1.

Give the classification of switching systems?

Switching System:
1.Manual Switching 2.Automatic Switching 2.a Electromechanical 2.a.1 Strowger 2.a.2 Crossber 2.b Electronics 2.b.1 Space Division 2.b.2 Time Division 2.b.2.1 Analog 2.b.2.2 Digital 2.b.2.2.1 Space 2.b.2.2.2 Time 2.b.2.2.3 Combination

2.

What are the five subscriber-related signaling functions performed by the operator?
a. Respond to the calling subscriber to obtain the identification of the called party. b. Inform the calling subscriber that the call is being established. c. Ring the bell of the called party. d. Inform the calling subscriber, if the called party is busy. e. Inform the calling subscriber, if the called party line is unobtainable for some reason.

3. Compare Micro programmed control and Hard-wired control

4. What is packet switching? Explain

Packet switching is a digital networking communications method that groups all transmitted data regardless of content, type, or structure into suitably-sized blocks, called packets. Packet switching features delivery of variable-bit-rate data streams (sequences of packets) over a shared network. When traversing network adapters, switches, routers and other network nodes, packets are buffered and queued, resulting in variable delay and throughput depending on the traffic load in the network. Packet switching contrasts with another principal networking paradigm, circuit switching, a method which sets up a limited number of dedicated connections of constant bit rate and constant delay between nodes for exclusive use during the communication session. In case of traffic fees, for example in cellular communication, circuit switching is characterized by a fee per time unit of connection time, even when no
2

data is transferred, while packet switching is characterized by a fee per unit of information. Packet mode communication may be utilized with or without intermediate forwarding nodes (packet switches). In all packet mode communication, network resources are managed by statistical multiplexing or dynamic bandwidth allocation in which a communication channel is effectively divided into an arbitrary number of logical variable-bit-rate channels or data streams. Each logical stream consists of a sequence of packets, which normally are forwarded by the multiplexers and intermediate network nodes asynchronously using firstin, first-out buffering. Alternatively, the packets may be forwarded according to some scheduling discipline for fair queuing or for differentiated or guaranteed quality of service, such as pipeline forwarding or time-driven priority (TDP). Any buffering introduces varying latency and throughput in transmission. In case of a shared physical medium, the packets may be delivered according to some packet-mode multiple access scheme.

5.What are the three types of busy hours defined by ITU-T in its recommendations E.600?
1. Busy Hour: Continuous 1 hour period lying wholly in the time interval concerned, for which the traffic volume or the number of call attempts is greatest. 2. Peak Busy Hour: The busy hour each day; it usually varies from day to day, or over a number of days. 3. Time consistent Busy Hour: The 1 hour period starting at the same time each day for which the average traffic volume for the number of call attempts is greatest over the days under consideration.

6. What do you mean by Grade of Service (GOS)? Explain

In telecommunication engineering, and in particular teletraffic engineering, the quality of voice service is specified by two measures: the grade of service (GoS) and the quality of service (QoS).

Grade of service is the probability of a call in a circuit group being blocked or delayed for more than a specified interval, expressed as a vulgar fraction or decimal fraction. This is always with reference to the busy hour when the traffic intensity is the greatest. Grade of service may be viewed independently from the perspective of incoming versus outgoing calls, and is not necessarily equal in each direction or between different source-destination pairs. When a user attempts to make a telephone call, the routing equipment handling the call has to determine whether to accept the call, reroute the call to alternative equipment, or reject the call entirely. Rejected calls occur as a result of heavy traffic loads (congestion) on the system and can result in the call either being delayed or lost. If a call is delayed, the user simply has to wait for the traffic to decrease, however if a call is lost then it is removed from the system. The Grade of Service is one aspect of the quality a customer can expect to experience when making a telephone call. In a Loss System, the Grade of Service is described as that proportion of calls that are lost due to congestion in the busy hour. For a Lost Call system, the Grade of Service can be measured using Equation 1. For a delayed call system, the Grade of Service is measured using three separate terms:,

The mean delay td Describes the average time a user spends waiting for a connection if their call is delayed. The mean delay to Describes the average time a user spends waiting for a connection whether or not their call is delayed.

The probability that a user may be delayed longer than time t while waiting for a connection. Time t is chosen by the telecommunications service provider so that they can measure whether their services conform to a set Grade of Service.

1. Give the classification of signaling techniques

Signaling systems link the variety of switching systems, transmission systems and subscriber equipments in a telecommunication network to enable the network to function as a whole. Signaling techniques fall under two major classes Inchannel signaling and common channel signaling (CCS). Different types of signaling techniques exist in each of these two classes. These are summarized in below Fig.

Inchannel signaling, also known as per trunk signaling, uses the same channel, which carries user voice or data to pass control signals related to that call or connection. In contrast CCS does not use the speech or the data path for signaling. It uses a separate common channel for passing control signals for a group of trunks or information paths. Inchannel signaling has the merit that no additional transmission facilities are required for signaling whereas this is not the case with CCS. Clearly, Inchannel signaling is influenced by the various factors associated with the information path. This brings about different forms of Inchannel signaling . When an unamplified audio line plant which permits an individual metallic signaling path per speech circuit is used, D.C. signaling can be applied. The D.C. signaling is relatively simple, reliable and cheap.

2. State some of the differences between Inchannel and Common channel signaling.
Telecom Network: In Inchannel signaling, the same physical channel carries signaling information as well as voice and data. In contrast, Common Channel Signaling uses a separate channel for solely carrying signaling information for a number of connections. Datacom Network: To some extent, inchannel signaling and common channel signaling in telecommunication networks is analogous to inband signaling and outband signaling of data communication networks respectively.

3.

What are the differences between Voice and Data Traffic?

4.

Explain S-ALOHA
Slotted ALOHA (S-ALOHA) The performance of the ALOHA scheme can be improved by reducing the probability of collisions. The slotted scheme only allows any transmission to start at the start of a time slot hence reducing the vulnerable period from 2X to X. In this case collision can only happen if several stations transmit in the same slot. In case of S-ALOHA all stations keep track of transmission time

slots and are allowed to initiate transmissions only at the beginning of a time

slot Fig. Input traffic versus throughput for ALOHA and S-ALOHA protocol Throughout of a S-ALOHA can be calculated by using the same procedure. In this case the probability of no collision is calculated in X seconds. S = GP [no collision] = GP[0 transmission in X seconds]

Similarly the expected delay can be calculated by using the following equation. Throughout of a S-ALOHA can be calculated by using the same procedure. In this case the probability of no collision is calculated in X seconds. S = GP [no collision] = GP[0 transmission in X seconds]

Similarly the expected delay can be calculated by using the following equation.

5. List and explain the six elements defined in SR

(Search and Retrieval) service?

7

6.

Name some expert systems and their application

areas.
Problem solving in specialised domains calls for expert knowledge in those domains and hence is done by experts. Computer systems or software packages that perform the tasks, which are normally carried out by experts in real life, are known as expert systems. Expert system MYCIN CASNET RI PROSPECTOR KBVLSI TAXMAN DART WAVE Area of application Antimicrobial therapy Glaucoma diagnosis Configuring computers Geological exploration Design aid for silicon chips Advice in corporate and tax laws Fault diagnosis of computer systems Telephone line fault diagnosis

1. Discuss the following a) Scattering due to Rain or Fog

8

b) Atmospheric Absorption
Scattering due to Rain or Fog : Small droplets of water scatter some of the energy in a beam so that there is an attenuation along the beam. The attenuation, due to thick fog, of 65 Km hop at > 3 cm is 4.2 dB. For > 5 cm absorption and scattering are not very important. At freq.s below 10 GHz, attenuation caused by rain plays no part in determining the repeater spacing. Above 10 GHz repeater spacing is almost entirely determined by attenuation caused by rain.

