Experiment No.

2
Counters

Sarmiento, Shania S.

Department of Computer Engineering

Mondriaan Aura College

Subic Bay Free Fort Zone, Olongapo City

Abstract- In this experiment, the students

were able to see how different counters Consider a 4-bit Johnson counter with QA,
work. The students worked on building QB, QC, QD as the output of 4 stages of the
circuits that have different counters such counter. The truth table of the 4-bit Johnson
as a Ring Counter, Decade Counter, and a counter is given below:
Binary Counter. At the end of the study,
they were able to see the difference among
the counters and learned the use of each
counters.
To proceed with the experiment, CD4017,
7490/ 7419, and a 74193 ICs along with ten
pieces of LED, seven segment LED and a
logic trainer’s clock or IC 555 were used.
Table 1. The 4-bit Johnson Counter
Index Terms- Ring Counter, Decade
Counter, and a Binary Counter.
The schematic of 4-bit Johnson counter
I. THEORY consists of 4 D-flip flops or 4 JK-flip flops.
These flip-flops are connected with each
Counter is a sequential circuit. A digital other in cascade setup. The output of each
circuit which is used for a counting pulses is flip-flop is connected with the input of the
known counter. Counter is the widest succeeding flip-flop. The complemented
application of flip-flops. It is a group of flip- output of the last flip-flop is connected with
flops with a clock signal applied the input of the first flip-flop. The Same clock
input is connected with all flip-flops. There is
“Johnson counter” or “twisted ring clear input for resetting the state to default
counter” is a type of synchronous ring 0000. Johnson counter’s schematic design is
counter in which the complemented output of given below.
the flip-flop is connected with the input of the
first flip-flop. Johnson counter can be made
with D-flip flops or JK-flip flops in cascade
setup.
The Mod of Johnson counter is ‘2n’, n is the
bit size of the counter. Mod is the maximum
number of states a counter can obtain. Fig. 1-1. The Schematic of Johnson Counter
Johnson Counter Truth Table and Schematic
The default state of Johnson counter is 0000 counter can count 0000, 0001, 0010, 1000,
thus before starting the clock input we need 1001, 1010, 1011, 1110, 1111, 0000, and
to clear the counter using clear input. 0001 and so on.
Whenever a clock edge hits the counter the A 4 bit binary counter will act as decade
output of each flip-flop will transfer to the counter by skipping any six outputs out of the
next stage (flip-flop) but the inverted output 16 (24) outputs. There are some available ICs
of the last flip-flop will shift to the first stage for decade counters which we can readily use
making the state 1000. in our circuit, like 74LS90. It is an
Upon next clock cycle, another ‘1’ will stack asynchronous decade counter
in from the left side as the inverted output of
the last stage will be shifted to the first stage. Fig. 1-1 shows a decade counter
On next clock cycle, another ‘1’ will add in constructed with JK flip flop. The J output
from left until the state becomes 1111. and K outputs are connected to logic 1. The
Now that the last flip-flop’s output is ‘1’, the clock input of every flip flop is connected to
next clock cycle will shift the invert of the last
flip-flop which is ‘0’ into the first flip-flop. It
will result in stacking ‘0’ from the left side.
This stacking of the first 0 will make the state
1111 into 0111.
The next coming clock cycles will stack in
0’s from the left making the states 0011, 0001
& 0000 with each clock cycle. Eventually, it
reaches its default state and it starts from the
beginning again. Fig. 1-2. The Schematic of Decade Counter

Advantages / Disadvantages of Johnson the output of next flip flop, except the last
Counter one.
Advantages The output of the NAND gate is
 More outputs as compared to ring connected in parallel to the clear input ‘CLR’
counter. to all the flip flops. This ripple counter can
 It has same number of flip flop, but it count up to 16 i.e. 24.
can count twice the number of states
the ring counter can count.
 It counts the data in a continuous loop
 It only needs half the number of flip-
flops compared to the standard ring
counter for the same MOD
Disadvantages
 Only 8 of the 15 states are being used.
 It doesn’t count in a binary sequence.

A binary coded decimal (BCD) is a serial

digital counter that counts ten digits .And it
resets for every new clock input. As it can go
through 10 unique combinations of output, it
is also called as “Decade counter”. A BCD
 Table 2. The Truth Table of a Decade
Counter

The above table describes the

counting operation of Decade counter. It
represents the count of circuit for decimal
count of input pulses. The NAND gate output
is zero when the count reaches 10 (1010). The
count is decoded by the inputs of NAND gate
X1 and X3. After count 10, the logic gate
NAND will trigger its output from 1 to 0, and
it resets all flip flops.
The key advantages and benefits if
BCD counters are
 Clock generation
 Clock division
 Integrated oscillator
 Low power cmos Fig. 1-3 The Schematic of Binary
 TTL compatible inputs Counter
 In frequency counting circuits

II. OBSERVATIONS
A binary counter is a hardware circuit that is
made out of a series of flip-flops. The output PRACTICAL 1: MAKING THE RING COUNTER WORK.

