Digital Electronics Unit 1

Unit 1 Introduction to Digital Systems

Structure:
1.1 Introduction
Objectives
1.2 Digital Systems
Signals
Binary Digits
1.3 Logic Levels and Digital Waveforms
1.4 Logic Systems
1.5 Logic Operations
1.6 Combinational and Sequential Logic Functions
1.7 Summary
1.8 Terminal Questions
1.9 Answers

1.1 Introduction
In today’s world, you might have often heard the word digital which has
become a part of our everyday vocabulary. Digital circuits and techniques
are used in almost all areas including computers, automation, robots,
medical, science and technology, transportation, telecommunications,
entertainment, space exploration, Education, military, research, and so on.
Digital circuits and systems play a major role in almost all fields and you can
find their widespread use in most of the applications. This shows the
importance of digital devices, digital systems and digital circuits. And one
has to be aware of these in modern digital IT world. Since the digital circuits
process the digital signal, it is important to know about digital signal and the
kind of operations that a digital system can perform. One who is interested
in knowing the digital fundamentals should know how digital circuits or
systems have been used to perform particular operation.
So in this unit, we will study the two types of signal, namely analog and
digital signals, logic levels and digital waveforms, logic systems and their
operations. We will also introduce combinational and sequential logic
functions.

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 1

Digital Electronics Unit 1

Objectives:
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
 define digital electronics
 differentiate analog and digital signals
 discuss on logic level and digital waveforms
 list and explain the types of logic systems
 explain different logic operations
 discuss combinational and sequential logic functions

1.2 Digital Systems

Digital electronics is the branch of electronics that deals with circuits and
systems which use only two voltage levels namely LOW and HIGH. Since
these two voltages are distinct or discrete, we can say that the digital
electronics deals with signals that are discrete in nature.
A digital circuit is one which processes digital signals. Digital circuits are
usually constructed from logic gates.
Since digital circuit processes digital signal, it is important to know about
digital signal. So in the next sub section we will study the digital signal. We
also study analog signal to know its nature or looks in comparison to digital
signal.
1.2.1 Signals
There are two ways of representing the values of various physical quantities
or signals. They are: analog and digital. So a signal can be an analog or
digital signal. Now let us first look at the meaning of signal first and then
discuss the types of signal.
You might have seen waving of a Flag in railway system during the train’s
arrival or departure from the railway station. You have seen traffic signals in
a traffic system. What do they signify? They convey us some information.
For example, in case of waving a green flag in a railway system indicates
that the train can move (or go) and red flag indicates the train should stop.
Similarly, the traffic signals convey us when to go (Green signal), when to
stop (Red signal) and when to get ready (Yellow signal).

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 2

Digital Electronics Unit 1

A signal conveys some information. It means a signal can convey a

message. Examples include, smoke signals, a set of flags, traffic lights,
speech signals, image, and many others. Smoke signals were used for
conveying information that goes back before recorded history.
They are two types of signals. They are:
i) Analog signals
ii) Digital signals
Analog signal:
Analog signals vary continuously with respect to time, and can take any
value.
Analog = continuous
For example, the microphone output might have any value within a range of
0V to 10 mV (e.g., 1 mV, 2.3724 mV, 5.55mV, 6.0 mV, 8.9999 mV etc.).
In this unit, we use the term analog signal to mean electrical signals that are
continuous in time (t). The figure 1.1 shows an example of an analog signal.
This signal could be an audio signal or speech signal in which the
instantaneous voltage (V) of the signal varies continuously with respect to
time (t).

Figure 1.1: Analog signal

The voltage value varies continuously with time (t) between 0V to its
maximum value –Vmax or Vmax . Thus, an analog signal is continuous both in
time and amplitude.
Digital signal:
A digital signal is not continuous in time and amplitude. It is discrete in both
time and amplitude. It takes only a limited number of values, usually LOW
Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 3
Digital Electronics Unit 1

and HIGH. Normally the LOW represents a LOW voltage and a HIGH value
represents a HIGH voltage. These two discrete values are usually
represented by binary numbers 0 and 1 respectively.
• Digital = discrete (step by step)
The figure 1.2 shows an example of digital signal.

