VIVEKANANDA GLOBAL UNIVERSITY

Department of Electrical Engineering

Lab Manual

DIGITAL ELECTRONICS Lab

(CODE__BRANCH)

Experiment - 10
Name of Experiment

Design 4 bit up/down Binary Counter.

Name of HOD

Mr.Parmeshwar Kumar

Name of Faculty Incharge

MR. Hemant kumar Sharma

Name of Lab technician

Mr. Anand Mohan Sharma

Department of Electrical Engineering

Experiment No.-12
1.AIM:- Design 4 bit up/down binary counter.
2.APPARATUS REQUIRED:S.NO

COMPONENTS

RANGE

QUANTITY

1.

Trainer kit.

3.

Connecting cords

3.THEORY
A Counter is a register capable of counting number of clock pulses that have arrived at its clock
input. They are used for counting number of occurrences of an event and are also useful for
generating timing signals to control the sequence of operations in a computer. Counters are mainly
used in counting applications, where they either measure the time interval between two unknown
time instants or measure the frequency of a given signal.
They are two types of counters:
i) Serial or Asynchronous Counter.
ii) Parallel or Synchronous Counter.

3.1 Serial or Asynchronous Counter (Ripple Counter):

A Ripple counter is a cascaded arrangement of flip-flops where the output of one flip-flop drives the
clock input of the following flip-flop. The number of flip-flops in the cascaded arrangement depends
upon the number of different logic states that it goes through before it repeats the sequence, a
parameter known as the modulus of the counter. In a ripple counter, also called an asynchronous
counter or a serial counter, the clock input is applied only to the first flip-flop, also called the input
flip-flop, in the cascaded arrangement. The clock input to any subsequent flip-flop comes from the
output of its immediately preceding flip-flop. For instance, the output of the first flip-flop acts as the
clock input to the second flip-flop, the output of the second flip-flop feeds the clock input of the
third flip-flop and so on.
In an asynchronous counter the output change in one flip-flop is given as clock input to the
next flip-flop. The clock input to one flip-flop is different from another. It requires minimum
hardware but is very slow in operation. In Asynchronous first flip flop is clocked by external pulse
then each successive flip flop is clocked by Q or Q output of previous stage, as second stage is

trigeered by output of first stage Flip Flop.Because of inherent propagation delay time all flip flops
are not activated at same time which results in asynchronous operation, as shown in Figure 12.1.

Figure 12.1 Asynchronous Counter

3.2 Parallel or Synchronous Counter:
In a synchronous counter all the flip-flops receive the same clock pulse, so that they change their
states at the same time. The hardware is increased, but it is faster than an asynchronous counter.

Figure 12.2 Binary Count Down Counter

As well as counting up from zero and increasing or incrementing to some preset value, it is
sometimes necessary to count down from a predetermined value to zero and to produce an output
that activates when the zero count or other pre-set value is reached. This type of counter is normally
referred to as a Down Counter, (CTD). In a Binary or BCD down counter, the count decreases by
one for each external clock pulse from some preset value. Special dual purpose ICs such as the TTL
74LS193 or CMOS CD4510 are 4-bit binary Up or Down counters which have an additional input
pin to select either the up or down count mode, it can be shown in above Figure 12.2.

Figure 12.3 4-bit Binary Up/Down Counter

Both Synchronous and Asynchronous counters are capable of counting Up or counting Down,
but their is another more Universal type of counter that can count in both directions either Up or
Down depending on the state of their input control pin and these are known as Bidirectional
Counters.Bidirectional counters, also known as Up/Down Counters, are capable of counting in either
direction through any given count sequence and they can be reversed at any point within their count
sequence by using an additional control input as shown in above Figure 12.3.
A four-bit binary UP counter will count as 0000, 0001, 0010, 0011, 0100, 0101, 0110, 0111,
1000, 1001, 1010, 1011, 1100, 1101, 1110, 1111, 0000, 0001, .. and so on. A DOWN counter
counts in the reverse direction or downwards by one LSB every time it is clocked. The four-bit
binary DOWN counter will count as 0000, 1111, 1110, 1101, 1100, 1011, 1010, 1001, 1000, 0111,
0110, 0101, 0100, 0011, 0010, 0001,0000, 1111,.. and so on. Some counter ICs have separate
clock inputs for UP and DOWN counts, while others have a single clock input and an UP/DOWN
control pin. The logic status of this control pin decides the counting mode. As an example, ICs
74190 and 74191 are four-bit UP/DOWN counters in the TTL family with a single clock input and
an UP/DOWN control pin. While IC 74190 is a BCD decade counter, IC 74191 is a binary counter.
Also, ICs 74192 and 74193 are four-bit UP/DOWN counters in the TTL family, with separate clock
input terminals for UP and DOWN counts. While IC 74192 is a BCD decade counter, IC 74193 is a
binary counter.

4.PROCEDURE:->>>>>>>Use Manuals And Use Table if any given in Manual

1) Assemble the circuit on bread board, as per above connection diagram
2) Give the Clock/trigger signal manually or auto clock and check the count
sequence .

5.RESULT:- We have successfully designed, studied and performed of 4-bit binary up/down
counters.

6.PRECUATION
1.Connections must be tight.
2. Logic inputs are given carefully.
3.Pin diagram must be drawn carefully.
.7.VIVA QUESTIONS
1. Define the counter?

2 What is difference between Asynchronous and Synchronous counter?

3.What is ripple counter?