Atmospheric Absorption : Of the main gases in the atmosphere Water Vapour (electric dipole moment) and oxygen (magnetic dipole moment) absorb energy from EM Waves; Water Vapour shows the max., absorption around = 1.3 cm the maximum for the oxygen curve occurs at = 0.5 cm. For wavelengths > 3 cm, the attenuation is less than 0.013 dB/Km or less than 1 dB for a hop of 75 Km.

2.

Explain (a) Scatter loss (b) Aperture medium coupling loss

Scatter Loss : This is the loss in addition to the free-space loss in LOS transmission. It is statistical in nature and subject to two types of time variations or fading. a) Fast fading, a short-term variation ( 1 to 5 min) of the instantaneous values (believed to be), due to multi-path effects. The signal is the resultant of a large no. of components of random and varying phases. b) Slow fading : Superimposed on fast fading is a slow fading resulting from the change of the of the atmosphere. It is a long term variation of the medium hourly or 15 to 30 minutes interval. c) Usable signals can be received consistently, even up to 650 Km or more provided that very large antennas, very high power Transmitter and sensitive Receivers are employed. d) Frequencies from 100 MHz to 10 GHz can be used. However freqs. below about 1 GHz are generally more effective for the longer paths. e) Bandwidths of 3 to 4 MHz sufficient for a TV Channel or several hundred telephone channels may be transmitted over distances upto about 350 Km. Aperture Medium Coupling Loss: Since the signals arrive at the Receiver from an extended scattering volume, narrowing the antenna beam eventually reduced this common volume. Full antenna gain is not utilized. As a result, a relative antenna gain loss is incurred which is known as the aperture medium coupling loss.
10

3.What

do you mean by Geo stationary orbit? What are

the advantages of Geo synchronous satellites?

A geosynchronous orbit that lies in the earths equatorial plane i.e. a geosynchronous orbit with zero inclination is known as geostationary orbit. Geo synchronous satellites provide the following advantages: Satellite appears stationary relative to earth. Therefore tracking of antennas is not necessary. No need to switch from one satellite to other and therefore no break in transmission One satellite is capable of covering about 40 % of the earth and hence large numbers of earth stations are inter-connectable. Just 3 satellites are enough to cover the entire globe However the following drawbacks can be mentioned. Regions of earth above 800 latitude cannot be covered (Polar regions) Since the distance is very large, the signal strength becomes very weak Because of large distance the signal suffers a delay of 540 msec in a two way communication

1.What

are

the

advantages

of

Optical

fiber

communication? What are the different types of Optical fibers

1. Small size and weight: Optical fiber has very small diameter (a few micrometers). Hence even with the protective jackets, the size & weight of optical fiber are much less than copper wires. This feature is very useful in areas like satellites and aircraft, where the size and weight must be as low as possible.

11

2. Electrical isolation: Optical fiber is made up of glass or plastic polymer, which are insulators. Hence optical fiber transmission ideally suited for communication in electrically hazardous environments. There are no possibilities of arcing or spark hazard. 3. Immunity to interference and cross-talk: Optical fiber are made up of dielectric material (glass). Hence it is free from electromagnetic & radio frequency interference. There is no optical interference between two fibers. Hence cross-talk is negligible. Optical fibers are immune to external interference. 4. Low loss: Optical fiber has very low transmission loss. Presently fibers with attenuation of as low as 0.2dB/km, are available. This along with high bandwidth is major advantage of optical fiber communication. 5. Signal Security: Optical Signal is well confined to the fiber. No radiation outside the fiber. It is not possible to tap signal from the fiber. Hence signal security is more.

2.Explain the different types of optical fiber

1. Depending on the material used, we have i) Plastic core - plastic clad fiber. ii) Glass core - glass clad fiber. 2. Depending on refractive index profile along the core, we have i) Step index fiber: The refractive index of the core is constant at 1. There is a step change of refractive index at the core-cladding interface and it is 2 throughout the cladding. This is illustrated in figure 3.6. ii) Graded index fiber: The refractive index of core varies gradually along

12

the radius of the core. Along the axis, it is 1 and decreases gradually to 2 at the core cladding interface. This is illustrated in figure 3.7. iii) Single & Multi mode fiber: As already stated, a fiber can support only one mode of propagation or many modes. If only one mode is guided, it is single mode fiber. If many modes are supported, fiber is multi mode fiber. In Step index, single mode and multi mode fibers are available. Graded index fibers are generally multi mode fibers

3.Explain the principle of Laser? Give the structure of laser.

Principle: When a photon gives its energy to electrons, electron jumps to higher energy state (Absorption). This radiatively recombines to give photon again (spontaneous emission). If electron in the higher energy band stimulated by a photon to come back to original state, stimulated emission takes place. If many electrons are there in conduction band (population inversion), then large number of stimulated emission take place leading to a coherent narrow beam of light output. This is called LASING action. Semiconductor injection laser works on this principle. Structure: DH structure is used in the construction of laser. Lasing is achieved by providing optical feedback in the active layer. For this dielectric cleaved mirrors (partially reflecting) are used at the ends. This leads to Febry- Perrot laser structure. There are other types of layers also.

13

14

1.

Explain the concept of cellular communication.

In a cellular communication system, a geographical area is subdivided into small regions where each small region is called as a CELL. This concept is as shown schematically in the Fig. No.1. It may be noted that in Fig. No.1.1, a cell is drawn in the form of a hexagon. Though this is the common way of representing a cell, in practice the cells (the subdivision of the geographical area) may not be hexagonal. All communications within a particular cell is done using a specific center frequency which is assigned to that particular cell. Thus for example all communication in cell A1 in Fig.No.1 may be done using a center frequency fA and all communication in cell B1 may be done using a center frequency fB fA. However if any two cells within the same geographical area are sufficiently far away, they may use the same frequencies for communication. This is because when two cells are sufficiently separated, the receiving antenna in one cell will not be able to detect the signals transmitted from the other cell. Thus in Fig. No.1, cell A1, as well as cell A2 may use the same center frequency fA. This is possible subject to the condition that receiving antenna in cell A1 or cell A2 is not influenced by signals transmitted from cell A2 or cell A1 respectively. A basic cellular system consists of three parts as listed below: i) A mobile unit ii) A cell site iii) A Mobile Telephone Switching Office ( MTSO)

2.

Explain the following a)Tropospheric Refraction b)Tropospheric Reflection c)Moistness

a.

Tropospheric Refraction- This refraction is a gradual bending of the rays due to the change in effective dielectric constant of the atmosphere through which the wave is passing.

15

b.

c.

Tropospheric Reflection- These reflections will occur where there are abrupt changes in the dielectric constant of the atmosphere. The distance of propagation is much greater than the line-of-sight propagation. Moistness- Actually water content has much more effect than temperature on the dielectric constant of the atmosphere and on the manner in which the radio waves are affected. The water vapor pressure decreases as the height increases.

3.