of one flip-flop is sent to the input of the next To make the Johnson ring counter
flip-flop in the series. A binary counter can work, A Johnson Counter or 4017 IC together
be either asynchronous or synchronous,
with a 555 IC or Clock, and 10 pieces of LED
depending on how the flip-flops are
was used for the experiment. The whole
connected together.
experiment has a supply of 5 Volts.
A binary counter connects several D-type There is only one Pin connected to 5
flip-flop circuits together. The flip-flops Volts supply and three pins connected to the
change state with every clock pulse, which ground. The other 10 pins are connected to
yields a binary number that can be used for
the LEDs as output and the other pins are left
digital clocks or timers. One common design
hung.
is asychronous, with the output of one flip-
flop is connected to the next. When one cell The schematic design of the 4017 IC
Fig. 1-3. The Schematic of Binary Counter connected to the LEDs are shown below:
is toggled, the next one down is toggled. For
every two toggles, the next cell in the line is
toggled. This arrangement is also referred to
as a "ripple through" counter.
 is connected to the clock There are four pins
that are connected to the input of the 4 Bit
Binary Counter to produce an output and the
other pins are left hung.

Fig. 2-4. The Pin Connections of the 4017

Fig. 2-6. The Pin Connections of The

Experiment

Fig. 2-5. The Actual Experiment Using a

CD4017 Counter

PRACTICAL 2: MAKING THE DECADE COUNTER

WORK.USING A 74LS192 IC AND A 74LS90

To make the Decade counter work,

74LS192 IC, 555 IC or Clock, and A seven
segment LED was used for the experiment. Fig. 2-7. The Actual Experiment Using a
The whole experiment has a supply of 5 74LS192 Counter
Volts.
There are two pins (pin 16 and pin 4)
connected to 5 Volts supply and two pins (pin
8 and pin 14) are connected to ground. Pin 5
 Fig. 2-9. The Pin Connections of The
Experiment

Fig. 2-8. The Actual Experiment Using a

74LS90 Counter

PRACTICAL 3: MAKING THE BINARY COUNTER

WORK.USING A 74LS193 IC

To make the Binary counter work,

74LS193 IC, 555 IC or Clock, and A seven
segment LED from the 4 Bit Binary Counter
was used for the experiment. The whole
experiment has a supply of 5 Volts.
Fig. 2-10. The Actual Experiment Using a
74LS193 Counter

III. ANALYSIS
When the Ring counter is at rest, the
count is equal to 0000. This is first stage of
the counter cycle. When we connect a clock
signal input to the counter circuit, then the
circuit will count the binary sequence. The
first clock pulse can make the circuit to count
to 9 (1001). The next clock pulse advances to
count 10 (1010). It is a simple counter which
can count from 1-10. When the count reaches
10, the binary output is reset to 0 (0000).
The LED sequencer circuit uses the 555 timer simple counter which can count from 0 – 9.
to produce the clock pulses required for As it is a 4 bit binary decade counter, it has 4
CD4017. The LED sequencer circuit uses the output ports. When the count reaches 10, the
555 timer to produce the clock pulses binary output is reset to 0 (0000), every time
required For each pulse the CD4017 and another pulse starts at pin number 9
increases the counter value. Thus each pin of
In Binary Counters, the external clock
the counter goes high in a sequence.
pulses are fed directly to each of the J-K flip-
LEDs connected to the output pins of flops in the counter chain and that both
CD4017 ,thus glows in a sequence the J and K inputs are all tied together in
toggle mode, but only in the first flip-flop,
The basic decade counter is an
flip-flop (LSB) are connected HIGH, logic
electronic circuit with a 4-bit binary output
“1” allowing the flip-flop to toggle on every
and an input signal (called a clock). With
clock pulse. Then the synchronous counter
each clock pulse the outputs advance to the
follows a predetermined sequence of states in
next higher value, resetting to 0000 when the
response to the common clock signal,
output is 1001 and a subsequent clock pulse
advancing one state for each pulse.
is received.
A binary counter can be constructed
from J-K flip-flops by taking the output of V. REFERENCES
one cell to the clock input of the next. The J
http://electronics-course.com/johnson-
and K inputs of each flip-flop are set to 1 to
counter
produce a toggle at each cycle of the clock
input. https://www.electricaltechnology.org/2018/0
5/ring-counter-johnson-counter.html
IV. CONCLUSION
http://tiiciiitm.com/profanurag/counters.pdf
The CD4017 is a CMOS Decade
counter IC. CD4017 is used for low range https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Digital_Circui
counting applications. It can count from 0 to ts/Registers_and_Counters
10 (the decade count). The circuit designed
by using this IC will save board space and
also time required to design the
circuit. CD4017 is as ‘Johnson 10 stage
decade counter. A Johnson counter is a
modified ring counter, where the inverted
output from the last flip flop is connected to
the input to the first. The register cycles
through a sequence of bit-patterns. The 555
IC in the circuit is used as a clock pulse
generator to provide input clock pulses to the
counter IC 4017.
A decade counter is one that counts in
decimal digits, rather than binary. It is a