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Module – 1

Digital System Design Process

1. Introduction
2. Digital vs. analog systems
3. Digital Hardware
3.1. Standard ICs
3.2. Programmable logic devices (PLDs)
3.3. Custom- Designed ICs
4. General Product life cycle
5. Design of digital system
5.1. Basic design loop
5.2. Digital design process
5.3. Hardware-Software co-design
6. Summary

Learning objectives

1. To understand the importance of digital systems

2. To study digital system design options
3. To learn about general design process
4. To know digital system design process

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1. Introduction

When basic digital concepts are applied to electronics then they give rise to the field of Digital
electronics. Digital ICs form the backbone of modern day electronic gadgets lik e cell phones, digital
cameras, computers, printers, ATM etc. All these devices use information, digital in nature, which
is in contrast with analog systems. Digital systems find application in computing, internet, e-
banking, e-business, medical systems, intelligent transport system, industrial process control
systems, weather forecasting systems, modern cars, etc.
One of the reasons for widespread application of digital systems is the use of binary system for
processing. Use of computers in applications provides users with flexibility as any change can be
incorporated with the change in system software thus reducing cost which is also an additional
advantage.
Designing and manufacturing a digital system is a difficult process. It involves many complicated
tasks. The design, synthesis and simulation are some of the important tasks. In this module, an
overview of advantages of digital systems, device tec hnologies, design requirements and
development flow are presented.
In the present scenario, logic design has moved from gate-centric assembly to processor-centric
design of digital system. This requires the need to educate the next generation of digital logic
designers. The focus of logic designers should shift from gates to complex logic circuit. This course
is devised in such a fashion that designers will get broader and more valuable understanding of
modern digital system design as well as a strong foundation for modern digital system design using
hardware description language.
The convergence of miniaturized, sophisticated and low-power embedded product design depends
on efficient digital design flow. The escalation from an exploration of basic building blocks to
design of complex embedded systems helps digital system designer in gaining the broader
perspectives. The practical approach followed in this course keep s students engaged in
understanding challenges and complexity involved in implementing advanced digital systems.
Real-world digital system design practice will help students in getting familiar with design flow of
electronic circuits and systems as per the industrial requirement. The use hardware description
language presents the state-of-the-art technology in modern approach towards digital design.

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This module takes you in a journey from the basics to a real understanding of digital design. This
section is not only adequate at emphasizing the need to consider something more than just logic
design while designing the digital systems but also indicates that design has to be implemented with
real-world constraints.
2. Digital Vs Analog systems
Modern technology offers many new features and aspects to digital systems. Digital system is one
such data technology which utilizes discrete values to represent information unlike non-digital
systems where information is represented using continuous values. There are two types of signals –
analog and digital. A digital system applies digital signals for functioning.
An analog signal is any continuous signal for which the time-varying signal is the representation of
time- varying quantity. It takes up any value over a full range of voltage or current continuous
manner. A digital signal utilizes discrete (discontinuous) values. The information represented can
be discrete such as 0/1 or Low/High or True/False etc. These signals take up only one of two
discrete values.
Due to technological convergence, almost all systems are going digital and as a result, there is a
digital revolution around us. This had a great impact on transforming once analog systems to a new
digital system. The transformation is seen in some areas like still photography, audio-video
recording systems, telephone systems, radio, television, and so on and so forth.
Digital systems offer many advantages over analog systems. These are as follows-
1. Reproducibility: As the output of digital systems unlike analog systems is independent of
temperature, noise, humidity and other characteristics of components the reproducibility of
results is higher in digital systems than in analog systems. It is this ability of the digital
circuit to reproduce the same output when the same input is applied.
2. Ease of use and design: The greatest advantage of digital systems is that of ease of use.
Designing digital systems is a very simple process because it mostly employs the switching
circuits. These circuits operate only in two states and no special math skills are required.
The design of digital systems which require use of Boolean algebra and other digital
techniques is easier than analog designing.
3. Flexibility and functionality: The function or operation of the digital system can be
implemented using different logic functions and can be changed according to the demand of
the situation. It has the ability to adopt changes to provide flexibility to the designer.

