Closing the Hardware Design Loop with Multisim®: A Case Study

Most electronics courses taught these days are planned around what is called a lecture-and-lab environment. This environment traditionally uses lectures on subject matter and is supplemented by laboratory experience. If the laboratory experiments are not generating the expected results, very often the whole experiment needs to be repeated. The unexpected results could be due to faulty components, incorrect design specifications, or improper connections. Nonetheless, implementing a circuit in the lab with undesired output might be time consuming. However, having an electronics simulator will enable the students as well as the instructor to analyze the performance of a circuit prior to implementing the actual hardware components. This paper investigates design, simulation and implementation of a decade counter using modern computer hardware and software. This effort will focus on developing an integrated solution of a digital electronics project that will be based on a hybrid environment in which the design and experiments will be simulated and tested in virtual as well as with real electronics components. Students ’ outreach program in this study is to motivate students to enroll in Electronic