COUNTERS

Intended Learning Outcomes

At the end of this chapter, the students should be able to:

• Identify what a counter is.
• Understand how counters work.
• Enumerate the types of counters.
• Identify the functions of a counter.
• Identify some applications of counters.
• Apply the use of 555 IC in a circuit
Types of Counters
 ASYNCHRONOUS COUNTERS
• Asynchronous counters Also known as Ripple Counters
because the carry information ripples one bit at a time
from the lower significant bit to the higher significant bit.
• These type of counter circuits are made up of cascaded JK
flip-flops, where each clock input receives its pulse from
the output of the previous flip-flop, always exhibiting a
ripple effect, with an erroneous output count occurring
between certain steps of the count sequence.
• Strobing is a technique applied to circuits that receive the
output of an asynchronous (ripple) counter, so the false
count generated during the ripple time does not have a
negative impact.
 SYNCHRONOUS COUNTERS
• Synchronous counters are so called
because the clock inputs for all the
individual flip-flops in the counter are
clocked together by the same clock (CLK)
signal. All of the flip-flop output bits
change state at the same time, with no
ripple.
 UP-DOWN COUNTERS
• Up-Down Counters or Bidirectional Counters
has an up-down control input. It counts in
ascending or descending order based on the
value of the input signal.
• Both Synchronous and Asynchronous
counters are capable of counting “Up” or
counting “Down”, but there 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.
 DECADE COUNTERS
• Decade counters also known as Modulo-10
Counters is a type of counter that count in
decimal numbers instead of binary numbers.
• These counters count from 0 to 9 and then
resets to zero. The decade counter is a binary
counter designed to count to 1010 (decimal 10).
• A normal four-stage counter can be easily
modified to a decade counter by adding a NAND
gate to the schematic on the right. Note that FF2
and FF4 provide input for the NAND gate.
• The NAND gate output is connected to the CLR
input of each FF.
 RING COUNTERS
• Ring counters are Shift Register (a cascade
connection of flip-flops) with the output of
the last flip flop connected to the input of
the first.
 JOHNSON COUNTERS
• Johnson counters or Twisted Ring Counters, is another shift
register with feedback identical to the standard ring
counter, except that the inverted output Q of the last flip-
flop is now connected back to the input D of the first flip-
flop.
• The register cycles through a sequence of bit-patterns,
whose length is equal to twice the length of the shift
register, continuing indefinitely.
• These counters find specialist applications, including those
similar to the decade counter, digital-to-analog conversion,
etc.
• They can be implemented easily using D- or JK-type flip-
flops.in this process of the counter
 MODULUS COUNTERS’
• Modulus counters’ job is to count by
advancing the contents of the counter by
one count per clock pulse.
• Modulus counters, or simply MOD counters,
are defined based on the number of states
that the counter will sequence through
before returning back to its original value.
Functions and application of counters

OTHER APPLICATION FOR COUNTERS

INCLUDE:
• SYSTEM CLOCK
• TIMER, DELAYS
• COUNTING EVENTS
• MEMORY ADDRESSING
• FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION
• SEQUENCE CONTROL
• CYCLE CONTROL
• PROTOCOLS
APPLICATION OF COUNTERS IN EVERYDAY
USE

 SCOREBOARD
 CLOCKS
 QUEQUE SYSTEM
LM555 IC