuous range of values. During a given day, the
temperature does not go from, say, 70° to 71° instantaneously; it takes on all the
infinite values in between. Other examples of analog quantities are time,
pressure, distance, and sound.

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 A digital quantity is one having a discrete set of values.
 Rather than graphing the temperature on a continuous basis, suppose you just
take a temperature reading every hour. Now you have sampled values of the
temperature at discrete points in time (every hour) over a 24-hour period.

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The Digital Advantage
 Digital data can be processed and transmitted more efficiently and reliably
than analog data.
 Digital data has a great advantage when storage is necessary. For example,
music when converted to digital form can be stored more compactly and
reproduced with greater accuracy and clarity than is possible when it is in
analog form.
 Noise (unwanted voltage fluctuations) does not affect digital data nearly as
much as it does analog signals.

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An Analog System Example:
 A public address system, used to amplify sound so that it can be heard by a large audience, is
one simple example of an application of analog electronics.
 Sound waves, which are analog in nature, are picked up by a microphone and converted to a
small analog voltage called the audio signal. This voltage varies continuously as the volume
and frequency of the sound changes and is applied to the input of a linear amplifier.
 The output of the amplifier, which is an increased reproduction of input voltage, goes to the
speaker.
 The speaker changes the amplified audio signal back to sound waves that have a much greater
volume than the original sound waves picked up by the microphone.

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A System Using Digital and Analog Methods:
 The compact disk (CD) player is an example of a system in which both digital and analog
circuits are used.
 Music in digital form is stored on the compact disk.
 A laser diode optical system picks up the digital data from the rotating disk and transfers it to
the digital-to-analog converter (DAC).
 The DAC changes the digital data into an analog signal that is an electrical reproduction of the
original music.
 This signal is amplified and sent to the speaker.

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Binary Digits and Logic Levels
 Each of the two digits in the binary system, 1 and 0, is called a bit.
 The voltages used to represent a 1 and a 0 are called logic levels.
 1 is represented by the higher voltage, which we will refer to as a HIGH. A HIGH can
be any voltage between a specified minimum value and a specified maximum value.
 A 0 is represented by the lower voltage level, which we will refer to as a LOW. A
LOW can be any voltage between a specified minimum and a specified maximum.
 The variable VH (max) represents the maximum HIGH voltage value, and VH(min)
represents the minimum HIGH voltage value.
 The maximum LOW voltage value is represented by VL(max), and the minimum
LOW voltage value is represented by VL(min).
 The voltage values between VL (max) and VH(min) are unacceptable for proper
operation. A voltage in the unacceptable range can appear as either a HIGH or a LOW
to a given circuit.
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 For example, the HIGH input values for a certain
type of digital circuit technology called CMOS may
range from 2 V to 3.3 V.
 The LOW input values may range from 0 V to 0.8 V.
 If a voltage of 2.5 V is applied, the circuit will accept
it as a HIGH or binary 1.
 If a voltage of 0.5 V is applied, the circuit will accept
it as a LOW or binary 0.
 For this type of circuit, voltages between 0.8 V and 2
V are unacceptable.

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Digital Waveforms
 Digital waveforms consist of voltage levels that are changing back and forth
between the HIGH and LOW levels or states.
 A positive-going pulse is generated when the voltage (or current) goes from its
normally LOW level to its HIGH level and then back to its LOW level.
 The negative-going pulse in Figure 1–7(b) is generated when the voltage goes
from its normally HIGH level to its LOW level and back to its HIGH level.
 A digital waveform is made up of a series of pulses.

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The pulse
 A pulse has two edges: a leading edge that occurs first at time t0 and a
trailing edge that occurs last at time t1.
 For a positive-going pulse, the leading edge is a rising edge, and the trailing
edge is a falling edge.
 The pulses in the previous slide are ideal because the rising and falling edges
are assumed to change in zero time (instantaneously).
 In practice, these transitions never occur instantaneously.
Figure 1–8 shows a non-ideal pulse. In reality, all pulses exhibit some or all of
these characteristics. The overshoot and ringing are sometimes produced by
stray inductive and capacitive effects.

