Master Digital Design Fundamentals

An interactive guide to the foundational building blocks of digital hardware, logic circuits, and modern computing. Welcome to EEE120.

Core Topics Covered

Digital systems operate on discrete signals. A logic signal represents one of two states: HIGH (1) or LOW (0). Logic gates are electronic circuits that perform a logical operation on one or more of these signals to produce a single output signal.

Common Logic Gates

AND Gate: Output is HIGH only if all inputs are HIGH.

OR Gate: Output is HIGH if any input is HIGH.

NOT Gate (Inverter): Output is the opposite of the input.

Glossary of Terms

  • Truth Table: A table listing all possible combinations of inputs and their corresponding output for a logic gate or circuit.
  • Boolean Expression: An algebraic expression representing the function of a logic circuit (e.g., F = A AND B).
  • Logic Level: The voltage level used to represent a binary 1 (HIGH) or 0 (LOW).

Computers use the binary (base-2) system. For human convenience, we often use octal (base-8) and hexadecimal (base-16) as a shorthand for long binary numbers.

Number System Conversion

DecimalBinaryHexadecimal
000000
100011
.........
910019
101010A
151111F

Two's Complement: The standard method for representing negative integers in binary. To find the two's complement of a number, you invert all the bits and add 1.

Glossary of Terms

  • Bit: A single binary digit (0 or 1).
  • Byte: A group of 8 bits.
  • Radix: The base of a number system (e.g., 2 for binary, 10 for decimal).

Labs & Simulation

Theory meets practice. Our hands-on approach ensures you can build what you learn. You'll use industry-standard tools to bring your digital creations to life.

  • Digital Logic Simulation Software

    Use tools like Digital, iVerilog, or Logisim to construct and simulate designs before implementation.

  • Progressive Hands-on Experiments

    Labs progress from basic adders to a simple, fully functional CPU, with optional FPGA implementation.

  • Capstone Project

    Design, implement, and test a finite state machine or logic system, emphasizing documentation and problem-solving.

Skills & Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will have mastered the fundamentals and be prepared for advanced topics in computer architecture and hardware design.

Analyze, design, build, and debug digital circuits.
Apply Boolean algebra to evaluate and optimize circuit design.
Gain familiarity with CAD tools for logic design and simulation.
Simulate the workings of a microprocessor.
Program instruction sets at the hardware level.
Build a strong foundation for advanced hardware topics.