Digital Electronics Course Part 1
Digital Electronics, also known as “Digital Electronics”, is a field of electronics that uses a “switching logic” to represent quantities using discrete analog levels. This technology uses transistors, diodes, and circuits to represent electrical signals. In this course, you will learn the fundamentals of digital circuits and how they operate.
Digital Electronics is based on a “switching logic”
The logic behind digital electronics is the ON/OFF switching of binary ones and zeros. This logic allows us to convert electrical voltages into digital information. For example, five volts equals one, and zero volts equal zero. Only in this way can electricity be turned ON and off.
To understand this logic, let’s look at an electrical circuit. Figure 7a shows a simple example. The light in Figure 7a will turn on when both switches A and B are closed. In digital electronics, the signal is equal to five volts and zero volts.
It represents quantities by discrete bands of analog levels
In digital electronics, signals are represented by discrete bands of analog levels, rather than by discrete numbers. These analog levels can be derived from a variety of physical processes. Examples of analog values include temperature, electrical voltage in a battery, and audio signals from a speaker. Digital electronics uses these analog levels as a standard for representing physical quantities. However, some analog signals are not digital, as they are not digitized.
A signal is represented by a signal waveform, where the x-axis represents the time period, while the Y-axis represents the voltage. An analog signal has an infinite range of values in a given period of time, but digital signals only capture a limited number of values within that time.
It uses transistors
Transistors are one of the basic building blocks of the digital electronic circuit. They are used in computer memory chips, microprocessors, and solid-state multimedia storage devices. They control whether current flows through a circuit by determining its gate electrode voltage, which is typically a few volts.
Transistors can be configured in two modes. The first is the active mode, which turns the transistor into an amplifier. In this mode, the current flowing into the base pin amplifies the current that flows through the emitter. The other mode is called the reverse-active mode, and in this case, the current flows from the emitter to the collector. However, this is not the intended use of transistors.
It uses diodes
Diodes are semiconductor devices that allow electricity to flow in one direction while blocking it in the opposite direction. One of the most common examples of this is the light-emitting diode, which emits light when electricity passes through it. Each diode has two parts, called an anode and a cathode. The current always flows from the anode to the cathode, and the longer leg on the diode is the positive side.
Diodes are useful electronic components. They can be used to switch AC power into DC, isolate a signal from a power source, or mix signals. They are also used in LEDs.