Explain GSM?
The first commercial GSM system, called D2, was implemented in Germany in 1992. GSM consists of many subsystems, such as Mobile Station (MS), the Base Station Subsystem (BSS), the Network and Switching Subsystem (NSS) and the Operation Subsystem (OSS). The MS may be a stand-alone piece of equipment for certain services or support the connection of external terminals, such as the interface for a personal computer or FAX. The MS includes mobile equipment (ME) and a subscriber identity module (SIM). ME does not need to be personally assigned to one subscriber. The SIM is a subscriber module which stores all the subscriber related information. When a subscribers SIM is inserted into the ME of an MS, that MS belongs to the subscriber, and the call is delivered to that MS. The ME is not associated with a called number it is linked to the SIM. In this case, any ME can be used by a subscriber when the SIM is inserted in the ME.

4. Write a note on DECT

DECT(Digital European Cordless Telecommunication) is European standard system. It is a CT-2 like system, and the applications are slightly different from the cellular system. Applications:

16

1. Use the public network to mobile communication within the home and the immediate vicinity. 2. Provide business communication locally. In this case, the PSTN has been replaced by the PBX. The home station has been removed. The radio fixed point (RFP), also labeled or cluster controls. The RFP can be treated as the microcell site. 3. Provide mobile public access. It is a PCS application. The system monitors the location of the active handsets and provides call delivery responsibility, like a cellular system. 4. Local loop. Using DECT to provide wireless local loops is a cost effective alternative to running copper wires to residential premises.

5. Explain mobile integrated radio systems (MIRS)

MIRS is a cellular like system developed by Motorola to operate at the special mobile radio (SMR) band shown in the following figure. MIRS system is called by the Manufacturers. The system providers call this system as ESMR (Enhanced SMR). The SMR band is in the part of FCC CFR in the private sector. Public information on this system is limited. However, the operational function is the same as the cellular system. Since many existing SMR systems are still in operation, the MIRS frequency channels in the SMR band are restricted depending on the area in which they operate. Therefore, a special frequency assignment will be imposed in the MIRS system.

6. Write about CDPD systems.

CPDP is a pocket switching system which uses idle voice channel from the cellular system band to carry out traffic. This system can be assigned a dedicated channel or it can hop to idle channels. The network in the figure above is self explanatory. There are two communication interfaces, called reference points, identified with a letter (ex. A or Um). On a given reference point there may be many physical devices to
17

transport the signal such as routes, switches, multiplexers, demultiplexers and modems. System Operation: The MDBS is collected at the cellular cell site. DSM is a control center for CDPD. DSM operates independently from the MTSO of cellular systems. In the MDBS, a forward-link logical channel is always on to send the overhead message or send the data to the user. There are two stages: a) For a dedicated channel setup: The MS, at the initialization stage, scans the assigned N CDPD channel will be changed while the MS is moving from one cell to another cell. b) For a frequency-hopping channel setup: Here is a device called as a sniffer installed in the MDBS. The sniffer monitors the cellular control channels on both the forward and reverse links and chooses an idle cellular channel for CDPD. Transmission structure: Roaming support Security and authentication across the air link Forward channel block: Reed-Solomon (63, 47) data symbols Reverse channel block: 8 bit delay maximum plus dotting sequence (38 bits) plus reverse sync work (22 bits), Reed-Solomon (63, 47) data symbols. Frequency agile with in-band control Channel hopping and dedicated channel Cell transfer controlled by SU Power control AMPS compatible Essentially transparent to AMPS Modulation (same as GSM) Data rate 19.2 KBPS Link protocol LAPD Point to point, broadcast and multicast delivery

18

1. Explain briefly the three common multiple access techniques.

FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access TDMA Time Division Multiple Access and CDMA Code Division Multiple Access FDMA In FDMA a given frequency spectrum is divided into smaller spectra and is allocated to each user. Thus all the users can simultaneously use the frequency spectrum, but each individual users will be using only a part of it. The concept is best explained by means of one example as given below.

TDMA In TDMA, Multiple Access is achieved by allocating different time slots for the different users. Thus all the users use the same allocated frequency spectrum, but they do so by taking turns one at a time. The concept is illustrated in the Fig. No. 2 given below.

CDMA In CDMA, multiple access is achieved by assigning each user a unique signature sequence. This signature sequence is also labeled as a pseudo-noise sequence ( p-n sequence) or spreading sequence. The signature sequence assigned to the user are selected from a family of sequences where the cross correlation among the individual spreading sequences is ideally zero. At the receiving side, a receiver after identifying the user whose signals it want to detect will correlate the received signal (which will obviously be the sum of all the users signals) with a synchronized, locally generated replica of the signature sequence of the user intended to be received.

2. Write a note on NA-TDMA.

19

NA TDMA is a digital cellular system, sometimes called American Digital Cellular (ADC) or North American Digital Cellular (NA-TDMA). This TDMA system has approved and design on it was started in 1987, by a group named TR45-3 after the inducting debated between FDMA and TDMA. The North American digital system was needed to be available in 1990, in only three years. To design a digital FDMA system would be a straightforward task. Since the analog systems, which were already existing for the past 20 years could be used for designing the FDMA digital systems, and design time would be shortened. On the other hand, to design a TDMA digital systems in the same band started with an FDMA analog system, much more physical data would have to be developed and time would be needed to understand them. Without a good understanding of the limitations of coexistence between two different signal structures, FDMA and TDMA, it would be very difficult to complete a digital system with good performance in a very short time. Because of the requirements of co-existence, a dual-mode mobile unit was decided on, i.e., the unit can work on both analog and digital systems. In a dual-mode mobile unit, the 21 call setup channels for the analog system are available in the unit. The same analog call setup channels are used for both analog voice channels and digital voice channels. The advantage of this is that the spectrum is saved for adding more digital voice.

3. What are applications of intelligent microcell

When dividing a cell into many zones the cell operator knows which zone the mobile unit is in and delivers the radio signal to that zone. When the mobile unit has been assigned a frequency channel for a cell, the frequency channel is always associated with that cell within the cell. The cell operator simply turns on the new zone site while the mobile unit is entering and turns off the old zone site when it leaves with the assigned frequency channel to the mobile unit unchanged. With this arrangement we can find the received C/I (carrier to interference ratio) value at a mobile unit for a scenario having six co channel interference at the first tier surrounding the center cell. It can be easily shown that six interference at the second tier do not constitute any significant interference to the center cell.

20

Applying the same intelligent cell concept we use antenna beams to confine the energy to individual mobile units in the cell. In a K =7 cellular system, each cell has a net of M/K frequency channels. At a cell site, if six sectorial antennas are used to cover 360 in that cell and if the whole set of frequency channel assigned to the cell is divided into two subsets which are altering from sector to sector. Then there are three co-channel sectors using each subset in a cell. In this arrangement, we can increase the capacity by 3 times. If N sector beams are revised alternatively, the capacity is increased by N/2 times the AMPS capacity. This reuse of the sectorial beams scheme can be used in a small cell system or a large flat terrain cell system with much less reduction on trunking efficiency of lower in reality. The directional antenna front-to-back ratio should be considered to avoid unnecessary interference in the co-channel sectors.

