CPE 233 Lab Final Exam Questions And
Detailed Answers.
ON LAB FINAL WHAT IS A GATE? - Answer a piece of hardware that implements basic logic
functions
which gates are functionally complete? - Answer NAND, NOR
What are the three logic operations? - Answer AND, OR, NOT
What are the three parts of an FSM - Answer NS Decoder
Output Decoder
State Registers
what is setup time? - Answer the amount of time a circuits inputs must be stable before the
active clock edge
what is hold time? - Answer the amount of time a circuits inputs must be stable after the
active clock edge
what happens when setup or hold time are not met? - Answer the circuit goes metastable and
behaves irregularly/fails/both
LAB FINAL QUESTION: What are the 3 main parts of a computer? - Answer Processor, Memory,
I/O
What is the processor made up in the simple explanation of a computer? - Answer the CPU
and Control Unit
LAB FINAL QUESTION: What is the relationship between the instruction set and the
programming model? - Answer programming model is list of hardware we can control, and
control it with instruction set
,What is the programming model? - Answer It is the hardware resources available on a device
that the programmer is able to control via program control (INSTRUCTIONS)
What is the instruction set? - Answer the operations that the computer hardware can perform
under program control (either software or firmware)
What are the two types of memory? - Answer Incidental Memory and Structured Memory
What is incidental Memory - Answer relatively small (flip-flops, registers)
What is structured memory - Answer relatively large (RAM and ROM)
ANALOGOUS TO ARRAYS IN HLLs
What are the three types of memory signals for memory modules? - Answer Data (In/out)
Address
Control
What are the two memory operations (don't overthink) - Answer Reading (copy info from
mem to outside world)
Writing (change memory - put new data into mem)
What is capacity in a memory context? - Answer How much data the memory stores
what is a word? - Answer the size of the group of bits that is taken into a memory module
what are address lines? - Answer the number of bits wide that the address control of a
module is
How do you know how many words fit into a memory module? - Answer 2^(number of bits
wide the address signal is)
How do you write memory capacity in bits? - Answer 2^(num bits wide addr signal is) * word
length
,address lines: log2(4) = 2
word width: 16 bits
how many bits, bytes, address lines, and what is the word width of a 2k x 24 memory module? -
Answer 2*(2^10)x24 = # bits
(2*(2^10)x24)/8= # bytes
address lines: log2(2^11) = 1
word width: 24 bits
What do ROM and RAM stand for? - Answer Read Only Memory
Random Access Memory
LAB FINAL QUESTION - can you get data from RAM/ROM in the same amount of time? - Answer
YES -unlike discs, which have to spin around to give you the information
What does Random refer to in RAM - Answer for a RANDOM value in that memory (aka any
value in that memory) it takes the same amount of time to reach (read/write)
Are tape drives, hard drives... random access? - Answer NO - they take some variable amount
of time to access any 'random' value stored inside
LAB FINAL LIKELY: What are the differences between RAM and ROM? - Answer RAM:
store and retrieve (read, write)
Volatile (data lost on power down)
ROM:
retrieve only (data only)
non-volatile (data not lost on power down)
would USB drives be an example of RAM or ROM? - Answer ROM (data not lost on power
down)
what is the ** operator in verilog? - Answer exponential (e.g. 2**n = 2^n)
, || && true name - Answer logical operator
& | ! true name - Answer bitwise operator
what is read access time? - Answer the minimum time required to access data from memory
What is write cycle time? - Answer the minimum time required to write a word to memory
FINAL TOPIC: Memory Bandwidth - what is it? - Answer Maximum data transfer rate in a given
amount of time
NOTE: rate going up means time that controls said rate goes down (e.g. the time necessary to
write/read information)
what are the usual causes of bandwidth issues? (2) - Answer Shared resources (>1 device
accessing RAM)
too slow of memory (due to prop delay)
What does sharing resources for bandwidth do? - Answer saves money, generally slows things
down
what are the two things that, when sharing, bandwidth is/can be lowered? - Answer Routing
resources
Hardware resources
What is a memory map? - Answer a description (in our case) of how the MCU uses memory
Memory resource preservation key points (2) - Answer slower memory = cheaper
low power memory = slower
Tri-state devices - what are three states? - Answer 0, 1, Z
What is z for tri state devices? - Answer high impedance mode
Detailed Answers.