Figure 1.2: Digital signal

The signal shown in figure 1.2 has only two values: 0V and 5V. However, a
digital signal can have more number of discrete values, but the operation of
digital circuit becomes easy when the states or values are limited. For
example, it will be difficult to operate a transistor, an electronic device for
ten different states or values but it can be operated easily if we have two
states like ON and OFF. Taking this aspect into consideration a digital
signal can be defined as “a signal with only two discrete values LOW and
HIGH or 0 and 1 respectively.
The real world is analog in nature and most of the physical quantities like
position, velocity, acceleration, force, pressure, temperature and flow rate,
etc., are analog in nature. In such cases, to avail the benefits and facilities
of digital techniques they have to be converted into digital form.
We can convert an analog signal into digital signal by using circuits called
analog to digital (A/D) converters.
Digital systems:
A digital system is a system that consists of digital devices or digital circuits
that process digital signals.
Some of the examples of digital systems are: Digital Computers,
Calculators, Digital audio System, and Digital Multimeter etc.

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 4

Digital Electronics Unit 1

Advantages of digital systems:

The advantages of digital systems are that they are relatively much easier to
design and have higher accuracy, better programmability and noise
immunity. In a digital system, as long as the total noise is below a certain
level, we can recover the information perfectly. For example, a continuous
audio signal transmitted as a sequence of 1s and 0s, can be reconstructed
without error, provided the noise picked up in transmission is not enough to
prevent identification of the 1s and 0s.
In a digital system, we can obtain a more precise representation of a signal
by using more binary digits to represent it. While this requires more digital
circuits to process the signals, each digit is handled by the same kind of
hardware, resulting in an easily scalable system.
Information storage is easier in digital systems. It is easy to design digital
systems whose operation is controlled by a set of instructions called a
program.
Disadvantages:
Digital circuits are sometimes more expensive. When converting analog
signals into discrete digital signals, quantization errors may occur. The
quantization error is the difference between the actual analog value and
quantized digital value. Quantization error can be reduced if the system
stores enough digital data to represent the signal to the desired degree of
fidelity.
In some systems, if a single piece of digital data is lost or misinterpreted, the
meaning of large blocks of related data can completely change. Digital
memory and transmission systems can use techniques such as error
detection and correction to use additional data to correct any errors in
transmission and storage.
Analog components are used to make digital circuits. The design must not
change analog nature of the components or dominate over the desired
digital behavior.
1.2.2 Binary Digits
0 and 1 are the binary digits. Each individual digit is called a binary digit or
Bit in short. Since binary number contains only 0's and 1's, it may be
transmitted in the form of electronic on/off pulses (on =1, off =0). We use
two different voltage levels to represent the two bits in digital circuits.
Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 5
Digital Electronics Unit 1

In digital systems the information processing takes place in binary form. We

can represent binary quantities by any device that has only two operating
states or conditions. E.g. a switch has only two conditions: open or closed.
So we can arbitrarily represent open condition (or position) of a switch by
binary 0 and a closed condition of a switch by binary 1. Thus by using series
of switches we can represent any binary number.
Digital computers understand and process binary digits 0 and 1. Note that
these digits are provided to the computer in the form of two voltage levels.
We can also use group of bits called codes to represent different numbers,
letters, symbols and instructions.
Now let us study the meaning of some of the terms used in digital logic
systems.
Bit: A single binary digit 0 or 1 is called a Bit.
Nibble: A group of any 4 binary digits (or bits) is called a Nibble.
1 Nibble = XXXX where X = 0 or 1
For example: 0000, 1111, 1010, 1101 etc.
Byte: A group of any 8 binary digits (or bits) is called a Byte. A byte is the
basic unit of data in computers.
1 Byte = XXXXXXXX where X = 0 or 1.
Examples: 00000000, 11111111, 10101001, 11001001, 11101010 etc.
Word: In computing, word is a term for the natural unit of data used by a
particular processor design. A word is basically a fixed-sized group of digits
(binary or decimal) that are handled as a unit by the instruction set or the
hardware of the processor. The number of digits in a word (the word size,
word width, or word length) is an important characteristic of any specific
processor design or computer architecture.
The size of a word is not same. It varies from one computer to another,
depending on the CPU architecture. For example, computers with a 16-bit
CPU will have a word equal to 16 bits (i.e. 2 bytes). Similarly, computers
with a 8-bit CPU will have a word equal to 8 bits. In case of large
mainframes, a word can be as long as 64 bits (8 bytes).