4. Write a note on AMPS

In 1983, the analog cell phone standard called AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System) was approved by the FCC and first used in Chicago. AMPS use a range of frequencies between 824 MHz and 894 MHz for analog cell phones. In order to encourage competition and keep prices low, the U. S. government required the presence of two carriers in every market, known as A and B carriers. One of the carriers was normally the Local Exchange Carrier (LEC), a fancy way of saying the local phone company. Carriers A and B are each assigned 832 frequencies: 790 for voice and another 42 for data. A pair of frequencies (one for transmit and one for receive) is used to create one channel. The frequencies used in analog voice channels are typically 30 kHz wide. The reason that 30 kHz was chosen as the standard size that is because it gives you voice quality comparable to a wired telephone. The transmit and receive frequencies of each voice channel are separated by 45 MHz to keep them from interfering with each other. Each carrier has 395 voice channels, as well as 21 data channels to use for housekeeping activities like registration, paging, etc.

5. What are the problems with cell phones?

A cell phone, like any other consumer electronic device, can break. Here are some of the preventive measures you can take: Generally, non-repairable internal corrosion of parts results if you get the phone wet or use wet hands to push the buttons. Consider a protective case. If the phone does get wet, be sure it is totally dry before you switch it on to avoid damaging internal parts.
21

 You can lessen the chance of dropping a phone or damaging the connectors if you use a belt-clip or a holster. The use of headsets really makes this consideration important. Cracked display screens can happen when an overstuffed briefcase squeezes the cell phone. Extreme heat in a car can damage the battery or the cell phone electronics. Extreme cold may cause a momentary loss of the screen display. Analog cell phones suffer from a problem known as "cloning". A phone is "cloned" when someone steals its ID numbers and is able to make fraudulent calls on the owners account.

6. What are the special features of cell phones?

Here is a list of features that should be considered when looking for a cell phone: Service Plan Mode Battery Type Display Included Functions Special Features Size Price

1.

What is Artificial Intelligence? Discuss briefly the history of Artificial Intelligence. [10 Marks]

22

In fact it is the different disciplines like philosophy, mathematics, economics, neuroscience, psychology, computer engineering, control theory and cybernetics and linguistics have contributed ideas, viewpoints and techniques to AI. It is Alan Turing who first proposed theory of computation. He proposed for the possibility of a computational machine that could behave in a way that could be perceived as intelligent. He developed a simple, universal and nonnumeric computing model (Turing machine) which is capable of computing any computable function. Alan Turing (1936) is called the father of AI. Some of the diverse ideas/works that gave momentum to evolution of AI are listed below: Allens theory of computation (1936) Russel and Whiteheads Principia Mathematica Wieners book on Cybernetics(1948) (proposed possibility of intelligent machines that behave optimally using stochastic control techniques) Birth of Artificial Intelligence (1956) In 1956 John McCarthy organized the workshop at Dartmouth college where US researchers, interested in the field of automata theory, neural nets and study of intelligence, proposed and adopted the name Artificial Intelligence for the field. B.F.Skinners book Verbal behavior(1957) (Behavioral approach to language learning) Development of High-level language Lisp at MIT AI lab by John McCarthy (1958) (which has now become the dominant AI programming language) AI has emerged as a separate field rather than a branch of other areas like mathematics, operation research or decision theory. This is because AI was centered around the idea of developing human faculties like reasoning, understanding, learning, language use etc .AI is the only field that laid emphasis on the methodology i.e to build machines that can work in complex changing environment in an intelligent manner. Since 1956 researchers, industry people and scientists are succeeding in applying AI in different areas like spacecraft, computer vision, medical diagnosis, robotics, computer games, structural engineering, chemical and geological data analysis. 2. What are the important Issues in Search Problem

[05 Marks]
23

Direction in which to search: search forward through the state space, or backward from the goal matching: production systems need efficient ways to match preconditions in their rules knowledge representation : tree vs. graph

What do you [05 Marks]

3.

mean

by Predicates ?

briefly

explain

Statements about individuals, both by themselves and in relation to other individuals, are called predicates. A predicate is applied to a specific number of arguments and has a value of either TRUE or FALSE when individuals are used as the arguments. An example of a predicate of one argument is the predicate is-red. Of the individuals mentioned in the previous paragraph, the predicate is-red has the value TRUE when applied to the individuals the queen of hearts and that coke can and FALSE when the individual this paper is used as the argument. Other examples of predicates are less-than-zero, Greek, mortal, and made- of-paper. Predicates can have more than one argument. An example of a" two-place predicate from mathematics is is-greater-than, for example, is- greater-than (7, 4). Physical objects could be compared by the two-place predicate islighter-than. A three-place predicate from geometry might be Pythagorean, which takes three line-segments as arguments and is TRUE whenever two are the sides of a right triangle with the third as its hypotenuse. One very important two-place predicate is equals. Each one-place predicate defines what is called a set or sort. That is, for any one-place predicate P, all individuals X can be sorted into two disjoint groups, with those objects that satisfy P (for which P(X) is TRUE) forming one group and those that dont satisfy P in the other. Some sorts include other sorts; for example, all men are animals, and all knaves are playing-cards.

4. Define the following [10 Marks] (a) Problem space (b) Problem Instance (c) Heuristic
24

(d) Heuristic evaluation function (e) Weak methods

Problem space:- The environment in which the search takes place; it consists of a set of states of the problem and a set of operators that change the states. Problem Instance:- A problem space together with an initial state and a goal state. The problem is to find a sequence of operators that transform the initial state into the goal state; such a sequence is called a solution to the problem. Heuristics :- Heuristics are rules of thumb that may solve a given problem, but do not guarantee a solution. In other words, heuristics are knowledge about the domain that guide search and reasoning. Heuristic evaluation function:-A function that estimates the likelihood of a given state leading to a goal state. Heuristic functions can be used to guide search with efficient guesses about the "goodness" of a state. Weak methods :- General search methods that use no domain knowledge.

1.

What are the advantages of satellite communication? [05 Marks]

The satellite communication offers following advantages:

25

 Today satellites carry about one-third of the voice traffic and all of the TV signals. Satellites in lower orbits will support high speed data services like internet access. Transmission cost is independent of distance, within satellite area of coverage. The satellite communication accommodates applications like broadcast, multicast, and point-to-point. Very high bandwidths or data rates are available to the user. The quality of transmission is extremely high.

2. Define the following a) Channel capacity b) Data rate c) Error rate Marks]

05

Channel Capacity: The maximum rate at which data can be transmitted over a given communication path, or channel, under given conditions, is referred to as the channel capacity. Data rate: This is the rate, in bits per second (bps), at which data can be communicated. Error rate: This is the rate at which errors occur, where an error is the reception of a 1 when a 0 was transmitted or the reception of a 0 when a 1 was transmitted.

3. Give

the

frequency

bands

for

satellite [05 Marks]

communications?
Table: Frequency Bands for Satellite Communications

26

BandFrequency Total General Range Bandwidth Application L 1 to 2 GHz 1 GHz Mobile satellite service (MSS) S 2 to 4 GHz 2 GHz MSS, NASA, deep space research C 4 to 8 GHz 4 GHz Fixed satellite service (FSS) X 8 to 12.5 4.5 GHz FSS military, GHz terrestrial earth Exploration, and meteorological satellite FSS, broadcast satellite service (BSS) BSS, FSS
FSS

Ku K Ka

12.5 to 18 5.5 GHz GHz 18 to 26.5 8.5 GHz GHz 26.5 to 40 13.5 GHz GHz

4. What do you mean by FDMA? Explain the two forms

of FDMA.

