Title Page: Joseph Lindsay

5/8/14
Digital Electronics
Mr. Bacher
Overview/Abstract: The purpose of this project was to learn how to and get hands-on experience
programming and working with Seven Segment Displays. It was also a sort of wrap-up project of Unit 2,
including most if not all aspects of combinational logic that we learned about. I worked on this project
by myself.
Materials: engineering notebook, pen, computer with Multisim software, FPGA board with
accompanying components
Procedure: The procedure I followed through with this project started receiving the design problem to
design a combinational logic circuit that output my date of birth on a Seven Segment Display (SSD). The
first step I took to do this was to draw out what my date of birth would look like on a SSD (09-04-97).
From this, I created a truth table with three inputs (X, Y, Z) and seven outputs (a, b, c, d, e, f, g; the SSD)
by looking and seeing where there was an on LED light section, for which each different number in the
set was created with a different input combination. Then I formed K-Maps for each of the seven outputs
(unless the set of outputs was the same), from which I then extracted a Boolean algebra expression.
Once I had these expressions, I drew up a circuit in my engineering journal that modeled them, with the
output being a SSD of course. The next time I was in class, I opened up the circuit simulating program
Multisim, in which I created the same circuit I had previously draw to test it. Once I was checked off on
my notebook work and my Multisim circuit, I once again made the same circuit in Multisim, except this
time in PLD mode. Once I had uploaded the completed circuit to a FPGA board, tested it to make sure it
was working, and got the instructor to check it, I was finished with the project.
Concepts: The concepts of this project include AOI logic implementation, K-Mapping, forming a Boolean
algebra expression, creating a truth table, and correctly wiring a Seven Segment Display to the outputs
of a circuit.
Summary: Throughout the whole project there was only one real problem. The problem occurred when
I was first wiring up my birthday circuit in Multisim and, after testing my circuit, I noticed that the Seven
Segment Display only displayed half of the correct numbers in the planned sequence. To attempt to
solve the problem, I methodically went through all of my notebook work, going from truth table, to K-
Map, to extracted expression, to drawn circuit, and finally to my Multisim circuit, checking to see if there
were any visible mistakes that I had. After running through all of that multiple times and still not finding
anything, I decided to get the teachers help in figuring out what was wrong. After he ran through the
exact same checking process as I had done, we finally realized I had made the simple mistake of wiring
both of my Z switch input leads to power instead of one to power and one to ground. To fix it I simply
rewired the incorrectly wired wire. Overall this project was pretty good, some pros of it being the use of
most skills gained from Unit 2, a good way to introduce Seven Segment Displays and FPGA boards, and a
fairly straightforward project. Some cons were that I was basically left to my own devices for the entire
project, but thats only because I was absent the first two days when everyone was working on the
project. Using that as my basis, I would improve the project by giving students a heads up on when
starting it and also I would give students a set date they had to use instead of their own birthdays, that
way there would be a set correct answer so that the instructor may check for errors quicker.
Artifacts: See above.