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 6

Digital Electronics Unit 1

Modern general purpose processors are 32 or 64 bits. Special purpose

digital processors, such as DSPs may use other sizes and many different
sizes have been used historically, which include 8, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 39, 40,
48, and 60 bits.
Self-Assessment Questions
1. A digital circuit processes __________________signals.
2. A signal which varies continuously with respect to time, and can take
any value is called ___________________.
3. A ________________ signal is a signal that is not continuous in time
and amplitude.
4. A group of any 8 bits is called ______________.

1.3 Logic Levels and Digital Waveforms

In digital circuits, a logic level is one of the states that a signal can have.
Logic levels are usually represented by the voltage difference between the
signal and ground. So logic levels are nothing but the voltages used to
represent a 1 and a 0. In practical digital circuit, a HIGH can be any voltage
between a specified minimum value and a specified maximum value.
Likewise, a LOW can be any voltage between a specified minimum and a
specified maximum. The figure 1.3 shows Logic level ranges of voltage for a
digital circuit.

Figure 1.3: Logic level ranges of voltage for a digital circuit.

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 7

Digital Electronics Unit 1

Any voltage level that appears in the range that is not defined is invalid and
will not be accepted. Referring to the figure 1.3, the voltage that appears
between VH(min) and VL(max) is invalid and is not acceptable since this range
of voltage level is not defined for logic circuits. For example, Standard TTL
logic gates operate with a 5-volt power supply. A TTL input and output
signal profiles are defined as below:

Now if any voltage signal that ranges between 0.8 V and 2.0 V is sent to the
input of a TTL gate, then there may be no certain response from the gate.
This is because it is considered "uncertain" or unacceptable and is not the
defined voltage level to recognize it as a valid voltage. No logic gate
manufacturer would guarantee how their gate circuit would interpret such a
signal.
In binary logic the two levels used are logical high and logical low. This
generally corresponds to the binary 1 and 0 respectively. Sometimes it is
required to connect (or interface) two different logic circuits (logic gates)
which belong to two different logic families to produce some desired logic
operation. Since each of them belongs to different logic families, they use
different voltage levels to represent 1 and 0 states. Thus they cannot be
directly connected. In such cases, a circuit called interfacing circuit is used.
It accepts the voltage levels of one logic family and produces some other
voltage levels that are compatible to other logic family. So we should
understand voltage levels defined for the logic gates in each of the logic
families and other requirements before making any connection. For example,
TTL (Transistor-Transistor Logic) family voltage levels are different from that
of CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) Family. It so
happens that a TTL output may not rise high enough to be reliably

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 8

Digital Electronics Unit 1

recognized as a valid logic 1 by a CMOS input, when connected to a high-

input-impedance CMOS input that does not source significant current. We
can overcome this problem by using 74HCT family of devices that uses
CMOS technology but with TTL input logic levels. These devices only work
with a 5V power supply. They form a replacement for TTL, in spite of slower
nature of HCT than original TTL. Thus 74HCT family of devices acts as
interfacing devices.
Digital Waveforms:
Digital waveforms consist of voltage level that changes between LOW and
HIGH levels. A digital waveform consists of series or train of pulses.
A pulse is a momentary variation of voltage from one level to the opposite
level and back again. A pulse may last from a fraction of a nanosecond up
to several seconds or even minutes, especially in practical electronic and
computer systems. The figure 1.4 shows a single pulse ideal pulse.

Figure 1.4: Pulse (ideal)

The time between the rise and the fall of a single pulse is called the pulse
width(tw). When multiple pulses occur in a sequence, then it is called a
pulse train. In other words, a series of pulses is called pulse train. The
length of time from the start or beginning of one pulse to the beginning of
the next pulse is called the pulse interval.
Digital pulses usually have well-defined shapes. For example, rectangular
pulses have the shape as shown in figure 1.5.