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Various ICs available fall under the logic family category. This also gives rise to improved
interfacing with little problems involved. To help improve the system design, there are
various logical families available.
4. Programmability: The digital systems can be used for different applications by simply
changing the program without additional changes in hardware. Hardware description
languages (HDLs) are normally used for this feature.
5. Speed: The switching speed describes how fast the inverter can change from 0 to 1 and
back. Faster logic devices can produce more operations in less time. Advancement in IC
fabrication has led to faster and faster switching in GHz to THz speed.
6. Cost: The cost of hardware gets reduced by use of digital components and this has been
possible due to advances in IC technology. With ICs the number of components that can be
placed in a given area of Silicon are increased which further helps in cost reduction.
7. Smaller Size: All digital circuits are designed and manufactured in an integrated form. All
circuit components are placed in a single chip hence the size is small.
8. Secured transmission and processing: Digital signals can be used for secured transmission
of information using encryption. Transmission is at a higher rate and with a wider
broadband width. It is more secure.
9. Bandwidth require ment: Digital signals typically use less bandwidth. This is just another
way to say that you can cram more information (audio, video) into the same space. This is in
terms of precision and accuracy. In order to handle a great length of digits with digital
systems, one only requires adding switching circuits. Precision in digital systems is not
limited as in other systems.
10. Memory capability: With their memory capabilities, digital systems can be employed for
computing, calculators, telecommunications, watches, and other devices. Data display in all
areas of digital systems application is clear and convenient. This is additional to data
accuracy.

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Comparison chart
Analog Digital
Signal Analog signal is a continuous Digital signals are discrete time
signal. signals.
Waves Sine waves Square waves
Representation Use of continuous range of values to
Use of discrete or discontinuous
represent information values to represent information
Example Human voice in air, analog Computers, CDs, DVDs, and other
electronic devices digital electronic devices
Recording Analog technology records
Samples analog waveforms into a
Technology waveforms as they are limited set of numbers and records
them
Data trans missions Deterioration by noise during Immune to noise without
transmission and write/read cycle deterioration during transmission
and write/read cycle
Response to Noise More likely to get affected reducing Less affected
accuracy
Flexibility Analog hardware is not flexible Digital hardware is flexible in
implementation.
Uses Can be used in analog devices only. Best suited for Computing and
Best suited for audio and video digital electronics
transmission
Applications Thermometer PCs, PDAs
Bandwidth Analog signal processing can be There is no guarantee that digital
done in real time and consumes less signal processing can be done in
bandwidth real time and consumes more
bandwidth to carry out the same
information
Memory Stored in the form of wave signal Stored in the form of binary bit
Powe r Analog instrument consumes large Digital instrument consumes
power negligible power
Cost Low cost and portable Cost is high and not easily portable
Impedance Low High order of 100 mega ohm
Errors Analog instruments usually have a Digital instruments are free from
scale and give considerable observational errors like parallax
observational errors. and approximation errors

3. Digital hardware

Digital hardware has seen rapid expansion and improvements in last three to four decades. The
number of transistors in a single chip has grown exponentially, and contains millions of transistors
today. Moore’s law states that the number of transistors in an IC doubles aprroximately every two

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years approximately. This law is named after Gordon Moore, the co- founder of Intel and Fiarchild
semiconductor. As the IC became smaller, cheaper and faster, it became more and more capable of
handling a wide range of applications other than just computing like control, communication,
medical, space and defence. Digital systems are mainly used for store, process and trans mit
information.
Larger the application, greate the complexity in designing the digital systems. The simplest way to
deal with the complexity is to think about the circuit at the abstract level and use design software
tools to obtain low- level implementation. This is the best way to keep the designer away from the
tedious details of device level implementation and focus only on the design alternatives.
In order to build the digital hardware for the customized aplication, there are ample device
technologies to choose from off-the-shelf standard ICs (SSI, MSI, LSI), simple programmable
devices to full- custom devices. Various parameter like chip area, speed, power, and cost, are to be
considered for selecting technology for an application.

3.1 Standard ICs

Standard ICs contain small parts with fixed and limited functionality and physical configuration.
Each standard IC conatins small and simple circuit and perform simple opeartion. For example the
74XX series is a TTL (Transistor Transistor Logic) family, which contains more than 100 different
ICs ranging from simple logic gates, several combinational and sequential circuits to a 4-bit ALU.
To build a digital system, the designer needs to choose the ICs that perform the desired function
and then think of inteconnecting them to realize the necessary digital hardware. The design
methodology based on standard ICs was popular upto 1980s. As the IC technology improved, the
number of devices and functionality per chip increased, then this method became inefficient to use.
In addition, none of the design softwares utilize the off- the- shelf standard ICs (SSI/MSI), and thus
automation in design becomes really impossible.