[05 Marks]

We have seen that the satellite is used as in intermediate device providing, in effect, a point-to-point link between two earth stations. Because of the wide area coverage of the satellite, this is not necessarily the case. For example, the INTELSAT series satellites allow a single 36-MHz channel to be divided using FDM into a number of smaller channels, each of which uses FM. Each of the smaller channels in turn carries a number of voice frequency (VF) signals using FDM. The ability of multiple earth stations to access the same channel is referred to as FDMA (frequency division multiple access). Two forms of FDMA are possible:

Fixed-assignment multiple access (FAMA): The assignment of capacity within the overall satellite channel is distributed in a fixed

27

manner among multiple stations. This often results in significant underuse of the capacity, as demand may fluctuate. Demand-assignment multiple access (DAMA): The capacity assignment is changed as needed to respond optimally to demand changes among the multiple stations. 5. What are the most important requirements for wireless LANs

[05 Marks]
A wireless LAN must meet the sort of requirements typical of any LAN, including high capacity , ability to cover short distances, full connectivity among attached stations and broadcast capability. In addition , there are a number of requirements specific to the wireless LAN environment. The following are among the most important requirements for wireless LAN :
Throughput : The medium access control protocol should make as

efficient use as possible of the wireless medium to maximize capacity. Number of nodes : wireless LANs may need to support hundreds of nodes across multiple cells. Connection to backbone LAN : In most cases , interconnection with stations on a wired backbone LAN is required. For infrastructure wireless LANs, this is easily accomplished through the use of control modules that connect to both types of LANs. There may also need to be accommodation for mobile users and ad hoc wireless networks. Service area : A typical coverage area for a wireless LAN has a diameter of 100 to 300 m. Battery power consumption : Mobile workers use battery powered workstations that need to have a long battery life when used with wireless adapters.

6. What do you mean by an expert system? Explain the

evolution of expert systems

[05 Marks]

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A computer system capable of giving advice in a particular knowledge domain, by virtue of the fact that it contains knowledge provided by a human expert in this domain. Thus, an expert system is a computerized advice-giver, that is capable of reasoning (as opposed to simply displaying items of data), but which is usually confined to a rather narrow field of knowledge (its knowledge domain). Evolution of Expert Systems In the 1980s, expert systems were seen as a very important new technology, and the governments of industrialized nations responded by investing heavily in expert systems research. While the confident predictions made at this time have not been entirely fulfilled, there has nevertheless been a flowering in the field, with the number of successful commercial applications increasingly rapidly, year by year. Expert systems are easily the most commercially important area of applied artificial intelligence technology. Issues in the design of expert systems Typical architecture: The inference engine and knowledge base are separated because the reasoning mechanism needs to be as stable as possible; the knowledge base must be able to grow and change, as knowledge is added; this arrangement enables the system to be built from, or converted into, a shell. An expert system shell is simply an expert system stripped of its knowledge base, so that a different knowledge base, probably concerned with a different knowledge domain, can replace it. Example: EMYCIN, made from MYCIN.

1. Why .Net? Briefly discuss.

[10 marks]

Despite its substantial popularity, COM suffered from a number of limitations: COM itself offered a model for binary code reuse; it did not offer a model for source code reuse. An implication of this is that, although COM offered interfaced-based inheritance (a feature that
29

predominantly advanced programmers were interested in), it did not support code-based inheritance. Although COM offered the promise of a language-independent architecture, reality often fell far short of the promise. The root of the problem was the fact that seamless interoperability with COM presupposed that each language was able to create and manipulate common automation-compatible data types. This, however, was not the case. As a result, although COM made some real advances in the area of language independence, it also had some real weaknesses. COM was extremely complex, and for the most part only C++ programmers were able to work with COM directly. For VB programmers, the Visual Basic environment masked much of the complexity of COM. The inevitable result was that Visual Basic failed to give the developer full control over COM when it was needed, and many Visual Basic programmers often lacked sufficient familiarity with COM to take advantage even of those features that they were able to control. In addition, COM did not offer an integrated class library comparable to the .NET FCL. Instead, the developers of each application or operating system service were free to implement whatever object model made sense to extend their application. As a result, there are major gaps in the functionality made available through COM automation, and there is not a good deal of consistency across object models. The .NET platform and the .NET Framework Class Library were developed in an effort to address these weaknesses of COM.

2. Explain

with

an

example,

the

select

case

statement in VB.net

[05 marks]

Select..Case If your program can handle multiple values of a particular variable and you dont want to stack up a lot of If Else statements to handle them, you should consider Select Case .You use Select Case to test an expression, determine

30

which of several cases it matches, and execute the corresponding code. Example (Select Case) Dim Performance As Decimal Select Performance Case 1 Performance is 1. Return Salary * 0.1 Case 2, 3 Performance is 2 or 3. Return Salary * 0.09 Case 5 To 7 Performance is 5, 6, or 7. Return Salary * 0.07 Case 4, 8 To 10 Performance is 4, 8, 9, or 10. Return Salary * 0.05 Case Is < 15 Performance is 11, 12, 13, or 14. Return 100 Case Else Performance is < 1 or > 14. Return 0 End Select
3.

What do you mean by arrays in VB.Net? Explain [05 marks]

An array is a single variable with many compartments to store values. It helps you create shorter and simpler code because you can set up loops that deal efficiently with any number of elements by using the index number.An array can have one dimension or more than one.Every dimension of an array has a length . Arrays are objects in VB.net An of any fundamental data type, of a structure or of an object class. Array variables can have the Public, Protected, Friend, Private or Protected Friend specifier.
4.Write

a note on procedures and functions. [05

marks]
31

Code snippets written for a particular process which is to be executed many times from different parts of the program Avoid repetition of the same code in many places for the same purpose Save time and memory A procedure is declared as Sub in VB.Net and cannot be declared inside another procedure Return and Exit Sub Exit Sub statement causes an immediate exit from a Sub procedure A Return statement can also be used to immediately exit the procedure It is also possible to combine Exit Sub and Return statements Example

5.

What do you mean method overriding? Explain [05 marks]

Method Overriding Using method overriding, a subclass can change the behavior of methods inherited from the parent class. By default any method in the parent class is not overridable by the method of the subclass. The Overridable keyword is essential in the parent method declaration to enable it to be overridden Example Parent class
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Public Class Parent Public Overridable Sub DoTask() System.Console.WriteLine(Hi! From parent) End Sub End Class Subclass method overrides parent class method Public Class SubClass Inherits Parent Public Overrides Sub DoSomething() System.Console.WriteLine(Hi! From SubClass) End Sub End Class

6.

Explain Event and Event handlers[10 marks]

The Control classes such as buttons and edit boxes, expose standard Windows events such as click, keyPress, mouseMove, dragDrop, and others. You can work with an event in your application using delegates. You do not have to understand delegates in great detail to write event handlers in an application. However, understanding how to create and use delegates is useful if you are building controls, working with other applications that trigger events, or are using threads with WFC components. It is also interesting if you want to understand the details of the Java code created by the Forms Designer. This section provides some background on delegates and then addresses the practical aspects of handling events. If you used the generic EventHandler class to bind to your method, the Event object in your handler will not contain any interesting information. But if extra information is available for the event, you can extract it from the specific event object. If you want to handle events for multiple controls or multiple events for the same control, you request a separate notification for each control/event combination. Multiple notifications can specify the same handler; for example, all the buttons on a toolbar might call the same handler for

33

their click event. You can use the source object passed to the event handler to get details about which button was clicked.