Figure 1.5: A rectangular pulse

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 9

Digital Electronics Unit 1

But in nature, pulses can have any irregular shapes and can occur at
random intervals.
There are two types of pulses. They are:
1. Positive-going pulse
2. Negative-going pulse

1. The positive-going pulse: The positive-going pulse is one in which the

voltage changes from its normally LOW level to its HIGH level and then
back to its LOW level. Positive-going pulse is also called a Positive
pulse. The figure 1.6 shows the positive going pulse.

Figure 1.6: Positive going pulse

2. The negative-going pulse: The negative-going pulse is one in which

the voltage changes from its normally HIGH level to its LOW level and
back to its HIGH level. Negative-going pulse is also called negative
pulse. Figure 1.7 shows the negative going pulse.

Figure 1.7: Negative going pulse

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 10
Digital Electronics Unit 1

Rising or leading edge: The part of a signal where there is a transition of

logic level from a LOW to a HIGH. In case of an ideal pulse, this is
instantaneous, but practically it is not.
Falling or trailing edge: The part of a signal where there is a transition of
logic level from a HIGH to a LOW. In case of an ideal pulse, this is
instantaneous, but practically it is not.
Edge: It is a part of the pulse that changes from one logic level to the other.
Practically, ideal pulses never occur instantaneously. But we simply assume
ideal pulses for understanding the operations of digital circuits. This is for
our convenience only. A practical pulse is not ideal and there will not be
instantaneous change from LOW to HIGH or vice versa and there will be a
delay in their transition. The figure 1.8 shows some of the examples of Non
ideal waveforms.

Figure 1.8: Non ideal pulses

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 11

Digital Electronics Unit 1

Note that in figure 1.8(a) the pulse is not ideal and there are fluctuations.
Note that, normally, rise time is measured from 10% of the pulse amplitude
to 90% of pulse amplitude. Similarly the fall time is measured from 90% of
the pulse amplitude to 10% of pulse amplitude as shown in figure 1.8(a).
Similarly, the pulse shown in figure 1.8(b) will not change instantly from low
to high level or high to low level, but there is a delay. So it is a non -ideal
pulse. Remember, in reality, all the pulses exhibit the same characteristics
as shown in the figure 1.8.
Rise time (tr): It is the time that a pulse takes to go from its LOW level to its
HIGH level.
Fall Time (tf): It is the time that a pulse takes to go from its HIGH level to its
LOW level.
Pulse waveforms: Pulse waveforms consist of sequence of pulses. There
are two types of waveforms:
1) Periodic pulse waveforms
2) Aperiodic or Non periodic pulse waveforms.
1. Periodic pulse waveform: A periodic pulse waveform repeats itself at a
fixed interval of time period (T). In other words, periodic waveform is one
in which the same pattern of HIGHs and LOWs repeat over a specified
period of time. The frequency (f) of a Periodic pulse waveform is given by
f= 1/T, measured in (Hz), where T is measured in seconds. The figure
1.9 shows an example of periodic waveform.

Figure 1.9: An example of periodic waveform.

An important characteristic of a periodic digital waveform is its duty cycle.

The duty cycle is defined as the ratio of the pulse width (tw) to the period
(T) and is expressed in percentage as:
Duty cycle = ( tw/T ) × 100% where Time Period T= TON + TOFF.

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 12

Digital Electronics Unit 1

2. Non-periodic pulse waveform: Non-periodic (or aperiodic) pulse

waveform does not repeat itself at fixed intervals of time but it may be
composed of pulses of differing pulse width and/or randomly differing
time intervals between the pulses. The figure 1.10 shows an example of
non-periodic (or aperiodic) waveform.

Figure 1.10: An example of non-periodic (or aperiodic) waveform.

Problem 1: If the frequency of the pulse waveform is 6.24 MHz, then what
is its frequency?

Solution: Given f= 6.24 MHz. Then T=1/f = 1/ (6.24× 106) = 0.16 µs

Problem 2: Find the duty cycle of the waveform shown in figure 1.11.

Figure 1.11: Waveform for Problem 2

Solution: From the figure 1.11, you can observe that T= 10 ms and
tw=1 ms.
Duty cycle = ( tw/T ) × 100% = 1ms/10ms =10 %.
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 at different instants or points of time.
The clock: It is a periodic waveform in which each pulse occurs at regular
intervals of time and each interval between pulses (the period) equals the
time for one bit.
This means TON = TOFF and T= TON + TOFF

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 13

Digital Electronics Unit 1

Note that the clock waveform itself does not carry any information. In digital
systems, clock plays an important role especially for synchronising various
operations in sequential circuits. The figure 1.12 shows simple timing
diagram.

