Classes at the Laboratory of Digital Systems take place within the subjects of Fundamentals of Digital Technology, Digital Technology and Digital Circuits conducted for students of the Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications, and Informatics and the Faculty of Technical Physics and Applied Mathematics of the Gdańsk University of Technology.
The aim of the classes in the laboratory is to better understand the principles of operation of digital circuits, to learn about selected digital integrated circuits and to enable students to check their design skills using catalogs of integrated circuits as well as to run and test simple digital circuits.
Descriptions of the laboratory sets are included in the laboratory manual, where the programs of individual exercises are discussed extensively. In the case of exercises that go beyond the scope of the lectures in the above-mentioned subjects, basic theoretical information is provided.
Getting acquainted with the content of the instructions for the homework is necessary to properly prepare for the laboratory classes, but it is not sufficient. It is necessary to refer to supporting literature and catalogs of integrated circuits. Exercises take place on ready-made stands equipped with laboratory sets, instruments and power supplies necessary to perform individual exercises. The applied kits are modified depending on the concept of running the laboratory. Note that exercises 1 and 10 give you a lot of freedom.

General rules for conducting classes in the laboratory
1. Students studying at the Digital Circuit Laboratory are required to comply with the health and safety regulations in force at the Gdańsk University of Technology.
2. Before starting each exercise, students are required to:
2.1. read the instructions for a given exercise;
2.2. get acquainted with the structure and operation of integrated circuits used in the laboratory set;
2.3. execute the assigned projects, develope measurement systems, write programs (all depending on the assigned excercise);
2.4. think over ways of starting, testing and demonstrating the correct operation of the designed systems;
2.5. prepare a report, which must include the assigned projects with all relevant analysis results, minimization of functions, graphs, and tables, along with:
2.6. time courses, calculations of the value of elements and, above all, schematic diagrams of the designed systems.

The scope of the laboratory program includes the following exercises:
1. digital functional blocks
2. examination of logic gates
3. iterative circuits
4. time-dependent systems
5. synchronous systems
6. integrated counters
7. registers
8. asynchronous systems
9. data bus control
10. digital functional blocks

The objectives of the individual exercises and their equipment are as follows:

1. DIGITAL FUNCTIONAL BLOCKS

The aim of the exercise is to test the practical skills of designing and implementing circuits based on various digital and digital-analog integrated circuits. During design and commissioning, students deal with individual systems that must be physically combined into a working system including power supply, noise elimination, etc.

Individual systems and elements along with the connection board are delivered to the students' home, which enables them to prepare the desired systems in a calm manner. After arriving at the digital circuit laboratory, the prepared circuits are put into operation.

2. EXAMINATION OF LOGICAL GATES

The aim of the exercise is to learn the basic methods of measuring parameters and static characteristics of TTL and CMOS gates, to get acquainted with the principles of connecting integrated circuits made in various technologies, and to learn the principles of controlling signaling and actuating elements through gates of various series and technologies.

The student's task is to measure the characteristics of the gates, to demonstrate the possibility of connecting gates of different technologies and with actuators (relays, light-emitting diodes).

3. ITERATIVE CIRCUITS
The aim of the exercise is to check the practical skills of designing and implementing iterative systems designed during the exercises.

The laboratory set is a simulator enabling the simple implementation of a wide class of iterative systems that can be reduced to typical structures. During the exercise, iterative systems are combined on the basis of previously prepared task drafts given by the tutor.

4. TIME-DEPENDENT CIRCUITS
The aim of the exercise is to learn about selected integrated time-dependent circuits and the basic elements used in their construction, as well as to check the ability to design, run and test such systems. In order to acquire these skills through understanding the physics of phenomena occurring in time-dependent systems, it is recommended to thoroughly study the literature. The available integrated circuits and discrete elements enable the implementation of a wide class of time- dependent systems. Two function generators and switches are included in the kit, which can be used to test typical timers.

When implementing non-standard or more complex systems, it may be necessary to use additional devices, the connection of which is possible thanks to dedicated sockets.

5. SYNCHRONOUS SYSTEMS
The aim of the exercise is to study simple synchronous systems. Checking the ability to design and implement synchronous circuits based on integrated circuits included in the exercise. The laboratory set includes the following elements: registers, JK flip-flops, logic gates, state indicators and generators. The exercise is built on the basis of TTL technology. During design and commissioning, students deal with the pins of single circuits that must be physically connected to a working circuit.

6. INTEGRATED COUNTERS

The aim of the exercise is to familiarize students with selected types of TTL integrated counters of the 74 series.

The laboratory set includes the following elements: counters, gates, flip-flops, decoders from BCD code to seven-segment indicator code.

All outputs of the counters, except for the power supply, are connected to the sockets on the front panel and are available to users on the connectors located above the schematic drawing of the given system. The numbers describing the contacts of the socket correspond to the numbers of pins of individual integrated circuits. The description of the functions of individual outputs is given in the system catalogs. The status of Q outputs of all counters is displayed on light-emitting diodes, which are integrated into the schematic drawings of the circuits.

7. REGISTERS
The aim of the exercise is to test the design skills and practical implementation of register circuits and adders based on various digital integrated circuits. The exercise includes both serial and parallel registers from the TTL series in standard 74. The set enables the input and output of information both in series and in parallel. The status of Q outputs of all registers is displayed on light-emitting diodes which are connected to the individual outputs of the circuits. During the design and commissioning, students deal with the outputs of single circuits that must be physically connected into a working circuit. The circuits are selected by the teacher to test the ability to connect several registers with each other and registers and adders among themselves.

8. ASYNCHRONOUS SYSTEMS
The aim of the exercise is to design, run and test simple asynchronous systems. The included integrated circuits, flip-flops, registers and discrete elements enable the implementation of a wide class of asynchronous circuits. The included internal generator and four register-based function generators are available to the student. They make it possible to set the desired waveforms, which can be used to test typical asynchronous systems. Requirements for students are presented by means of a verbal description and their task is to lead to a formal description and present time courses, system graphs, to finally run them and present their operation.

9. DATA BUS CONTROL
The aim of the exercise is to familiarize students with the issues of controlling information transmission through the data bus between several transmitting and receiving systems. In this exercise, transmission control is software-based and gives the opportunity to test the practical skills of programming logic circuits. During design and commissioning, students deal with individual RAM memory chips that must be programmed to ensure the proper functioning of the system.

10. DIGITAL FUNCTIONAL BLOCKS
The aim of the exercise is to test the ability to design various functional blocks used in complex digital and digital-analog circuits and to familiarize yourself with the methods of commissioning and testing such blocks. For this purpose, specialized devices are used, enabling quick assembly of the systems - without soldering - and checking the correctness of their operation and possible selection of certain parameters. When designing electronic devices, it is often necessary to verify the obtained solutions in practice. This stage of modeling enables the verification of design assumptions.

In this exercise, students will get acquainted with the educational laboratory kit ETS-5000 (by K&H from Taiwan), intended for testing electronic circuits made of digital TTL and CMOS integrated circuits, as well as analog circuits.