3.2 Programable logic devices (PLDs)

As the programmab le devices are capable and less expensive, the designers prefer this option over
standard SSI/MSI ICs. In programmable logic devices, the hardware contains a general structure
and contains a collection of programmable switches that allow internal circuit to be configured in
different ways. The switches are programmed by the end-user and not by the manufacturer. In

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addition, many PLDs can be programmed multiple times. This helps the designer to develop the
prototype of the digital system and can be corrected at any stage of impleme ntation by
reprogramming.
There are two types of PLDs: simple programmable logic devices (SPLDs) and complex
programmable logic devices (CPLDs).
Simple programmable logic devices, as the name indicates are programmable devices with simple
internal structure. These devices are normally constructed as a two-level array with an AND plane
and an OR plane. The inteconnections of one or both planes can be programmed to design a logic
function expressed in sum-of-product form. There are three possible devices under SPLDswhich
are:
a) Programmable read only memory (PROM) in which OR plane can be programmed,
b) Programmable array logic (PAL) in which an AND plane can be programmed,
c) Programmable logic array (PLA) in which both AND and OR plane can be programmed.

The SPLDs do not have a general interconnect structure and thus have a limited functionality. These
devices are now phased out and used only as internal components of the CPLD or ASIC devices.
The complex programmable logic devices contain a prefabricated programmable array of generic
logic cells and general interconnect structure. The programmability feature is provided with
semiconductor fuses or swtiches, which can be set as open or short circuit. The programming
feature is provided in the field using add on card or cable using programmer hence, this group of
devices are called field programmable. These field programmable devices are classified into two
categories: complex programmable logic devices (CPLD) and field programmable gate array
(FPGA).
In CPLD, the logic cell normally contain a D-FF and PLD like configurable product term. The
interconnect stucture consist of centralized groups ofconcetrated routed lines. In FPGA, the logic
cell is usually small and consist of a D-FF and a small look- up table or a set of multiplexers. The
interconnect structure is usually distributed and more flexible.

3.3 Custom-designed ICs

There are many device technologies available to construct customized digital hardware. The most
important characterisitics of these ICS is how the customization is done. Customization decides

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how all the layers of a device are manufactured. In standard ICs, the layers are predetermined and
manufactured as standard off-the-shelf part. It is also possible to have customization in the field by
downloading a connection pattern into PLDs. The sophisticated way of customization involves
creation of tailored masks and fabrication of patterned layers. These layers can be customized for a
particular application. This process of costomization is expensive and complex and can be done in
manufacturing foundary or fabrication plant. These devices are called application-specific IC
(ASIC). There are three types of custom-designed ICs: Full-custom ASIC, Standard-cell ASIC and
Gate array ASIC.
(i) Full-custom ASIC: In this IC, all aspects of digital system are tailored for one specific
application. The design is fully optimized and provides the best possible performance. But
designing is complex, hence is preferred for small circuits. The major application of this
design is to provide a basic bulding block of a larger system such as bit-slice system in
which simple 1-bit memory or 1-bit adder may be used.
(ii) Standard cell ASIC: In this IC, the circuit is built using a set of predefined logic components
known as standard cells. The manufacture usually provide a library of standard cells such as
logic gates, AOI gates, multiplexers, 1-bit full adder, D-FF or latch, barrel shifter or RAM.
(iii)Gate array ASIC: In this IC, the circuit is constructed using an array of predefined cells
called base cell. The manufacturer also provides a library of predesined component called
macro cell built from base cell. The macro-cell interconnect structure can also be
predefined. As compared to other ASICs, fabrication of gate array is much simpler due to
its fixed array structre.

4. General design process

The development of any product requires certain stepsto be performed in proper order. Figure 1
shows a typical product life cycle. The development of product follows an Analysis-Design-
Implemenation-Testing-Deployment cycle. For a simple system, a one-time pass of cycle is
sufficient but for complex sysems, it is necessary to repeat this cyle multip le times around the life
cycle.

