ite Wl teenie 1 6 loa BWee ram oBy ABs oBDoMr a—cnit GE Hp a a aFirst published 1982 ISBN 0 7188 2521 7 COPYRIGHT © 1982 R. H. WARRING All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Lutterworth Press, Farnham Road, Guildford, Surrey. Photoset and printed photolitho in Great Britain by Ebenezer Baylis and Son Limited, The Trinity Press, Worcester, and London.Contents CHAPTER page 1.__ Getting to Grips With Digital Electronics 7 2. Binary Arithmetic and Truth Tables 9 3. Symbols and Switches 17 4. Mathematical Logic (Boolean Algebra) 29 5. Logie Circuit Devices 39 6. _ Flip-Flops and Memories 57 7. Binary Coded Decimals 66 8. Clocks 73 9. _ Encoders and Decoders 94. CG 10. Digital Adders 95 11. Binary Counters 102 12, Converters and Registers 111 13. Arithmetic Logic Units 121 Appendices: I Binary/Decimal Equivalents 133 I Truth Tables, Boolean Algebra and Minimizing 137 Hl Computer Programming 144 Index 151CHAPTER 1! Getting to Grips With Digital Electronics Most people are familiar with ‘ordinary’ electrical circuits where voltages and currents can be measured with dial-type meters, or analogue meters as they are technically described. Such meters also follow changes in voltage (or current) in a smooth stepless manner. That is what analogue really means in electronics: signals or physical quantities which can vary in a smooth-changing, stepless manner. Everyone knows that certain analogue quantities, c.g. clock time, can be presented in the form of a digital display as an alternative to analogue display (a clock with hands). Apart from the difference in presenting time — visible numbers instead of position of the hands — one difference is immediately apparent. The digital display changes in jumps, from one number to the following number. Clock or watch hands move progressively from one position to another. (Ac- tually they move in tiny jumps when driven by a gear train, but they are still analogue rather than digital movements. A better example of a pure analogue movement is a meter reading voltage or current with no gear train involved. Again most meters can be constructed to pro- vide a digital display of the quantity being measured, which changes a digit at a time with no ‘intermediate’ values), So ‘digital’ really means working in steps. Converting varying analogue quantities into digital read-outs is only a small — but important — part of digital electronics. Its principle attraction is that it is very positive and accurate, working a step at a time. It is more positive, for instance, to count on the fingers that four (fingers) plus five (fingers) totals nine (fingers), than remembering that four plus five equals nine. The same argument applies even more so to much more complex arithmetical problems, Counting, a step at a time, should positively give the right answer. Using digital electronic devices, some of which are capable of step-by-step counting at a rate of up to 1000 million times a second, can also be an extremely rapid method of working. But counting, and performing arithmetical and other mathematical functions, is only one of the capabilities of digital devices. Another important application is in performing /ogic functions, Logic, boiled8 Understanding Digital Etectronics down to its basic form is really a question of ‘yes’ or ‘no’ (or ‘true’ or ‘false’). A whole host of circuit design problems — from simple switching circuits to complete microprocessors and computers — can be implemented in hardware form by basic logic elements on a step- by-step (digital) basis of working, again at fantastic speeds. Design problems in logic can be written out in three different ways: in ‘plain’ language (block logic); possible permutations and what they give (truth tables); or mathematically (using Boolean algebra). Solu- tions can then be implemented as working circuits employing fogie devices suitably interconnected. These various subjects represent whole new fields to study and become familiar with, especially for anyone with little or no previous knowledge of digital electronics — and there is always more to learn. This book attempts to break down digital electronics into separate subjects which can be read and studied separately, if necessary. Start with Logic Circuit Devices (Chapter 5) if you like. Or, if you are ‘mechanically’ minded, start with Symbols and Switches (Chapter 3) for a clear understanding of how electronic logic devices are nothing more than combinations of on-off switches. You can always refer to earlier chapters to fill-in on binary arithmetic and mathematical logic, etc. You will need to study, or at least read through, the earlier chapters for a proper appreciation of the various application circuits contained in Chapter 8 onwards. With that proviso much of the mystique of digital electronics should become clear — except probably for Chapter 13 and Appendix III. These are there to explain some of the more complex techniques related to modern digital computers. Stop before there, if you like. After all, computer programming is a subject which even the experts struggle with!CHAPTER 2 Binary Arithmetic and Truth Tables Digital systems employ devices which function in only two states, hence they are known as binary devices and operate in a binary manner (binary simply means two). These two states may be described in various ways, for example: on-off — or closed-open for switching devices 1-0 — for counting or computing devices true-false — or yes-no for logic devices pulse-no pulse — for trigger circuits HIGH-LOW — for practical digital circuits where voltage levels are relative (i.e. a low signal is not necessarily zero). All mean the same thing in function — one state or the other, with no intermediate state. This is the whole basis of digital (binary) working. Corresponding binary numbers are based on just two digits, 1 and 0. Individual digits in a binary number then represent equivalent powers of 2, instead of powers of 10 as in the decimal system. A par- ticular advantage of the binary system is that there are no ‘multipli- cation tables’ as such and any problem involving addition, subtrac- tion, multiplication, division, etc., can be broken down into a series of individual binary operations, with each switching element in the system being continuously used (i.e. either in the ‘on’ or ‘off’ state). Compared with the decimal system, binary numbers are tedious as a written language. Here, for example, are the binary equivalents of decimal numbers from 1 to 32.10 Understanding Digital Electronics binary binary decimal number decimal number 1 (2°) 1 7 10001 2 (2") 10 18 10010 3 al 19 10011 4 (2?) 100 20 10100 5 101 21 10101 6 110 22 10110 7 111 23 10111 8 (27) 1000 24 11000 9 1001 25 11001 10 1010 26 11010 11 1011 2 11011 12 1100 28 11100 13 1101 29 11101 14 1110 30 11110 15 111 nv 1111 16 (2*) 10000 32 (2) 100000 and so on Remembering that the binary system is based on powers of 2, the simplest way to derive the binary number equivalent of a large decimal number is to subtract the highest power of 2 contained by the number; then subtract the highest power of 2 from the remainder; and so on until only a £ or 0 is left as a remainder, For example, sup- pose we want the binary number for the decimal number 269: The highest power of 2 within this number is 2° = 256 This leaves 269 - 256 = 13 The highest power of 2 within this remainder is 2° =8 This leaves 13-8=5 The highest power of 2 within this remainder is 2? = 4 This leaves 5-4 = 1. The corresponding number is thus 2* +23 +2? with remainder 1, Le. 28 = 100000000 = 256 decimal = 1000 = 8 2? = 100 = 4 remainder = 1 =_l 100001101 = 269 decimal (The column on the right is written out as a check). The binary number is long: 9 digits or difs as they are called. Nevertheless it ‘counts’ in a system involving only 1 or 0, so it can readily be handled by digital devices. Nor does the number of bits to be handled in a calculation represent any practical limitation. The speed at which these devices can work is extremely high. Here, for