1. Explain the different text controls

[05 Marks]
Controls are interactive objects that you place in dialog boxes or other windows to carry out user actions.A collection whose elements represent each control on a form. The Controls collection enumerates loaded controls on a form and is useful for iterating through them. The Controls collection identifies an intrinsic form-level variable named Controls. If you omit the optional object

34

placeholder, you must include the Controls keyword. However, if you include object, you can omit the Controls keyword. The Windows operating system has always provided a number of Windows common controls. These control objects are programmable. Controls and dialog boxes are child windows that allow users to view and organize information and to set or change attributes. A dialog box is a window. Different controls are as follows: Text Control Text Edit : These controls are the ones wherein the users can enter new text or edit the text already present.These controls are used when we want to get some input from the user. Eg : TextBox Text Display : These controls are used to display text to the users. The users cannot enter text into or edit the text within these controls. The text being displayed is set during design time. However text can be changed programmatically at run-time. Label Link Label Status Bar Status Bar : Is used to display the current status of the application using framed windows

ToolBar control Is a collection of buttons with different functionalities Can be positioned as per the requirement

ListBox ComboBox CheckedListBox ListView TreeView NumericUpDown DomainUpDown Value Setting Controls CheckBox
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 CheckedListBox RadioButton TrackBar Grouping Controls Form Panel Group Box Tab Control

2.

Describe validation. Explain the types of validation

and types of errors [10 Marks]

Types of Validations An application processes information entered by the user. Data validation ensures that the data entered in the application is accurate and of a valid data type. The inbuilt controls also support some methods and events that are useful for verification and validation of data. Form level data validation: In this case the data is verified after the user enters values into all the fields on the form. For example and employee details form requires the employer code, name, address and the telephone number to be filled in by the user.

36

Field level data validation: Data in the fields are verified field by field, after the uses enters and value into the field and moves onto the next field on the form. The values entered in different fields are verified with respect to data type, format, validity etc. Enter Event: This even is fired when the focus is set to a field. This event can be used to check whether the value entered in the previous field is valid or not. If the value is not valid, the focus is set back to the previous field. Hence the user is not allowed to enter another field until the user provides a valid input for the previous field.

Validating and Validated events Validating :This event occurs when the control is being validated Validated : This event occurs after the validation on the control is completed or after the validating event is completed Form Level Validations Validate data in all the fields in the form Enable and Disable controls based on user input Main Events KeyPress KeyDown KeyUp Field Level Validation In this type the interface is validated to the control level, I,e at in controls related events the validation will takes place. Design time control for field level control MaxLength PasswordChar Locked TYPES OF ERROR

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3. List and explain the different types of programming

errors.

[05 Marks]

4.

What

is

Exceptions?

Discuss

the

types

of

exceptions handled in VB.Net.

[05 Marks]

Exceptions are used to handle abnormal or exceptional conditions that arise during the execution of a program Types of Exceptions System Exceptions These exceptions are thrown by the system at runtime. This is the base class for all predefined exceptions. To view the different system Exceptions, select the Exceptions option of the Debug Menu. The system exceptions can also be classified as Runtime based Exceptions that are thrown during execution of individual instruction and object Based Exception that are based on objects. Application Exceptions
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All the user defined application exceptions are derived from this class. New exceptions can be added to exception list in the Exception Window. System Exceptions C++ Exceptions Common Language Native Run Time Checks Win32 Exceptions 7.4 Classified Runtime based Exceptions ArithmeticException ExecutionEngineException InvalidOperationException OverflowException SecurityException StackOverflowException Classified Object Exceptions: TypeLoadException IndexOutOfRangeException InvalidAddressException InvalidCastException MissingFieldException MissingMethodException NullReferenceException SecurityException

5. What are the characteristics of MDI Components? [05 Marks]

Characteristics of MDI Components Features of the Parent Form : Displayed as soon as the MDI application is started Acts as the container for other windows Menus of the child form are displayed on the parent form Can only be one MDI parent form Multiple child forms can be open at a time The Child forms cannot be moved out of the MDI frame area Closing the MDI form automatically closes all open MDI child forms The top most window is the Active Window The color of the title bar of an active window is the same as that of the MDI window

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6. Write a note on .NET Data provider [05 Marks]

A .NET data provider is used for connecting to a database. It provides classes that can be used to execute commands and to retrieve results. The results are either used directly by the application, or they are placed in a data set. A .NET data provider implements four key interfaces: IDbConnection is used to establish a connection to a specific data source. IDbCommand is used to execute a command at a data source. IDataReader provides an efficient way to read a stream of data from a data source. The data access provided by a data reader is forward-only and read-only. IDbDataAdapter is used to populate a data set from a data source.

7. Write a note on COM Marks]

[05

COM is the fundamental "object model" on which ActiveX Controls and OLE are built. COM allows an object to expose its functionality to other components and to host applications. It defines both how the object exposes itself and how this exposure works across processes and across networks. COM also defines the objects life cycle. Fundamental to COM are these concepts: Interfaces the mechanism through which an object exposes its functionality. IUnknown the basic interface on which all others are based. It implements the reference counting and interface querying mechanisms running through COM. Reference counting the technique by which an object (or, strictly, an interface) decides when it is no longer being used and is therefore free to remove itself.

40

QueryInterface the method used to query an object for a given interface. Marshaling the mechanism that enables objects to be used across thread, process, and network boundaries, allowing for location independence.

1. Explain briefly the functional units of a computer.

Following figure shows the functional units of a computer. It consists of five main parts. Input unit Output unit Memory
41

Arithmetic and Logic unit Control unit Input Unit- Computer accepts the coded information through the input unit. It has the capability of reading the instructions and data to be processed. The most commonly used input devices are keyboard of a video terminal. This is electronically connected to the processing part of a computer. The keyboards is wired such that whenever a key is pressed the corresponding letter or digit is automatically translated into its corresponding code and is directly sent either to memory or the processor. Output Unit- Output unit displays the processed results. Examples are video terminals and graphic displays. Input and output unit is usually combined under the term input-output unit (I/O). For example consider the keyboard of a video terminal, which consists of key- board for input and a cathode ray tube display for output. I/O devices do not alter the information content or the meaning of the data. Some devices can be used as output only e.g. graphic displays. Organization of input/output unit is studied in detail in unit 5. Memory Unit- Memory unit is an integral part of a computer system. Main function of a memory unit is to store the information needed by the system. Typically it stores programs and data. The system performance is largely dependent on the organization, storage capacity and speed of operation of the memory system. Computer memory system can be broadly classified into four groups. Internal Memory, Primary Memory, Secondary Memory, Cache Memory Arithmetic and Logic Unit(Arithmetic)The arithmetic unit performs typical arithmetic operations such as addition, subtraction, increment and decrement usually by unity. This unit also includes the necessary hardware required for operation on signed and unsigned integers, floating point numbers and BCD numbers etc.
42

(Logic Unit) Consider a simple logic unit which can perform two logic operations AND and EX-OR. Here also multiplexer selects either of these operations depending on the state of S0. If S0 = 0 output G = X AND Y If S0 = 1 output G = X Y Control Unit- The purpose of control unit is to control the system operations by routing the selected data items to the selected processing hardware at the right time. Control unit acts as nerve centre for the other units. This unit decodes and translates each instruction and generates the necessary enable signals for ALU and other units. Control unit has two responsibilities i.e., instruction interpretation and instruction sequencing.