Figure 1.12: A simple timing diagram.

1.4 Logic Systems

There are two ways of assigning the binary values 0 and 1 to the two
voltage levels Low and High of a circuit. Accordingly there are two types of
logic systems. They are:
1) Positive logic system
2) Negative logic system
A positive logic system is logic system in which the higher of the two voltage
levels is represented by binary 1 and the lower level is represented by
binary 0. We can represent this idea as:
HIGH = 1
LOW = 0
A negative logic system is a logic system in which the higher of the two
voltage levels is represented by binary 0 and the lower level is represented
by binary 1. We can represent this idea as:
HIGH = 0
LOW = 1
For example assume that we have two voltage levels: 0 V and +5 V, where
0V is the lower voltage level and 5V is the higher voltage level. Then we
represent them in positive and negative logic as follows:
Positive logic system:
0 V = logic ‘0’
+5 V = logic ‘1’.

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 14

Digital Electronics Unit 1

Negative logic system:

0 V = ‘1’ and
+5 V = logic ‘0’.
Now consider another example: if the two voltage levels are 0 V and −5 V,
then, 0V is the higher voltage level and −5 V is the lower voltage level. Then
we represent them in positive and negative logic as follows:
Positive logic system:
0 V = logic ‘1’
−5 V = logic ‘0’.
Negative logic system,
0 V = logic ‘0’
−5 V = logic ‘1’.
Both the systems can be used in digital systems but more commonly we
use positive logic system.

Activity 1:
Write any two examples for analog and digital quantity (or signals) you
have seen.

Self-Assessment Questions
5. In TTL input voltage profile, the Vmin= __________ Volts and V max =
____________ volts.
6. The time between the rise and the fall of a single pulse is called
the__________________.
7. A periodic pulse waveform is one that does not repeat itself at a fixed
interval of time period (T). (State true or false)
8. If 0V and 2V are the two voltage levels, then they are represented in
negative logic system as__________________.
(a) 0V=High, 2V=Low (b) 0V= Low, 2V=High

1.5 Logic Operations

In reality the statements can be considered true or false based on certain
conditions. So logic is the realm of human reasoning that tells us a certain
declarative statement is true if certain conditions are met. Digital circuits

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 15

Digital Electronics Unit 1

also use this type of Yes or No or True or False type of statements in their
operation. One of the things that makes binary so useful in electronics is
that it’s very efficient at handling special operations called logical
operations. Logical operations compare two binary bits and render a third
binary bit as a result. In digital circuits, logic is used to implement logic
functions or operations. In logic operations, the HIGH (1) represents True
condition and LOW (0) represents a False condition.
The important basic logic operations are: AND, OR, and NOT.
 AND: An AND operation compares two binary values. If both values are
1(True), the result of the AND operation is 1(True). If one value is
0 (False) or both of the values are 0 (False), the result is 0(False).
Note that we use binary 1 to represent True condition and binary 0 to
represent False condition.
 OR: An OR operation compares two binary values. If at least one of the
values is 1 (True), the result of the OR operation is 1 (True). If both
values are 0 (False), the result is 0 (False).
 NOT: A Not operation means negation or inversion. It actually
complements the value. It changes one logic level to the opposite logic
level. For example, if the input logic level is LOW (i.e. 0) then it changes
to HIGH (1) which is the complement of 0. i.e. 0 gets inverted to 1.
Similarly when the value is 1, it gets inverted and becomes 0. Note that
binary 1 represents True condition and binary 0 represents False
condition.
You can apply logical operations to binary numbers that have more than
one binary digit by applying the operation one bit at a time. The easiest way
to do this manually is to line the two binary numbers on top of one another
and then write the result of the operation below each binary digit. The
following example shows how you’d calculate 11010011 AND 10111001:

As we can see, the final result is 10010001.

