Digital Systems
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We are in the middle of a digital revolution, as more and more electronic systems are implemented with digital technology. Thanks to Very Large Scale Integrated Circuits (VLSI), Digital Systems Engineers can fit more functions into a smaller space than ever: a single microchip can hold tens of millions of working parts. In 1967, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore predicted that digital technology would double the speed and capability of digital systems every 18 months, and Moores Law has held true ever since. Digital systems are everywhere, sensing information, manipulating it, communicating it, and using it to control things. Digital systems provide the user interface for your cell phone, the circuits that control your television and MP3 player, everything from hearing aids to aircraft instrumentation. Digital Systems Engineers use Hardware Description Languages (HDLs) to design microchips and to program configurable logic devices called Field Programmable Gate Arrays. They design systems that integrate many different chips and electronic components into subsystems and systems, and communications protocols that link different parts of the system together. The challenge is to design systems with unprecedented complexity so that they work correctly. Many digital systems engineers are employed in verifying that testing the correctness of designs. A specialty of Electrical Engineering, Digital Systems Engineering is similar to Computing Engineering, but with more emphasis on electrical phenomena and applications such as signal processing and control. Interviews with the professionals |