ON LAB FINAL WHAT IS A GATE? - Answer a piece of hardware that implements basic logic
functions
which gates are functionally complete? - Answer NAND, NOR
What are the three logic operations? - Answer AND, OR, NOT
What are the three parts of an FSM - Answer NS Decoder
Output Decoder
State Registers
what is setup time? - Answer the amount of time a circuits inputs must be stable before the
active clock edge
what is hold time? - Answer the amount of time a circuits inputs must be stable after the
active clock edge
what happens when setup or hold time are not met? - Answer the circuit goes metastable and
behaves irregularly/fails/both
LAB FINAL QUESTION: What are the 3 main parts of a computer? - Answer Processor, Memory,
I/O
What is the processor made up in the simple explanation of a computer? - Answer the CPU
and Control Unit
LAB FINAL QUESTION: What is the relationship between the instruction set and the
programming model? - Answer programming model is list of hardware we can control, and
control it with instruction set
,What is the programming model? - Answer It is the hardware resources available on a device
that the programmer is able to control via program control (INSTRUCTIONS)
What is the instruction set? - Answer the operations that the computer hardware can perform
under program control (either software or firmware)
What are the two types of memory? - Answer Incidental Memory and Structured Memory
What is incidental Memory - Answer relatively small (flip-flops, registers)
What is structured memory - Answer relatively large (RAM and ROM)
ANALOGOUS TO ARRAYS IN HLLs
What are the three types of memory signals for memory modules? - Answer Data (In/out)
Address
Control
What are the two memory operations (don't overthink) - Answer Reading (copy info from
mem to outside world)
Writing (change memory - put new data into mem)
What is capacity in a memory context? - Answer How much data the memory stores
what is a word? - Answer the size of the group of bits that is taken into a memory module
what are address lines? - Answer the number of bits wide that the address control of a
module is
How do you know how many words fit into a memory module? - Answer 2^(number of bits
wide the address signal is)
How do you write memory capacity in bits? - Answer 2^(num bits wide addr signal is) * word
length
,address lines: log2(4) = 2
word width: 16 bits
how many bits, bytes, address lines, and what is the word width of a 2k x 24 memory module? -
Answer 2*(2^10)x24 = # bits
(2*(2^10)x24)/8= # bytes
address lines: log2(2^11) = 1
word width: 24 bits
What do ROM and RAM stand for? - Answer Read Only Memory
Random Access Memory
LAB FINAL QUESTION - can you get data from RAM/ROM in the same amount of time? - Answer
YES -unlike discs, which have to spin around to give you the information
What does Random refer to in RAM - Answer for a RANDOM value in that memory (aka any
value in that memory) it takes the same amount of time to reach (read/write)
Are tape drives, hard drives... random access? - Answer NO - they take some variable amount
of time to access any 'random' value stored inside
LAB FINAL LIKELY: What are the differences between RAM and ROM? - Answer RAM:
store and retrieve (read, write)
Volatile (data lost on power down)
ROM:
retrieve only (data only)
non-volatile (data not lost on power down)
would USB drives be an example of RAM or ROM? - Answer ROM (data not lost on power
down)
what is the ** operator in verilog? - Answer exponential (e.g. 2**n = 2^n)
, || && true name - Answer logical operator
& | ! true name - Answer bitwise operator
what is read access time? - Answer the minimum time required to access data from memory
What is write cycle time? - Answer the minimum time required to write a word to memory
FINAL TOPIC: Memory Bandwidth - what is it? - Answer Maximum data transfer rate in a given
amount of time
NOTE: rate going up means time that controls said rate goes down (e.g. the time necessary to
write/read information)
what are the usual causes of bandwidth issues? (2) - Answer Shared resources (>1 device
accessing RAM)
too slow of memory (due to prop delay)
What does sharing resources for bandwidth do? - Answer saves money, generally slows things
down
what are the two things that, when sharing, bandwidth is/can be lowered? - Answer Routing
resources
Hardware resources
What is a memory map? - Answer a description (in our case) of how the MCU uses memory
Memory resource preservation key points (2) - Answer slower memory = cheaper
low power memory = slower
Tri-state devices - what are three states? - Answer 0, 1, Z
What is z for tri state devices? - Answer high impedance mode
