Application of multiple-valued logic in digital technology (Review)

Modern trends in the application of multiple-valued logic (MVL) in the design of digital devices are considered. Multiple-valued logic offers wider opportunities for implementation of digital processing algorithms than traditional binary logic. In applied problems, MVL substantially simplifies computational processes, reduces the total number of operations, and can be used to find alternative computational methods, more easily formalize and better understand the problem to be solved, and, finally, discover more efficient ways for solving the problem. Application of multilevel signals in the design of digital devices (such as multilevel or multiple-valued memory modules, arithmetic units, and programmable logic arrays) opens additional opportunities, namely, (i) substantially reduces the number of connections with external devices, which solves the so-called pin-out problem; (ii) reduces the number of ripple-through carriers used in the process of realization of arithmetic operations (normal binary addition or subtraction); and (iii) increases the packing density.