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Wired logic connection
View on WikipediaA wired logic connection is a logic gate that implements boolean algebra (logic) using only passive components such as diodes and resistors. A wired logic connection can create an AND or an OR gate. Limitations include the inability to create a NOT gate, the lack of amplification to provide level restoration, and its constant ohmic heating for most logic (particularly more than CMOS) which indirectly limits density of components and speed.
Wired logic works by exploiting the high impedance of open collector outputs (and its variants: open emitter, open drain, or open source) by just adding a pull-up or pull-down resistor to a voltage source, or can be applied to push-pull outputs by using diode logic (with the disadvantage of incurring a diode drop voltage loss).
Active-high wired AND connection
[edit]See also: Diode logic § Active-high AND logic gate

The wired AND connection is a form of AND gate. When using open collector or similar outputs (which can be identified by the ⎐ symbol in schematics), wired AND only requires a pull up resistor on the shared output wire. In this example, 5V is considered HIGH (true), and 0V is LOW (false). This gate can be easily extended with more inputs.
When all inputs are HIGH, they all present high impedance, and the pull-up resistor pulls output voltage HIGH, but if any input is LOW, they pull the output LOW:[1]
| Inputs | Output | |
|---|---|---|
| A | B | A AND B |
| HIGH | LOW | LOW |
| LOW | HIGH | LOW |
| LOW | LOW | LOW |
| HIGH | HIGH | HIGH |
When driving a load, the HIGH output is reduced by the pull-up's voltage drop, though the LOW output is almost 0V. But if diode logic is used, each input requires a diode, and the LOW output voltage will additionally be raised by the diode's forward voltage. Care should be taken to ensure the output still lies within valid voltage levels.
Active-high wired OR connection
[edit]
See also: Diode logic § Active-high OR logic gate
The wired OR connection electrically performs the Boolean logic operation of an OR gate using open emitter or similar inputs (which can be identified by the ⎏ symbol in schematics) connected to a shared output with a pull-down resistor. This gate can also be easily extended with more inputs.
When all inputs are LOW, they all present high impedance, and the pull-down resistor pulls the output voltage LOW, but if any input is HIGH, they pull the output HIGH:
| Inputs | Output | |
|---|---|---|
| A | B | A OR B |
| LOW | LOW | LOW |
| LOW | HIGH | HIGH |
| HIGH | LOW | HIGH |
| HIGH | HIGH | HIGH |
When driving a load, the LOW output is raised by the pull-down's voltage drop, though the HIGH output is almost the supply voltage (5V). But if diode logic is used, each input requires a diode, and the HIGH output voltage will additionally be lowered by the diode's forward voltage.
Reversing active level
[edit]An active-high wired AND can be treated as active-low wired OR (and an active-high wired OR can be treated as active-low wired AND), by using active-low logic (or negative logic) and applying De Morgan's laws.
Compatibility of wired AND OR using diodes
[edit]Diode logic uses a diode for each input in addition to a shared pull-up resistor (for wired AND) or a pull-down resistor (for wired OR). However, each stage of diode logic reduces output voltage levels. So without amplification, the output voltage may not be compatible with the primary logic family.
References
[edit]- ^ M. Morris Mano, Digital Logic and Computer Design, Prentice-Hall, 1979 ISBN 0-13-214510-3, page 571
- Digital Techniques, Heathkit Educational Systems,1990
- Fundamental Physics, K.L Gomber and K.L Gogia, Pradeep Publications, 2005
External links
[edit]Wired logic connection
View on GrokipediaFundamentals
Definition and Basic Principles
Wired logic connection is a technique in digital electronics for implementing basic logic functions, such as AND or OR, by directly coupling multiple outputs—typically open-collector in bipolar technologies or open-drain in MOS—to a shared signal line, relying on a pull-up or pull-down resistor rather than additional active gating elements.[8] This method exploits the high-impedance state of the outputs when inactive, allowing the shared line to reflect the collective behavior of all connected signals without requiring additional logic hardware.[9] Originating in early transistor-transistor logic (TTL) families during the 1960s, wired logic enables efficient multi-device interfacing on buses while minimizing component count.[10] A purely passive form of wired logic, known as diode logic, uses diodes and resistors without active transistors to implement AND or OR functions. In diode-AND, diodes connect inputs to the output with a pull-up resistor; the output is high only if all inputs are high. However, it lacks level restoration and inversion capability.[11] At its core, open-collector outputs feature a transistor (e.g., NPN in TTL) where the collector terminal is exposed externally, allowing it to sink current to ground when active but remaining in a high-impedance state when off, unable to source current.[12] A pull-up resistor connected between the shared line and the positive supply voltage (VCC) ensures the line defaults to a logic high when all outputs are inactive, preventing floating states and electrical contention that could arise if multiple devices attempted to drive the line simultaneously.[9] Similarly, open-drain outputs in CMOS use an NMOS transistor to pull low, with the same pull-up requirement; pull-down resistors serve the analogous role in sourcing configurations.[8] This setup avoids damage from conflicting drives, as only sinking (or sourcing) occurs, with the resistor defining the opposite level. In a wired-AND configuration, typically using active-low signals and a pull-up resistor, the shared line is pulled low by any active (low) output, remaining high only if all connected outputs are inactive (high-Z), thus performing an implicit AND operation on the active-low inputs.[12] For example, connecting outputs of two open-collector NAND gates (where each NAND output goes low only if its inputs are all high) can implement more complex AND functions, but for simple illustration with inverters, the wired connection of open-collector inverters performs a NOR: the line is high only if all inputs are low. The truth table for two open-collector inverters (active-low outputs) is:| Input A | Input B | Inverter A Out | Inverter B Out | Wired Output |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low (0) | Low (0) | High-Z | High-Z | High (1) |
| Low (0) | High (1) | High-Z | Low (0) | Low (0) |
| High (1) | Low (0) | Low (0) | High-Z | Low (0) |
