We live in a world of digital circuit design with electronics and computers playing a vital role in many things we do. For example, cars were once very simple but now thanks to computer technology and logic circuits you enjoy enhanced performance and better gas mileage. Plus, today’s autos are much safer than a few years ago thanks to modern technology. People are living longer and feeling better with the help of 21st Century medical electronics devices. So what is digital circuitry and why is it so important? Let’s take a look into the digital world and see.
What Does Digital Mean?
Computers operate on a very simple language based on numbers. This is referred to as binary code, and it’s just a way of counting in a “base 2” system. In other words, if you were to express ten things it would be 1010. To express the number 25 you would use 11001.
As you can see, the only numbers used as “1” and “0”. In binary code, this is as simple as “on” and “off” and every kind of information can be expressed this way. This is where the term “digital” comes from. Digital means, to convert standard information to numbers (which can be recognized by computers).
What is Digital Circuit Design?
A digital circuit is an electronic circuit with two levels. Each level is either on or off and this is sometimes referred to as true or false. Switching is done with transistors and this creates logic circuits.
Changing Data to Numbers
In today’s advanced technology, images, sound and many other types of information are turned into numbers. This is made available with the touch of a computer mouse. It not only allows one to easily store data, this kind of circuitry makes it possible to automate many repetitive tasks.
Advantages of Digital Circuits
A few years ago, logic circuits were quite large and difficult to work with. However, we live in an age of miniaturization and the latest technology has been able to produce entire circuits which fit on a very small chip. For example, look at the development of the cell phone the past 25 years. It has not only shrunk in size significantly, today’s cell phones have become “smart” and able to do all kinds of things for us.
Digital circuit design makes it very easy to develop new circuitry capable of amazing mathematics, wireless electronics and increased storage capacities. They are also very reliable and can operate for years with minimal maintenance. Plus, with the costs of components dropping, advanced technology is becoming affordable for millions of people today.