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 16

Digital Electronics Unit 1

1.6 Combinational and Sequential Logic Functions

In this section we will introduce the types of logics functions. Basically we
have two types of logic functions. They are: Combinational logic, and
Sequential logic.
Combinational logic:
In digital circuit theory, combinational logic is a type of digital logic where
the output depends only on the present input values. Combinational logic
has no memory.
Combinational logic is used in computer circuits to perform logic function on
input signals. But in reality computers contains both combinational and
sequential logic. We use combinational logic to get a desired or specified
output from certain inputs. Some of the examples of combinational logic
circuits are half adders, full adders, half subtractors, full subtractors,
multiplexers, demultiplexers, encoders and decoders. These are made by
using combinational logic.
Sequential logic
In digital circuit theory, sequential logic is a type of logic circuit whose
output depends not only on the present value of its input signals but also on
the past history of its inputs. So sequential logic has memory. We can also
say that sequential logic is combinational logic with memory since it
contains combinational logic and memory.
Sequential logic is used to construct finite state machines, a basic building
block in all digital circuitry, as well as memory circuits and other devices.
Digital sequential logic circuits are divided into synchronous and
asynchronous types. In synchronous sequential circuits, the state of the
device changes only at discrete times in response to a clock signal. In
asynchronous circuits the state of the device can change at any time in
response to changing inputs.
Synchronous sequential logic
Most of the sequential logic is clocked or synchronous logic. In a
synchronous logic, generally a circuit called clock generator generates clock
signal which is given to all the memory elements in the circuit. The basic
memory element in sequential logic is the flip-flop. In synchronous
sequential logic, the outputs change in parallel or in synchronization with
clock pulses. For example, when a group of flip flops connected in some

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 17

Digital Electronics Unit 1

fashion to achieve counting operation changes their states (or outputs) in

parallel only when they are triggered by the same clock pulse. The next
state depends on the current state and the input signals value and
occurrence of when the clock pulse. If no clock pulse applied, then no
change in the state takes place. So clock signal plays an important role in
synchronous logic.
Asynchronous sequential logic
Asynchronous sequential logic is not synchronized by a clock signal. So the
outputs of the circuit change directly in response to changes in inputs.
Asynchronous logic is faster because the circuit doesn't have to wait for a
clock signal to process inputs. But the propagation delays of the logic gates
used may delay the speed of the device. However, it is difficult to design
asynchronous logic. Moreover it is subject to problems not encountered in
synchronous designs. The main problem is that digital memory elements
are sensitive to the order in which their input signals arrive. If two signals
arrive at a logic gate almost at the same time, which state the circuit goes
into depends on which signal gets to the gate first. So chances of a circuit
going into wrong state is more depending upon small differences in the
propagation delays of the logic gates. This is called a race condition. But
you will not get this kind of severe problem in synchronous sequential
circuits because the outputs of the memory elements only change at each
clock pulse.
Asynchronous sequential circuits are typically used only in a few critical
parts of otherwise synchronous systems where speed is at a premium, such
as parts of microprocessors and digital signal processing circuits.
Self-Assessment Questions
9. The important logic operations are: _____________________.
(a) Only AND and NOT (b) Only AND, and OR.
(c) Only OR, and NOT (d) AND, OR, and NOT.
10. In case of AND operation, if all the inputs are 1, then the result of AND
operation is ______________.
11. ________________ logic is not synchronized by a clock signal.
12. A ______________ is a type of logic circuit whose output depends not
only on the present value of its input signals but also on the past
history of its inputs.

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 18

Digital Electronics Unit 1

1.7 Summary
Let us recapitulate the important concepts discussed in this unit:
 A digital system is a system that consists of digital devices or logic
circuits that process digital signals or digital quantity.
 A signal is one which conveys some information.
 Analog signals vary continuously with respect to time, and can take any
value.
 A digital signal is a signal that is not continuous in time and amplitude.
 0 and 1 are the binary digits.
 A group of any 4 binary digits (or bits) is called a Nibble.
 A group of any 8 binary digits (or bits) is called Byte.
 A digital waveform consists of series or train of pulses.
 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 at different instants or points of time.
 Clock is a periodic waveform in which each pulse occurs at regular
intervals of time and each interval between pulses (the period) equals
the time for one bit.
 There are two types of logic systems: Positive logic system and
Negative logic system.
 In digital circuits, logic is used to implement logic functions or
operations. The important logic operations are: AND, OR, and NOT.
 A combinational logic is a type of digital logic where the output depends
only on present input values.
 A sequential logic is a type of logic circuit whose output depends not
only on the present value of its input signals but also on the past history
of its inputs.
 Programmable logic devices can be programmed to do particular logic
functions or operations either by user or manufacturer of the devices.
 A Programmable Logic Device (PLD) is an integrated circuit with internal
logic gates and interconnects.
 The two types of user programmable logic are: PLD and FPGA.

