CHAPTER-1

Digital Logic and Digital Systems

Introduction

Computer organization refers to the operational units and their interconnections that realize
the architectural specifications. Organization is the implementation of computer system, in
terms of its interconnection of functional units: CPU, memory, bus and I/O devices.

Computer architecture is the computer structure and behaviour visible to a programmer.

Architecture concerns more about the basic instruction design that may lead to better
performance of the system. The basic instruction design includes the instruction formats,
addressing modes, the instruction set, and the general organization of the CPU registers.

So, organization of a computer is the implementation of its architecture, but tailored to fit
the intended price and performance measures.

Partial Introduction about CPU:

CPU is the brain or engine of the computer and it performs the bulk of system’s calculating
and data processing. CPU is an integrated circuit that holds most of the works of a computer.
The CPU is usually the most expensive component in the system, costing up to four or more
times greater than the motherboard. The CPU is made up of three major parts, as shown in
figure below.

Figure: Major Components of CPU

1. Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU): - performs the required micro-operations (arithmetic

& logical operations) for executing the instructions.
2. Register set: - stores intermediate data used during the execution of the instructions.
3. Control Unit: -supervises the transfer of information among the registers and
instructs the ALU as to which operation to perform.

1.1 Overview and History of Computer Architecture

First Generation (1940-1950) :: Vacuum Tube

 ENIAC [1945]: Designed by Mauchly & Echert, built by US army to calculate

trajectories for ballistic shells during Worls War II. Around 18000 vacuum tubes and
1500 relays were used to build ENIAC, and it was programmed by manually setting
switches.

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  UNIVAC [1950]: the first commercial computer.
 John Von Neumann architecture: Goldstine and Von Neumann took the idea of
ENIAC and developed concept of storing a program in the memory. Known as the
Von Neumann's architecture and has been the basis for virtually every machine
designed since then.

Features:

1. Electron emitting devices

2. Data and programs are stored in a single read-write memory
3. Memory contents are addressable by location, regardless of the content itself
4. Machine language/Assemble language
5. Sequential execution

Second Generation (1950-1964) :: Transistors

 William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain invent the transistor that reduce
size of computers and improve reliability. Vacuum tubes have been replaced by
transistors.
 First operating Systems: handled one program at a time
 On-off switches controlled by electronically.
 High level languages
 Floating point arithmetic

Third Generation (1964-1974) :: Integrated Circuits (IC)

 Microprocessor chips combines thousands of transistors, entire circuit on one
computer chip
 Semiconductor memory
 Multiple computer models with different performance characteristics
 The size of computers has been reduced drastically

Fourth Generation (1974-Present) :: Very Large-Scale Integration (VLSI)

 Combines millions of transistors

 Single-chip processor and the single-board computer emerged
 Creation of the Personal Computer (PC)
 Use of data communications
 Massively parallel machine

1.2 Fundamental Building Blocks (Logic Gates, Flip-Flops, Counters, Registers, PLA)

Logic Gates:
There are several logic gates exists in digital logic circuit. These logic gates can be used to
implement the logical operation. Some of the common logic gates are mentioned here.

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FLIP-FLOPS:

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There are several types of FLIP-FLOPS
 J K Flip-Flops
 R S Flip-Flops
 M S Flip-Flops
 D Flip-Flops
 T Flip-Flops

Basic FLIP-FLOP Circuit

FLIP-FLOP Circuit can be constructed using NAND and NOR gates.

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COUNTERS

A counter is a digital sequential logic device that will go through a certain predefined states
(for example counting up or down) based on the application of the input pulses. They are
utilized in almost all computers and digital electronics systems.

There are two main types of counters: Asynchronous and Synchronous counters. We will
examine both below and implement those using JK Flip-Flops.

Asynchronous Counters

This type of counters has JK Flop-Flops arranged in a way that the output of one flip-flop
feeds the clock of the following flip-flop as shown in the figure below:

Synchronous Counters

This type of counters has each flip-flop clocked by the same clock source, thus eliminating
the cumulative delay found in asynchronous counters:

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Register:

This is a part of Central Processor Unit, so they reside inside the CPU. The information from
main memory is brought to CPU and keeps the information in register. Due to space and cost
constraints, we have got a limited number of registers in a CPU. These are basically faster
devices.

The data transfer between main memory and the CPU takes place through two CPU registers.

 MAR: Memory Address Register.

 MDR: Memory Data Register.

If the MAR is k-bit long, then the total addressable memory location will be 2k.
If the MDR is n-bit long, then the n bit of data is transferred in one memory cycle.

The transfer of data takes place through memory bus, which consists of address bus and data
bus.

It also includes control lines like Read, Write and Memory Function Complete (MFC) for
coordinating data transfer. In the case of byte addressable computer, another control line to be
added to indicate the byte transfer instead of the whole word.

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PLA (Programmable Logic Array):

Boolean algebra

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Register Transfer Notations (RTN)

Register Transfer Notation (or RTN) is a way of specifying the behaviour of a digital
synchronous circuit. An example of high-level RTN is Verilog, and a low-level example is
Register Transfer Language.

RTN may be written as either abstract or concrete.

Abstract RTN is a generic notation which does not have any specific machine
implementation details.

Concrete RTN is a notation which does implement specifics of the machine for which it is
designed

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Physical Considerations
Gate Delay

The propagation delay or Gate delay is the length of time which starts when the input to a
logic gate becomes stable and valid, to the time that the output of that logic gate is stable and
valid. Often this refers to the time required for the output to reach from 10% to 90% of its
final output level when the input changes. Reducing gate delays in digital circuits allows
them to process data at a faster rate and improve overall performance.

Fan-In

Fan-in is the number of inputs a gate can handle. For instance, the fan-in for the AND gate
shown in figure is 3. Physical logic gates with a large fan-in tend to be slower than those with
a small fan-in, because the complexity of the input circuitry increases the input capacitance of
the device. Using logic gates with higher fan-in will help reducing the depth of a logic circuit.

An AND gate with three inputs has a fan-in of 3.

Fan-Out

The fan-out of a logic gate output is the number of gate inputs it can feed or connect to.

An AND gate with three inputs has a fan-Out of 1.

******END******

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