Important characteristics of Digital System are as following below:
- Data is represented in a digital system as a vector of binary variables.
- Digital Systems can provide accuracy (dynamic range) limited only by the number of bits used to represent a variable
- Digital systems are less prone to error than analog systems.
- Data representation in a digital system is suitable for error detection and correction.
- Digital systems are designed in a hierarchical manner using re-usable modules.
Benefits of Digital over Analog System: There are some reasons why we use Digital representation than Analog System:
- It is economical and easy to design.
- It is very well suited for both numerical and non-numerical information processing.
- It has high noise immunity.
- It is easy to duplicate similar circuits and complex digital ICs are manufactured with the advent of microelectronics Technology.
- Adjustable precision and easily controllable by Computer.
The finite number of values in a Digital System can be represented by a vector of signals with just two values, i.e., Binary: 3 is 0011 and 9 is 1001. So the device which processes the signal is very simple, i.e., on/off. However, there are some disadvantages or drawbacks of Digital Systems as following below. Disadvantages of Digital System:
- It has low speed.
- There are need of converters, e.g., Analog to Digital (A/D) converter and Digital to Analog (D/A) converter, because physical world is analog.
Since digital circuits deal with analog signals, current or voltage, so it allows Analog signals to be ignored and allows some discrete values to be used. There are two types of digital signal communication: Synchronous and Asynchronous. Synchronous is the in which outputs change their values at certain specified time (or clocked), for example 5, 6, 7, … etc. Whereas Asynchronous is the in which outputs can change at any instant of time, for example, 5, 8, 15 … etc. Digital Calculators, Digital Computers, and Digital Watch are good examples of Digital Systems.