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Rise Time: The time required for a pulse to go from its LOW level to its HIGH
level is called the rise time (tr).
Fall Time: the time required for the transition from the HIGH level to the LOW
level is called the fall time (tf).
In practice, it is common to measure rise time from 10% of the pulse amplitude
(height from baseline) to 90% of the pulse amplitude and to measure the fall time
from 90% to 10% of the pulse amplitude, as indicated in Figure 1–8. The bottom
10% and the top 10% of the pulse are not included in the rise and fall times
because of the nonlinearities in the waveform in these areas.
Pulse Width: The pulse width (tW) is a measure of the duration of the pulse and
is often defined as the time interval between the 50% points on the rising and
falling edges.
Duty Cycle: Duty cycle is the ratio of the pulse width (tW) to the period (T ). It
can be expressed as a percentage.
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EXAMPLE 1–1
A portion of a periodic digital waveform is shown in Figure 1–10. The measurements
are in milliseconds. Determine the following:
(a) period (b) frequency (c) duty cycle

solution
(a) T is measured from leading edge to leading edge, as indicated. T = 10 ms.

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Bit time : When the waveform is HIGH, a binary 1 is present; when the waveform
is LOW, a binary 0 is present. Each bit in a sequence occupies a defined time
interval called a bit time.
The Clock: In digital systems, all waveforms are synchronized with a basic timing
waveform called the clock. The clock is a periodic waveform in which each interval
between pulses (the period) equals the time for one bit. The clock waveform itself
does not carry information.

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Timing diagrams: A timing diagram is a graph of digital waveforms showing the
actual time relationship of two or more waveforms and how each waveform
changes in relation to the others.

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Data Transfer
Data: Data refers to groups of bits that convey some type of information.
Data Transfer: Binary data must be transferred from one device to another within
a digital system or from one system to another in order to accomplish a given
purpose. For example, numbers stored in binary form in the memory of a computer
must be transferred to the computer’s central processing unit in order to be added.
The sum of the addition must then be transferred to a monitor for display.
Serial Transfer: When bits are transferred in serial form from one point to
another, they are sent one bit at a time along a single line. During the time interval
from t0 to t1, the first bit is transferred. During the time interval from t1 to t2, the
second bit is transferred, and so on. To transfer eight bits in series, it takes eight
time intervals.
Parallel Transfer: When bits are transferred in parallel form, all the bits in a
group are sent out on separate lines at the same time. There is one line for each bit.
To transfer eight bits in parallel, it takes one time interval compared to eight time
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Comparison between serial and parallel transfer:
 An advantage of serial transfer of binary data is that a minimum of only one line
is required. A disadvantage of parallel transfer is that it takes more lines than
serial transfer.
 In parallel transfer, a number of lines equal to the number of bits to be
transferred at one time is required. A disadvantage of serial transfer is that it
takes longer to transfer a given number of bits than with parallel transfer at the
same clock frequency.

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Complexity Classifications for Fixed-Function ICs
 Small-scale integration (SSI) describes fixed-function ICs that have up to ten
equivalent gate circuits on a single chip, and they include basic gates and flip flops.
 Medium-scale integration (MSI) describes integrated circuits that have from 10 to
100 equivalent gates on a chip. They include logic functions such as encoders,
decoders, counters, registers, multiplexers, arithmetic circuits, small memories, and
others.
 Large-scale integration (LSI) is a classification of ICs with complexities of from
more than 100 to 10,000 equivalent gates per chip, including memories.
 Very large-scale integration (VLSI) describes integrated circuits with
complexities of from more than 10,000 to 100,000 equivalent gates per chip.
 Ultra large-scale integration (ULSI) describes very large memories, larger
microprocessors, and larger single-chip computers. Complexities of more than
100,000 equivalent gates per chip are classified as ULSI.
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Reference Book
Digital Fundamentals, 11th Edition
Thomas L. Floyd
©2015 |Pearson |

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