| High (1) | High (1) | Low (0) | Low (0) | Low (0) |
Historical Development
The concept of wired logic connections traces its roots to early digital logic families, particularly diode-transistor logic (DTL) developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, where diode networks performed basic AND and OR functions, often requiring pull-up or pull-down resistors to establish logic levels on shared lines. These configurations served as precursors to true wired logic by enabling simple multi-input gating through passive diode steering, though they relied on active transistors for inversion and were limited by diode forward voltage drops and fan-out constraints. DTL's use of resistor-terminated diode arrays in early integrated circuits laid the groundwork for more efficient transistor-based implementations, distinguishing it from purely passive resistor-transistor logic (RTL) by improving noise margins.[13] Wired logic emerged prominently in the 1960s with the advent of transistor-transistor logic (TTL), invented in 1961 by James L. Buie at TRW Inc., which introduced open-collector outputs to facilitate multi-drop buses without active pull-up transistors.[10] This innovation allowed multiple outputs to share a signal line, with a single external pull-up resistor enabling wired-AND (active-low) or wired-OR (active-high) functions by exploiting the high-impedance state when outputs were not sinking current. Texas Instruments popularized the approach through its SN54/74 series TTL devices, introduced in the mid-1960s with the ceramic SN5400 in 1964 and the cost-effective plastic SN7400 series in 1966, which included open-collector variants like the SN7406 for interfacing and bus applications.[14] A key milestone was its adoption in early microprocessors, such as the Intel 8080 released in 1974, where open-collector interrupts on the INT pin supported wired-OR configurations for priority handling among peripherals.[15] In the 1980s, wired logic evolved into CMOS equivalents with open-drain outputs, adapting the principle to lower-power integrated circuits while maintaining compatibility with TTL levels. Philips Semiconductors (now NXP) developed the I²C bus protocol in 1982, employing open-drain drivers on SDA and SCL lines with pull-up resistors to realize wired-AND arbitration and multi-master synchronization, which became a standard for short-distance inter-chip communication.[16] This shift addressed TTL's higher power dissipation, enabling widespread use in consumer electronics and embedded systems. The pure form of wired logic began to decline in the 1990s with the proliferation of programmable logic devices, particularly field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) introduced by Xilinx in 1985, which integrated configurable logic blocks and routing to replace discrete wired connections with reconfigurable on-chip interconnects.[17] By the mid-1990s, FPGA capacity had grown exponentially, reducing reliance on external wiring for custom logic while offering greater flexibility and density. Despite this, wired logic principles persisted in specialized embedded applications, such as bus protocols like I²C, where open-drain configurations remain essential for low-cost, multi-device interfacing.[16]Core Implementations
Active-High Wired AND Connection
The active-high wired AND connection involves connecting multiple open-collector outputs (in bipolar transistor technology) or open-drain outputs (in MOS technology) to a common node, with a pull-up resistor attached from the node to the positive supply voltage Vcc. This setup allows the common node—serving as the logic output—to attain a logic high state (near Vcc) solely when all connected outputs remain in their high-impedance (off) state, preventing any current sink to ground; the pull-up resistor maintains the high level in this condition. Activation of any single output causes it to sink current through the resistor, forcing the node to logic low (near ground). Signal propagation in this configuration proceeds as follows: each contributing logic gate drives its output transistor such that the transistor turns on (sinking current and pulling the node low) when the corresponding input is in the low state, and remains off (high-impedance) when the input is high. Consequently, if all inputs are high, every transistor is off, and the pull-up resistor holds the output high. However, if any input transitions to low, its associated transistor activates, sinking current and driving the output low immediately, regardless of the states of other inputs. This ensures the overall output reflects the AND operation, being high only when no transistor is conducting.[18] For an n-input active-high wired AND, the truth table demonstrates that the output is logic 1 exclusively when all inputs are logic 1; any low input results in a logic 0 output. The generalized form is:| Input Combination | Output |
|---|---|
| At least one input = 0 | 0 |
| All inputs = 1 | 1 |
| A | B | Output (A AND B) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 1 | 1 |
Active-High Wired OR Connection
The active-high wired OR connection implements Boolean OR logic in environments where a high voltage level represents logic 1, typically using open-emitter outputs from bipolar transistors, such as those in emitter-coupled logic (ECL) families. In this configuration, multiple open-emitter outputs are tied together to form a common bus line, with a pull-down resistor (typically 50 Ω) connected from the bus to V_EE (the negative supply, logic 0). Each output stage consists of an emitter-follower transistor whose collector is tied to the positive supply (Vcc), allowing the emitter to source current and pull the bus high when active, while remaining open (high impedance) when inactive. This setup ensures the bus remains low due to the pull-down resistor unless at least one connected device asserts its output.[20][21] The behavior of the circuit follows standard OR logic: the output is logic 0 only when all inputs are 0, and transitions to logic 1 as soon as any input asserts 1, with the asserting emitter follower driving the bus voltage toward Vcc minus a base-emitter drop (typically around 0.8 V swing in ECL). This wired connection leverages the low output impedance of the emitter followers for fast rise times during assertion, while the shared bus enables high fan-in without additional gating delay. In contrast to pull-up based setups like active-high wired-AND, this pull-down approach avoids contention when multiple outputs assert simultaneously, as all active emitters source current in parallel. The effective truth table for a two-input active-high wired OR is as follows:| Input A | Input B | Output |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 1 | 1 | 1 |