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Figure 1: The product life cycle

In the analysis phase, requirements of the desired products are clearely obtained. The main pupose
of requirements is to state what the sysem will do. These requirements of the product in the
general form are converted into detailed specifications. Specification would give exact requirement
in quantitative terms. For example, the specifications of the required IC would include size, speed,
power dissipation, functionality etc. The specifications can also include some constraints i.e.
limiations within which the system must operate like cost, safety and compatibility. In brief, a
requirement refers to an objective of the system, while a specification describes the functionality
and deliverables of the system.

In the design phase, a conceptual model of the product must be built. The concepetual model
defines as much abstraction as appropriate. At this stage, the design involves dividing the system
into modules or components. During this phase, it is possible to estimate performance parameters,
cost and schedule. The outcome of the design phase is to generate the block diagram and data flow

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graphs of the system. The preliminary design includes the oveall top-down approach and hierachical
structure.

The next phase of product life cyle is to develop an implementation of the system. The top-dwon
design approach facilitates implementation of subcomponents simultanelouly. At this stage one may
use simulator. One major advantage of simulation is that it provides many initial designs which are
now implemented using hardware and software. Simulations provide quicker way to implement the
initial product on simulator than constructing a physical system. Becase of high cost and long time
required to create hardware prototypes. Rapid prtotyping is an important stage in the early stage of
product design. For final product implementation, it might be necessary to allow more loops aro und
the Analysis-Design- Implemenation-Testing-Deployment cycle. This leads to development of
necessary hardware and software for the product.

During the testing phase, the performance of the system is evaluated. Debugging is an important
step in testing and validating the basic functions. Further measurements are carried out to optimize
the performance of the system. Simulator can model the behaviour of hardware/software systems. If
both hardware and software are simulated together, the simulated time will be slower. Even though
the simulation time is slower, one can study the real-time hardware/software interactions.

Once the test are successful then one can deploy the product. If there are new requirements or
features or correcting any mistakes or optimizing for speed or size or power, it is then necessary to
undergo additional loops around the life cyle.

5. Design of digtal systems

In the previous section, an overview of development stages of product life cycle was given. This
development process is in its most general form. Design of digital system requires detailed
description of each stage.

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5.1 Basic design loop

Figure-2 Basic design process

The basic system design process consists of a basic sequence of task as indicated in figure 2. The
basic design loop begins with design concept or idea of the systems to be designed. As the first
step, the requirements of the desired system are clearely defined.

These requirements of the system in the general form are converted into detailed specifications.
Specification would give exact requirements in quantitative terms. For example, the specifications
of desired IC would include size, speed, power dissipation, functionality etc. Once the detailed

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specifications of the system are obtained then it is possible to generate the initial design. The
designer’s knowledge, skills and intuition play an important role in generating the initial design.
The initial design must be tested before implementing the hardware. The initial design can provide a
conceptual model of the system. Simulations provide quicker way to implement the initial product
on simulator than constucting a physical system. At this stage the designer must evaluate and verify
the results of the design. The design should be further tested by applying test data (stimuli) at the
input and determining the output so as to verify the design as per the system specifications.

If there is any error after simulation then the design must be modified to remove the error. The
modified design is again tested by the simulator so as to evaluate and verify the system parameters.
The Simulation-Modify design process is repeated until there is no error in the designed digital
system.

5.2 The digital design process

The basic design loop discussed in the previous section helps the designer to test his design at
conceptual level. In real life, the designed system must be implemented in hardware at every stage
of design. This procedure is time-consuming and involves higher costs for implementation, which
may not be always possible to implement. Availability of various Computer-Aided-Design (CAD)
tools or Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools have provided the digital system designer a
newer approch to implement their design. These tools are used to aid the digital system designers to
perform different design tasks. These tools provide a convinience to the designer to generate
accurate and fast designs. Figure-3 indicates a complete digital system design process.

