Anna University of Technology Tirunelveli 2010-4th Sem B.E Computer Science and Engineering Anna university -computer organisation and architecture - Question Paper

Two marks questions:

1. Distinguish ranging from autoincrement and autodecrement addressing mode.
2. Compare Risc with Cisc architecture.
3. Under what situations the micro program counter is not incremented after a
new instruction is fetched from micro program memory?
4. elaborate the relative merits of horizontal and vertical microinstruction
format?
5. What is pipelining and elaborate the advantages of pipelining?
6. List the key aspects in gaining the performance in pipelined systems.
7. How many memory chips are needed to construct two M × 16 memory system
using 512 K × eight static memory chips?
8. What is virtual memory and elaborate the benefits of virtual memory?
9. What is meant by bus arbitration?
10. Name and provide the purpose of widely used bus standard.

Sixteen marks questions:

11. (a) (i) define the role of system software to improve the performance of
a computer. (Marks 8)
(ii) Design a 4-bit adder/subtracter circuit using full adders and discuss
its function. (Marks 8)
Or
(b) (i) elaborate the special registers in a typical computer? discuss their
purposes in detail. (Marks 8)
(ii) Design a 4-bit fast adder and discuss its function in detail. (Marks 8)


12. (a) (i) Draw and discuss the block diagram of a complete processor. (Marks 6)
(ii) Briefly define the design of a hardwired control unit. (Marks 10)
Or
(b) (i) discuss the basic organization of a microprogrammed control unit
and the generation of control signals using microprogram. (Marks 12)
(ii) elaborate the advantages and disadvantages of hardwired and
microprogrammed control? (Marks 4)

13. (a) (i) define the role of cache memory in pipelined system. (Marks 8)
(ii) explain the influence of pipelining on instruction set design. (Marks 8)
Or
(b) What is instruction hazard? discuss the methods for dealing with the
instruction hazards. (Marks 16)

14. (a) (i) elaborate the various secondary storage devices? what are on any
one of the devices. (Marks 8)
(ii) discuss how the virtual address is converted into real address in a
paged virtual memory system. (Marks 8)
Or
(b) (i) discuss approaches for addressing multiple-module memory
systems with suitable diagrams. (Marks 6)
(ii) Briefly define magnetic disk principles and also the organization
and accessing of data on a disk. (Marks 10)

15. (a) (i) define the hardware mechanism for handling multiple interrupt
requests. (Marks 8)
(ii) elaborate handshaking signals? discuss the handshake control of
data transfer during input and output operation. (Marks 8)
Or
(b) (i) elaborate the needs for input-output interface? discuss the
functions of a typical 8-bit parallel interface in detail. (Marks 10)
(ii) define the USB architecture with the help of a neat diagram. (Marks 6)

Earning:   Approval pending.