Intelligent Online Interface to Digital Electronics Laboratory with Automatic Circuit Validation and Support

Abstract

Digital electronics laboratory activities involve setting several circuits using logic gates. The circuits are created according to a specific Boolean algebra model or computing components. Such activities include setting up basic gates such as AND OR, NOT etc. followed by complex circuits e.g. Adder, Flip-Flops, Registers. These activities involve substantial amount of wiring between specific ports or end-points of components. Students often consume significant amount of time trying to make a circuit rather than analyze the circuit and its operation. This work proposes an intelligent online interface supported by a new dedicated hardware architecture to map the circuits while they are being designed by the students. The hardware is based on low-cost microcontrollers and port expanders. Such a system is capable of matching the current circuit with a target circuit in a web-based environment as well as find the possible faults in the current circuit. The time taken for the overhead procedure of mapping circuits is shown to be within acceptable limits for a real-time learning experience. Once the circuit is mapped it is re-produced on-screen in a web-page so that students can determine the actual status of their circuits in real-time.