Digital Electronics Home (Pogo)

Go to the Digital Electronics Laboratory Homepage

Syllabus in PDF Format
Chip Layouts
Mux Layouts Mux Example #1 Mux Example #2
Current Grade Status
Use of 555 timer chips

What am I doing here? At the end of this course, you will be able to use standard digital components to solve practical problems. The course focus is on the laboratory experience, and you will spend most of your time doing “hands-on” work with the actual equipment. Lecture topics will include digital and analog circuits, numbering systems, Boolean logic and Boolean algebra, flip-flops and latches, and digital counters. The course has no prerequisites, and no prior experience with circuits is required.

What do I have to buy? You have to buy the textbook, Digital Systems: Principles and Applications, 10^th edition, by Tocci, Widmer, & Moss. We will use the accompanying Multisim CD for some assignments. Weekly lab information can be found on line through the above web address. All necessary equipment will be furnished by the physics department as needed. This equipment will be used by both lab sections, and may not be taken out of the lab. If you want to work on your projects outside of the laboratory, you are free to purchase your own equipment.

How will I be graded? You receive only one grade, combining elements from both the lecture and the lab. Your grade will be determined by:

table of grade percentages

Where is the lab? Lab meets for two hours every Tuesday afternoon in Bailey 118. The room is used by other courses, so you need to clean up your stuff each week before you leave.

What are my responsibilities? You must attend all laboratories and exams. You must submit all projects and homework on time. Homework must follow the guidelines on the back of this sheet. Sloppy assignments and lab work will receive lower grades. In the real world, it is not enough to simply “get it right”, or to “get it to work” – the customer (in this case, Dr. Pogo) must be able to understand your work.

If you come to lab prepared, the assigned lab exercises can be accomplished during the scheduled laboratory period. You may not leave lab early unless your lab exercise has been graded. If you need more time, you will have to do the work outside of class time. Regardless of when you complete it, each lab assignment must be completed and graded before the beginning of the next lab. Never leave lab without making sure that your instructor has given you credit for your work.

When are the exams? The three exams are tentatively scheduled for:

Exam #1 Thursday, February 21, 2008 12:45pm – 1:35pm
Exam #2 Thursday, April 3, 2008 12:45pm – 1:35pm
Final Exam: Thursday, May 8, 2008 12:00pm – 3:00pm

Homework Rules

The following rules exist for my convenience in grading, and are non-negotiable. Violation of these rules will negatively affect your course grade.

1) Use 8½ ´ 11 inch paper. Do not use any spiral ring paper. Use only one side of each sheet.
2) Put your name on the top of every page. Put the assignment number on the top of the first page (e.g., “Digital, Assignment #3, etc.). Clearly indicate the problem number that you are working on (e.g., problem 3-17).
3) Staple all your sheets together. No substitutions are permitted.
4) Be neat. Use a pencil. Students in this class who use pens historically get lower homework credit, because assignments become illegible or confusing as mistakes get blotted out. Similarly, students who use a word processor historically get much lower credit, because they usually omit intermediate steps and/or diagrams.
5) Use words and/or pictures when needed to clarify your method of solution.
6) Along with “answers”, you must provide an indication of what it is an answer to. Isolated answers are meaningless. For example, if the assignment is to convert 37₁₀ to base 2, then simply writing “100101₂” is inadequate. At a minimum, you need to write “37₁₀=100101₂”.
7) Work must progress linearly down the page. Solutions should not be horizontally adjacent, regardless of whether you think it is more convenient. I expect you to recopy your solutions if you cannot meet this requirement in your first draft.
8) As in the real world, your intent on any assignment should be to communicate the problem and solution to me such that I can focus on the work, with minimal attention to the presentation.