WISE Investments

Electrical Engineering Lab

Digital Logic Tutorial and Design

Dr. Keith Holbert

Electrical Engineering

Digital Logic Lab

(A mini-lab experience)
We are going to build both a combination lock and a
flashing railroad crossing signal using digital logic devices
To build these circuits we will draw upon knowledge or
resources developed by several areas of electrical
engineering
First, we will need to learn a little about digital logic
The worksheet Explore Logic in the Excel workbook
entitled, EE-WISE-DigitalLab.xls may be used to verify
your understanding of the next few slides

Electrical Engineering

Some Definitions
Definition: Discrete System - a system with a finite
number of sizes or measures
Shoes, Dresses, Pants, Bolts, Pencils

Definition: Digital System - a Discrete System with only

two values of system variables: 1 and 0
True/False; Yes/No; Male/Female; On/Off

Lets compare digital and continuous (analog) systems

Digital signals are binary; analog signals are real-valued numbers
Digital is less susceptible to noise

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Analog Waveform

Voltage (V)

Time
0

Digital Waveform

Voltage (V)

Time

0
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AND Operator
Lets look at the relationship between the semantic and
logical operator known as the AND operator
Consider:
If the car is fueled AND the engine works,
then the engine will start
AND Operator
Truth Table
AND means that both conditions
A B Output
must be true in order for the
0 0 0
conclusion to be true
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 1
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Digital AND
We can build an electrical device that performs the logical AND
operation on voltage equivalents of logic values
An AND gate has the
electrical schematic:

A
Inputs

Output

For digital logic:

True = 1 is 5 volts
False = 0 is 0 volts

Practice with the Excel spreadsheet

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OR Operator
Another basic operator is the OR
Consider:
If I have cash OR a credit card,
then I can pay the bill
OR works such that the output is true,
if either of the two inputs is true

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OR Operator
Truth Table
A B Output
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 1
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NOT Operator/Inverter Gate

The NOT gate reverses the input
A

B
NOT Operator
Truth Table

All digital computers are

built using only three gate
types: AND, OR, and NOT

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A B
0 1
1 0

XOR (Exclusive OR) Operator

Lets look at the relationship between the semantic and
logical operator known as the XOR operator
Consider a biological example:
If gender A XOR gender B,
then reproduction is possible
XOR works such that output is activated (equal to one) if
both inputs are of a different value
Try the Excel spreadsheet exercise

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Digital XOR
We can build an electrical device that performs the logical XOR
operation on voltage equivalents of logic values
An XOR gate has the
electrical schematic:

A
Inputs
B

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XOR Operator
Truth Table
Output

A B Output
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 0
10

Digital Combination Lock

Design and Software Simulation

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Multi-Input AND Gate

AND gates can be built with any number of inputs
Consider the symbol for the 4-input AND gate
A
B
C
D

F is true only when all the inputs are true (1s)

Using the Excel workbook EE-WISE-DigitalLab, open
the Digital Locks worksheet, and test this circuit
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Digital Combination Lock

Using 3 two-input AND gates, we could build a combination
lock that requires a four-digit code, specifically: 1 1 1 1
1

AND

AND

1
AND

The number of inputs could be increased by using more and

more AND gates
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Digital Combination Lock

We could build a combination lock that only uses the AND
gate, but that would be of little use since everyone would
know our combination, namely 1 1 1 1
To build a more interesting combination lock, we will
utilize the NOT (inverter) gate
0

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Digital Combination Lock

Lets build a combination lock whose input (key code)
combination is 0 1 1 0
0

1
AND

AND

1
AND
0

Is there any other combination that works?

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Picking a Digital Lock

Use the truth table below to record the lock outputs for the
different lock combinations in the Pick the Locks worksheet
Input
Combination
A B C D
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 1
0 0 1 0
0 0 1 1
0 1 0 0
0 1 0 1
0 1 1 0
0 1 1 1
1 0 0 0
1 0 0 1
1 0 1 0
1 0 1 1
1 1 0 0
1 1 0 1
1 1 1 0
1 1 1 1
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Lock #1

Lock Output
Lock #2 Lock #3 Lock #4

Lock #5

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Digital Railroad Crossing Signal

Design and Software Simulation

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Digital Railroad Crossing Signal

Now, lets develop a digital circuit whose output changes
over time
We are all familiar with a railroad crossing signal that
alternates flashing red lights
In addition to constructing the digital combination lock, we
will build the railroad crossing signal in the lab, so lets
begin by designing the circuit

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Railroad Crossing Signal Design

Here we will need some type of timing signal that will tell
the lights when to turn on and off
The problem is that we seemingly need two timing signals
since one light is on while the other is off, and vice versa
A digital logic implementation can allow us to save cost by
using only a single timing signal
The design effort is then one of considering which gate(s)
need to be used to achieve the alternating signal patterns

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Railroad Crossing Signal

Turn-on voltage puts
out a constant +5 volts
1
Square wave is
being repeatedly
turned on then off

0/1

1 AND 0 outputs 0
1 AND 1 outputs 1

AND

XOR

0/1

1/0

1 XOR 0 outputs 1
1 XOR 1 outputs 0
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Railroad Crossing Signal Simulation

The Railroad Xing Simulation worksheet may be used
in Excel to view (over time) the activation of the RR
crossing lights
Note that this Excel simulation uses some advanced
features of Excel such as iteration and conditional
formatting to achieve the software simulation

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