Introduction to digital systems

Abstract

The use of digital techniques is now widespread in almost every area of engineering. The availability of low-cost integrated-circuit devices capable of processing and storing large quantities of data at high speed has led to the development of a wide range of systems for both professional and domestic use. The capabilities of such equipment have increased dramatically while the real cost has steadily reduced, reflecting the economics of the manufacture, calibration and test of digital circuits as opposed to the electro-mechanical or analog circuits they replace [1]. However, the ability to manufacture very large-scale digital devices now requires the designer, or design team, to be able to operate across a wide range of levels — from planning the overall structure of a system containing an assembly of complex sub-circuits down to the low-level circuit design of individual components [2]. At every level, the designer requires a body of theoretical techniques to support the analysis and synthesis of circuits, together with the intuition and experience gained from previous work. Increasingly, CAD tools are available to remove many of the routine tasks previously carried out manually, but like any form of tool, they require skilled use to achieve the required results.