2. What is subroutine? Explain

In a given program, it is often necessary to perform a particular subtask many times on different data values. Such a subtask is usually called asubroutine. For example, a subroutine may evaluate the sine function or sort a list of values into increasing or decreasing order. It is possible to include the block of instructions that constitute a subroutine at every place where it is needed in the program. However, to save space, only one copy of the instructions that constitute the subroutine is placed in the memory, and any program that requires the use of the subroutine simply branches to its starting location. When a program branches to a subroutine we say that it is calling the subroutine. The instruction that performs this branch operation is named a Call instruction.

3. Explain fetching a word from the memory.

To fetch a word of information from the memory CPU must specify the address of the memory location where this word is located and request a read operation. This includes whether the information to be fetched represents an
43

instruction in a program or an operand specified by the instruction. CPU transfers the address of the required information to the Memory Address Register (MAR) from where it is transferred to the main memory through the address lines of the main memory. In the same period CPU uses the control lines of memory bus to indicate that a read operation is required. After issuing this request CPU waits until it receives a feedback from the memory indicating that the requested function has been completed. This is done using another control signal on the memory bus, referred to as Memory Function Completed (MFC). The memory sets this signal to 1 to indicate that the contents of the specified location in the memory have been read and are available on the data lines of the memory bus and thus available for use inside the CPU. This completes memory fetch operation. The transfer mechanism where one device initiates the transfer and waits until the other device responds is called asynchronous transfer. This mechanism enables transfer of data between two independent devices that have different speed of operation. Consider an example, assume that the address of the memory location to be accessed is in register R0 and data is to be loaded into register R1. Following sequence of operations are used to achieve this. Duration of step 3 depends on the memory access time. Usually access time of memory is longer than the time required for performing any single CPU operation. Hence overall time of an instruction can be reduced by organizing a sequence of operations to be performed in the CPU while waiting for the memory to respond. Functions which do not require the use of MDR and MAR can be carried out during this time. For example PC can be incremented while waiting for the MFC signal. In many computers, an alternative Synchronous Transfer is used. In this case one of the control lines of the bus carries clock pulses, which provide timing signals to the CPU and the main memory. A memory operation can be completed in one clock cycle. The synchronous bus scheme leads to simpler
44

implementation, but it cannot accommodate devices of widely varying speed. So speed of all the devices must be reduced to that of the slowest one.

4.

Explain the evolution of the concept

The study of computer architecture involves both hardware organization and programming/software requirements. As seen by an assembly language programmer, computer architecture is abstracted by its instruction set, which includes opcode (operation codes), addressing modes, registers, virtual memory, etc. From the hardware implementation point of view, the abstract machine is organized with CPUs, caches, buses, microcode, pipelines, physical memory, etc. Therefore, the study of architecture covers both instruction-set architectures and machine implementation organizations. Over the past four decades, computer architecture has gone through evolutional rather than revolutional changes. Sustaining features are those that were proven performance deliverers. As depicted in Fig. 1.1, we started with the von Neumann architecture built as a sequential machine executing scalar data. The sequential computer was improved from bit-serial to word-parallel operations, and from fixedpoint to floating- point operations. The von Neumann architecture is slow due to sequential execution of instructions in programs. Evolution and interpretation of the concept computer architecture, Although the concept of computer architecture is unquestionably one of the basic concepts in Informatics, at present there is no general agreement about its definition or interpretation. In the following, we first describe how this important concept has co evolved. Then, we state our definition and interpretation.

computer architecture.

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5.

Explain concept of cost performance ratio

The lowest plateau represents the cost per MIPS for computers that use the dominant technology for that plateau. The main conclusion to draw from above picture is that if the curves are truly flat, then within a device technology there is no particular economy of scale. Worse yet, if an architectures performance exceeds the capabilities of one device technology, then the move to the next higher plateau of technology may result in a higher cost per MIPS. This is directly contrary to the principle of economy of scale. At the very highest levels of performance, the device technology may be quite exotic, raising the cost per MIPS well over the cost per MIPS of less powerful systems. Now let us reflect on the variables that the architect can control in creating a high-performance machine. By measuring performance in MIPS, we can write MIPS = (instructions/cycle)(cycles/second) *10-6 The first factor is a function of the architecture, which is controlled by the architect. The second factor is determined by the devices, which are controlled by the technology. Actually, the dichotomy between architecture and device technology is not as sharp as we depict it because the second factor, the clock speed, is partially dependent on architectural factors such as the complexity of instruction decoding. Nevertheless, to a first approximation we can affect performance by concentrating on the first factor, the number of instructions executed per machine cycle. What are the alternatives available?

Reduce the number of instructions to execute. By using better algorithms, it may be possible to do equal work with fewer instructions. Build hardware assists into the architecture to improve the architectures efficiency. Advances in architecture such as cache memory can increase the number of instructions
46

executed per cycle. Another possibility is to create higherlevel instructions such as SORT and SEARCH that have been optimised for particular purposes. Execute many instructions concurrently. Use parallel hardware in some fashion to increase the number of instructions that can be executed in a single cycle. It is strange to see the first item in this list in a text on architecture. One might assume that the computer architect does not dabble with algorithms. Quite to the contrary. Since the goal is high performance as measured on some set of applications, how that goal is achieved is important because of its impact on system cost, but there are no constraints that force the solution to be architectural only. In fact, algorithmic improvements may be the most cost effective of any of the approaches mentioned previously because copies of algorithms can be manufactured for essentially zero cost as compared to the cost of hardware-intensive solutions.

6. What are the characteristics of RISC and CISC processors?

Characteristics of RISC The major characteristics of RISC processor are 1) Relatively few instructions. 2) Relatively few addressing modes. 3) Memory access limited to load and store instructions. 4) All operations done within the registers of the CPU. 5) Fixed length, Easily decoded instruction format. 6) Single cycle instruction execution. 7) Hard wired rather than micro-programmed control. Other characteristics attributed to RISC architecture are: 1) The relatively large number of registers in the processor unit. 2) Use of overlapped register windows to speed-up procedure call and return. 3) Efficient instruction pipeline. 4) Compiler support for efficient translation of high level language programs into machine language programs. Characteristics of CISC Major characteristics of CISC architecture are

47

1) A large number of instructions typically from 100 to 250 instructions 2) Some instructions that perform a specialised task and are used infrequently. 3) A large variety of addressing modes typically from 5 to 20 different modes. 4) Variable length instruction formats. 5) Instructions that manipulate, operands in memory.

1.

Write a note on static and dynamic memories.

Static memories- Static RAM cells use 4 6 transistors to store a single bit of data. This provides faster access times at the expense of lower bit densities. A processors internal memory (registers and cache) is fabricated using static RAM. SRAMs resemble the flip-flops used in the processor design. SRAM cells differ from the flip-flops primarily in methods used to address the cells and transfer data to and from them. The six-transistor SRAM is shown in Fig. 4.3. A signal applied to the word line (also called as address line) by the address decoder selects the cell either for Read or Write operation.

