General description
This module introduces digital electronics in the context of studies in software development. It extends a general understanding of computer architecture.

Aims
This module introduces students to the principles of computer hardware (digital electronics), and explains how components work at the level of gates, flip-flops etc. It provides hands-on experience of computer hardware, including the use of a microcontroller to actually control something.

Learning outcomes
On completion of this module, students will be able to:

• explain the operation of a simple computer's CPU, memory and buses in terms of digital logic;

• analyse and design simple logic circuits;

• explain the operation of typical microcontroller I/O devices;

• program low-level I/O operations on a microcontroller.

Syllabus
1. Digital Electronics - 3 Lectures
Logic levels and voltages. Electricity: voltage and current in a wire. Electrical noise: inputs and outputs; bi-directional data flow along a (bus) wire. Types of output. Tri-state outputs.

2. Combinatorial logic - 3 Lectures
Revision of basic gates. Specific uses: address decoding, data routing, ALU functions.

3. Sequential logic - 3 Lectures
Latches (RS, D and JK). Buffers, registers, counters and shift registers.

4. Buses - 3 Lectures
Control lines. Timin diagrams. Exotica: handshaking, arbitration.

5. Example microcontroller - 4 Lectures
Overall architecture. I/O devices: digital I/O, pulse counters, pulse generators, clocks, PWM, analog I/O

6. Memory types - 1 Lecture
SRAM. DRAM. ROM. PROM. EPROM.

7. Hardware components in bigger computers - 3 Lectures
MMU. Dual-port RAM (for graphics).

8. Truth table exercise - 1 Practical
The truth table of a combinatorial logic chip.

9. Monitoring operation exercise - 4 Practicals
Watch a trivial program in operation.

10. Programming exercise - 2 Practicals
Write, download and execute some trivial program onto a microcontroller involving tangible output, preferably responding to an input of some kind. Example: ding-dong door bell.