Digital Electronics is the study of electronic circuits that are used to process and control digital signals. In contrast to analog electronics, where a continuously varying voltage represents information, two discreet voltages or logic levels represent digital signals. This distinction allows for greater signal speed and storage capabilities and has revolutionized the world of electronics. Digital electronics is the foundation of modern electronic devices such as cellular phones, digital audio players, laptop computers, digital cameras, and high-definition televisions.
Digital Electronics (DE) is the third course in the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Engineering program of study course sequence. Concurrent or previous enrollment in college preparatory mathematics and science courses is recommended. This course satisfies a high school mathematics graduation requirement.
The major focus of the DE course is to expose students to the design process of combinational and sequential logic design, teamwork, communication methods, engineering standards, and technical documentation.
Course Outline
Unit 1 Digital Logic
Digital, or Boolean, logic is the fundamental concept underpinning all modern computer systems. Digital logic is the manipulation of binary values through circuits and logic gates to construct the implementation of computer operations. Digital logic is a common part of electrical engineering and design courses. Put simply, it's the system of rules that allow us to make extremely complicated decisions based on relatively simple "yes/no" questions. Students will learn to count and add in do arithmetic with binary numbers. They will be introduced to logic and how the AND-OR-invert (AOI) logic functions are applied to digital circuit design. After learning how to create logic functions for specific tasks students will learn how to simplify these circuits to implement more efficient circuit designs.
Unit 2 Basic Electronics & Circuit Theory
In Unit 2, students will build on electrical circuit concepts learned in Engineering Science as they dig deeper into circuit theory. They will begin by investigating careers related to digital electronics. Through simulated and physical investigations, student will exploring basic circuits and the measurement tools used to characterize and validate calculations that predict a circuit’s behavior. Students will be able to clearly describe electrical circuits, voltage, current, resistance, series and parallel circuits, Ohm’s law, and how to use a digital multimeter to measure voltage. Students will be introduced to two new circuit components: capacitors and transistors. Part of this lesson will also include basic electronic safety and unit conversion/notation.
Unit 3 Combinational Logic
Combinational Logic Circuits are memoryless digital logic circuits whose output at any instant in time depends only on the combination of its inputs. The outputs of combinational Logic Circuits are only determined by the logical function of their current input state, logic “0” or logic “1”, at any given instant in time. The goal of Unit 3 is for students to gain in-depth understanding of the combinational logic circuit design as they explore the creation of circuits with discrete components.
Unit 4 Functions of Combinational Logic
This unit addresses a few fundamental topics related to combinational logic. These topics include hexadecimal and octal number systems, XOR, XNOR, and binary adders, and multiplexers/demultiplexers. These designs are commonly used in digital circuit designs related to adding/subtracting numbers, the use of seven segment displays in designs, and carrying multiple signals through the same pathway in a circuit. Students investigate adder circuits and components as well as creating circuits for displays.
Unit 5 Sequential Logic
In this lesson students begin the study of sequential logic by examining the basic operation of the two most common flip-flop types, the D and J/K flip-flops. As part of this analysis, they will review the design of four typical f lip-flop applications: event detector, data synchronizer, frequency divider, and shift register. Students will explore circuit designs that use multivibrator components that are useful as storage devices.
Unit 6 Sequential Counters
The ability to count in a digital design application is a fundamental need in most circuits. The primary design characteristic of asynchronous counters that distinguish them from synchronous counters is that the flip-flop of each stage is clocked by the flip-flop output of the prior stage. The primary design characteristic of synchronous counters is that all of the flip-flops are clocked simultaneously. This simultaneous clocking avoids the rippling effect that is present in asynchronous counters.
Unit 7 State Machines
State machines, sometimes called Finite State Machines (FSM), are a form of sequential logic that can be used to electronically control common everyday devices such as traffic lights, electronic keypads, and automatic door openers. In this lesson students will learn and apply the state machine in the design process.
Unit 8 Controlling Real World Systems
This lesson introduces students to more algorithms and programming concepts as they learn to use servo motors and remote communication across microcontroller devices. The lesson concludes with a problem in which students use all the knowledge and skills they have learned in the unit to design and build a robot controlled by the Arduino microcontroller.