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 19

Digital Electronics Unit 1

 A simple programmable logic device (SPLD) is a programmable logic

device with complexity below that of a complex programmable logic
device (CPLD).
 A complex programmable logic device (CPLD) is a programmable logic
device whose complexity lies between that of PALs and FPGAs, and
architectural features of both.
 FPGA is a general purpose, multi-level programmable logic device.

Glossary:
Digital system: A system that consists of digital devices or logic circuits
that process digital signals or digital quantity.
Analog signals: Signal that vary continuously with respect to time, and can
take any value.
Digital signal: A signal that has only two distinct or discrete values 0 and 1.
Bit: A single binary digit 0 or 1.
Nibble: A group of any 4 bits.
Byte: A group of any 8 binary digits (or bits).
Pulse: A momentary variation of voltage from one level to the opposite level
and back again.
Pulse width (tw): The time between the rise and the fall of a single pulse.
The positive pulse: A pulse in which the voltage changes from LOW level
to its HIGH level and then back to LOW level.
Rise time (tr): The time that a pulse takes to go from its LOW level to its
HIGH level.
Fall Time (tf): The time that a pulse takes to go from its HIGH level to its
LOW level.
Periodic pulse waveform: A waveform that repeats itself at a fixed interval
of time period (T).
Timing diagram: A graph of digital waveforms showing the actual time
relationship of two or more waveforms.

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 20

Digital Electronics Unit 1

Positive logic system: A logic system in which the higher of the two
voltage levels is represented by binary 1 and the lower level is represented
by binary 0.

1.8 Terminal Questions

1. What is a signal? Explain the two types of signals.
2. Define the following
(a) Bit
(b) Nibble
(c) Byte
3. Explain the following
(a) Pulse
(b) Positive Going Pulse
(c) Falling edge
(d) Pulse waveforms
4. List the two types and logic systems and explain.
5. List and explain the important logic operations.
6. Explain combinational and sequential logics.

1.9 Answers
Self-Assessment Questions
1. Digital
2. Analog Signals
3. Digital
4. Byte
5. 0, 0.8
6. Pulse width(tw)
7. False
8. A) 0V=High, 2V=Low
9. D) AND, OR, and NOT
10. 1
11. Asynchronous sequential
12. Sequential logic

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 21

Digital Electronics Unit 1

Terminal Questions
1. A signal is one which conveys some information. The two types of
signals are: analog signal and digital signals. Refer to sub-section 1.2.1.
2. (a) Bit: A single binary digit 0 or 1
(b) Nibble: A group of any 4 binary digits (or bits) is called a Nibble
(c) Byte: A group of any 8 binary digits (or bits) is called Byte.
Refer to sub-section 1.2.2 for more details.
3. (a) Pulse: A pulse is a momentary variation of voltage from one level to
the opposite level and back again.
(b) Positive-going pulse: The positive-going pulse is one in which the
voltage changes from its normally LOW level to its HIGH level and
then back to its LOW level.
(c) Falling or trailing edge: The part of a signal where there is a
transition of logic level from a HIGH to a LOW.
(d) Pulse waveforms: Pulse waveforms consist of sequence of pulses.
Refer to section 1.3 for more details.
4. The two types of logic systems are: Positive logic system, and Negative
logic system. Refer to section 1.4 for more details.
5. The important logic operations are: AND, OR, and NOT. Refer to section
1.5 for more details.
6. In digital circuit theory, combinational logic is a type of digital logic where
the output depends only on present input values. Combinational logic
has no memory.
In digital circuit theory, sequential logic is a type of logic circuit whose
output depends not only on the present value of its input signals but also
on the past history of its inputs.
Refer to section 1.6 for more details.

Sikkim Manipal University B2072 Page No.: 22