48

The two bit lines (also called as data lines) are used to transfer stored data and its compliment between the cell and data drivers. Static RAM is used extensively for second level cache memory, where its speed is needed and a relatively small memory will lead to a significant increase in performance. Dynamic memories- The bulk of a modern processors memory is composed of dynamic RAM (DRAM) chips. A DRAM memory cell uses a single transistor and a capacitor to store a bit of data. In a DRAM cell, the 1 and 0 states correspond to the presence or absence of a stored charge in a capacitor controlled by the transistor switching circuit. Since a DRAM can be constructed by a single transistor the storage density is higher. Since the charge stored in DRAM may leak with time, the cell must be periodically refreshed. Fig. 4.4 illustrates one-transistor DRAM cell. Transistor used is a MOS transistor which acts as a switch and a capacitor to store a data bit. To write information into the cell, a voltage signal is applied to the data line. Voltage signal can either be high or low representing 1 and 0 respectively. A signal is applied to the word line to switch on T. Now the capacitor charges if the data line is 1. When the transistor is off, the capacitor begins to discharge due to capacitors own leakage resistance and due to the fact that the transistor continues to conduct a very small amount of current after it is turned off. Hence the information stored in the cell can be retrieved correctly only if it is read before the charge on the capacitor drops below some threshold value. The memory cell is therefore refreshed every time its contents are read. When a DRAM is being refreshed, other accesses must be "held off". This increases the complexity of DRAM controllers. To read the cell, the word line is activated. Now the charge stored in capacitor is transferred to the bit line where it is detected. Almost all DRAMs fabricated require the address applied to the device to be asserted in two parts: a row address and a column address. This has a deleterious effect on the access time, but enables devices with large numbers of bits to be fabricated with fewer pins (enabling higher densities).

49

2. What do you mean by an interrupt? How does the CPU react to an interrupt?
An interrupt is an exception condition in a computer system caused by an event external to the CPU. Interrupts are commonly used in I/O operations by a device interface (or controller) to notify the CPU that it has completed an I/O operation. An interrupt is indicated by a signal sent by the device interface to the CPU via an interrupt request line (on an external bus). This signal notifies the CPU that the signalling interface needs to be serviced. The signal is held until the CPU acknowledges or otherwise services the interface from which the interrupt originated. The CPU checks periodically to determine if an interrupt signal is pending. This check is usually done at the end of each instruction, although some modern machines allow for interrupts to be checked for several times during the execution of very long instructions. When the CPU detects an interrupt, it then saves its current state (at least the PC and the Processor Status Register containing condition codes); this state information is usually saved in memory. After the interrupt has been serviced, this state information is restored in the CPU and the previously executing software resumes execution as if nothing had happened.

3. Discuss

the

Booths

Multiplication

Algorithm
A powerful algorithm for signed-number multiplication is the booth algorithm. It generates a 2n-bit product and treats both positive and negative numbers uniformly. Consider a positive binary number containing a run of ones e.g., the 8-bit value: 00011110. Multiplying by such a value implies four consecutive additions of shifted multiplicands Now 00011110 can be expressed as a difference of powers of two: This means that the same multiplication can be obtained using only two additions: + 25 x multiplicand of 00010100
50

 21 x multiplicand of 00010100 Since the 1s complement of 00010100 is 11101011, Then -00010100 is 11101100 in 2s complement In other words, using sign extension and ignoring the overflow,

4. Explain concept of virtual memory

Virtual memory gives programmers the illusion that there is a very large memory at their disposal, whereas the actual (physical) memory available may be small. This illusion can be accomplished by allowing the programmer to operate in the name space while the architecture provides a mechanism for translating the program-generated (virtual) addresses (during execution) into the memory location addresses. In multiple processor systems with virtual memory, this mechanism must be provided for each processor. Assume that the name space Vj generated by the jth program running on a processor consists of a set of n unique identifiers. Hence Vj={ 0,l,,n-l } Assume that the memory space allocated to the program in execution has locations. This space can be represented as a sequence of addresses: M={ 0,l,,m-l } since main memory can be regarded as a linear array of locations, where each location is identified by a unique memory address. Also, since the allocated memory space may vary with program execution, m is a function of time. At any time t and for each referenced name x Vj, there is an address map fj (t):Vj M U { } which identifies a mapping between names and memory addresses at instant t so as to bind them. The function fj (t) is defined by When, fj [x, , an t] = addressing exception or missing item fault is said to occur, which causes a fault handler to bring in the required item from the next lower level of memory. The fault handler also updates the fj map to reflect the new binding of names to memory addresses. In a general hierarchy, the missing item is retrieved by sending a memory request for the item to successive lower
51

levels until it is found in a level, say k. Three basic policies define the control of the transfer of the missing item from a lower level to the desired level. A placement policy selects a location in memory where the fetched item will be placed. Where the memory is full a replacement policy chooses which item or items to remove in order to create space for the fetched item. A fetch policy decides when an item is to be fetched from lower level memory.

5. Write a note on a) Data parallelism b) Message passing

Data parallelism - The term data parallelism refers to the concurrency that is obtained when the same operation is applied to some or all elements of a data ensemble. A dataparallel program is a sequence of such operations. A parallel algorithm is obtained from a data-parallel program by applying domain decomposition techniques to the data structures operated on. Operations are then partitioned, often according to the owner computes rule, in which the processor that owns a value is responsible for updating that value. Typically, the programmer is responsible for specifying the domain decomposition, but the compiler partitions the computation automatically. Another commonly used parallel programming model, data parallelism, calls for exploitation of the concurrency that derives from the application of the same operation to multiple elements of a data structure, for example, add 2 to all elements of this array, or increase the salary of all employees with 5 years service. A data-parallel program consists of a sequence of such operations. As each operation on each data element can be thought of as an independent task, the natural granularity of a data-parallel computation is small, and the concept of locality does not arise naturally. Hence, data-parallel compilers often require the programmer to provide information about how data are to be
52

distributed over processors, in other words, how data are to be partitioned into tasks. The compiler can then translate the data-parallel program into required form thereby generating communication code automatically. Message passing - Message passing is probably the most widely used parallel programming model today. Messagepassing programs, like task/channel programs, create multiple tasks, with each task encapsulating local data. Each task is identified by a unique name, and tasks interact by sending and receiving messages to and from named tasks. In this respect, message passing is really just a minor variation on the task/channel model, differing only in the mechanism used for data transfer. For example, rather than sending a message on channel ch, we may send a message to task 17. The message-passing model does not preclude the dynamic creation of tasks, the execution of multiple tasks per processor, or the execution of different programs by different tasks. However, in practice most message-passing systems create a fixed number of identical tasks at program startup and do not allow tasks to be created or destroyed during program execution. These systems are said to implement a single program multiple data (SPMD) programming model because each task executes the same program but operates on different data. the SPMD model is sufficient for a wide range of parallel programming problems but does hinder some parallel algorithm developments.
6.

With the help of a neat diagram, explain I/O sub systems

The performance of a computer system can be limited by compute-bound jobs or input-output (I/O) bound jobs, The emphasis in the following discussion is on the I/O problem and various techniques which can be used to manage I/O data transfer, An example I/O subsystem for a dual processor system is shown in Figure. The subsystem consists of I/O interfaces and peripheral devices. Sometimes the distinction between the device and its associated interface is fuzzy. The I/O interface controls the
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operation of the peripheral device attached to it. The control operations are initiated by commands from the CPU. The set of commands used to accomplish an I/O transaction is called the device driver or software. The functions of the interface are to buffer and perform data conversion in to the required format. It also detects transmission errors and requests regeneration of an I/O transaction in case of error. Moreover, the interface can interrogate, start, and stop the device according to commands issued by the CPU. In some cases, the interface can also interrogate the CPU if the device requests an urgent attention. Not all interfaces possess these capabilities and many design options are available depending on the device characteristics. Below, we outline a few devices and their speed characteristics.

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