The digital design process begins with defining the exact digital system to be designed. As the first
step, the requirements of the desired system are clearely obtained. These requirements of the

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Figure -3: Digital Design Process

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system in the general form are converted into detailed s pecifications. These specifications defines
the fucntionality, number and behaviour of input/outputs, speed, power etc.
Once the detailed specifications of the digital system are obtained then it is possible to generate
initial design. The designer’s knowledge, skills and intuition play an important role in generating
the initial design. The CAD/EDA tools can help the designer at this stage to generate the initial
design. The formulation of description of the digital system can be done with the help of Design
Entry tools. There are three design entry tools – Truth table/waveform editor, Schematic editor and
HDL (Hardware Description Languages) editor. One can use either VHDL or Verilog language to
enter the design.
The next step in the design process is the initial synthesis. Synthesis is the process of converting
design entry information of the logic circuit into a set of logic equations. The synthesis CA D tools
help the designers to generate the logic functions required to implement the logic circuit
automatically.
Once the initial syntheis is complete, it is necessary to verify the circuit function of the design using
function simulation. It simulates the circuit function using the logic function obtained from
synthesis and the test inputs. The output of the simulator can be ver ified using either the obtained
truthtable or the timing diagram. If the output of the logic circuit is not as per the expecta tion then
the design must be modified. The Syntheis-Simulation-Redesign steps must be repeated till the
correct design is obtained as per the requirement.
Once the functionally correct design is obtained, the next step is to use logic synthesis and
optimization tools. This stage will help the designer to work on the parameters like speed, cost and
device technology for implementation. Logic synthesis tools can be technology-dependent or
independent. If the synthesis tool is technology independent then the optimization is independent of
the resources available in the traget chip. For technology mapping synthesis tools, the optimization
is done using the logic resources available on chip.
Once the logic synthesis and optimization is done, the next obvious step is to design the logic circuit
using the available logic resources. The physical design performs two basic operations: Placement
and Routing. Placement of logic functions in the optimized circuits in the target IC and
inteconnecting the components in the chip which is popularly known as routing.
Once placement and routing in the physical design is complete, then the final stage of the design is
to carry out timing simulation. In timing simulation the propagation delay of the logic circuit is

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evaluated and verified with the expected design parameters. If the timing characteristics of the
digital system do not match then the designer redesigns at physical level where optimized
placement of logic components and routing is reworked. Once the timing characteristics are
obtained as per design then the design is finally implemented into the chip.
5.3 Hardware-software co-design
Traditionally, hardware/software (HW/SW) are developed independently and integrated later. There
is very little interaction between HW and SW before system integration. HW/SW codesign
improves overall system performance, reliability and cost effectiveness. Codesign concepts are
more popular for designing digital hardware in System-on-chip (SoC) applications. Figure-4
indicates typical HW/SW codesign process

System
description
(functional)

HW/SW
partitioning

HW synthesi s Interface SW synthe si s

synthesi s

Another HW/SW
partition

System
Integration

Figure-4: Typical Hardware/Software co-design

The design process begins with obtaining sysem specifications. After analysis of the system, it
might be necessary to partition the system further into subsystems or components. The HW, SW
and interface systems are separately designed. This partitioning aids the designer in determining
best implementation for a systgem through iterative partitioning technique. Partitioning is applied to
modules to best meet design criteria like functionality and performance goals.

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At each level it is necessary to carry out synthesis. HW/SW and interface synthesis is carried out for
the refinement of specifications. In the next stage, all the partitioned modules are simulated and
integrated to see whether or not the required design objectives are met. In hardware, a model can
describe a system in the behavioral, structural or physical domain. The software layer very close to
hardware hides the hardware details and provides an abstract and protable view to designer through
virtual machine. Validation methodology insures that system implemented meets initial system
requirements.
6. Summary

The convergence of miniaturized, sophisticated and low-power embedded product design depends on efficient digital
design flow.
Digital system is one such data technologies which utilizes discrete values to represent information unlike non -digital
(Analog) systems where information is represented using continuous values. Digital systems offer many advantages
over analog systems.
In order to build the digital hardware for the customized aplication, there are ample device technologies to choose
from off-the-shelf standard ICs (SSI, MSI, LSI), si mple programmable devices to full -custom devices.
The development of any product requires certain steps must be performed in proper order. The development of product
follows an Analysis-Design-Implemenation-Testing-Deployment cycle.
Availability of various Computer-Aided-Design(CAD) tools or Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools have
provided the digital system designer a newer approch to implement their design. These tools are used to aid the digital
system designers to perform different design tasks. These tools provide a convinience to the designer to generate
accurate and fast designs.
Traditionally, hardware/software (HW/SW) are developed independently and integrated later. There is a very little
interaction between HW and SW before system integration. HW/SW codesign improves overall system performance,
reliability and cost effectiveness. Codesign concepts are more popular for designing digital hardware in System-on-chip
(SoC) applications.

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1. Digital System Design Process