Digital Electronics

Course description

The Unit is designed to enable candidates to know, understand and apply the basic concepts of digital electronics. It provides candidates with an opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills to be able to design and construct logic circuits to meet a design brief. On completion of the Unit candidates should be able to:

• Produce truth tables and associated Boolean expressions for logic gates
• Design combinational logic circuits using minimisation techniques
• Describe the operation of sequential logic circuits
• Construct logic circuits

What you will experience

This Unit will allow you to develop knowledge, understanding and skills associated with digital electronics which is the basis of digital control systems and computer technology. The early part of the course deals with the basic elements of number systems and digital electronics and should provide you with a good grounding in this subject area. For those who have studied digital electronics in an earlier course this Unit will provide some opportunities for revision.

The Unit will enable you to understand digital electronic systems. On completion, you should be able to read and draw circuit diagrams containing standard digital devices. You should also be able to use computer software to simulate and test functionality prior to the construction of digital circuits. By the end of the Unit you will be expected to explain combinational and sequential circuit operation and to construct digital circuits.

The final assessment will take the form of a short answer written test paper, lasting two hours, taken under supervised, controlled closed-book conditions. You will not be allowed to take notes, textbooks etc into the assessment. You will however have access to device data sheets. In order to allow you to show evidence of practical expertise, there will be a two hour build and test exercise. This latter exercise is likely to be conducted in a laboratory at a different time from the written assessment.

What you will need

Students are responsible for securing unit resources. Please contact our Distance Learning Co-ordinators for more information.