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CS2252 – Microprocessor & Microcontroller

TWO MARKS

1. What is Microprocessor? Give the power supply & clock frequency of 8085.
A microprocessor is a multipurpose, programmable logic device that reads binary
instructions from a storage device called memory accepts binary data as input and processes data
according to those instructions and provides result as output. The power supply of 8085 is +5V
and clock frequency in 3MHz.

2. List few applications of microprocessor-based system.

It is used:
i. For measurements, display and control of current, voltage, temperature, pressure, etc.
ii. For traffic control and industrial tool control.
iii. For speed control of machines.

3. What are the functions of an accumulator?

The accumulator is the register associated with the ALU operations and sometimes I/O
operations. It is an integral part of ALU. It holds one of data to be processed by ALU. It also
temporarily stores the result of the operation performed by the ALU.

4. List the 16 – bit registers of 8085 microprocessor.

Stack pointer (SP) and Program counter (PC).

5. List the allowed register pairs of 8085.

• B-C register pair
• D-E register pair
• H-L register pair

6. Mention the purpose of SID and SOD lines

SID (Serial input data line): It is an input line through which the microprocessor accepts
serial data.
SOD (Serial output data line): It is an output line through which the microprocessor sends
output serial data.

7. What is an Opcode?
The part of the instruction that specifies the operation to be performed is called the operation
code or opcode.

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8. What is the function of IO/M signal in the 8085?

It is a status signal. It is used to differentiate between memory locations and I/O
operations. When this signal is low (IO/M = 0) it denotes the memory related operations. When
this signal is high (IO/M = 1) it denotes an I/O operation.

9. What is an Operand?
The data on which the operation is to be performed is called as an Operand.

10. How many operations are there in the instruction set of 8085 microprocessor?
There are 74 operations in the 8085 microprocessor.

11. List out the five categories of the 8085 instructions. Give examples of the instructions
for each group.
• Data transfer group – MOV, MVI, LXI.
• Arithmetic group – ADD, SUB, INR.
• Logical group –ANA, XRA, CMP.
• Branch group – JMP, JNZ, CALL.
• Stack I/O and Machine control group – PUSH, POP, IN, HLT.

12. What is the difference between a JMP instruction and CALL instruction?
A JMP instruction permanently changes the program counter. A CALL instruction leaves
information on the stack so that the original program execution sequence can be resumed.

13. What is the purpose of the I/O instructions IN and OUT?

The IN instruction is used to move data from an I/O port into the accumulator. The OUT
instruction is used to move data from the accumulator to an I/O port. The IN & OUT instructions
are used only on microprocessor, which use a separate address space for interfacing.

14. What is the difference between the shift and rotate instructions?
A rotate instruction is a closed loop instruction. That is, the data moved out at one end is
put back in at the other end. The shift instruction loses the data that is moved out of the last bit
locations.

15. How many address lines in a 4096 x 8 EPROM CHIP?

12 address lines.

16. Control signals used for DMA operation are ____________

HOLD & HLDA.

17. What is meant by Wait State?

This state is used by slow peripheral devices. The peripheral devices can transfer the data
to or from the microprocessor by using READY input line. The microprocessor remains in wait
state as long as READY line is low. During the wait state, the contents of the address,
address/data and control buses are held constant.

18. List the four instructions which control the interrupt structure of the 8085
microprocessor.

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• DI ( Disable Interrupts )
• EI ( Enable Interrupts )
• RIM ( Read Interrupt Masks )
• SIM ( Set Interrupt Masks )

19. What is meant by polling?

Polling or device polling is a process which identifies the device that has interrupted the
microprocessor.

20. What is meant by interrupt?

Interrupt is an external signal that causes a microprocessor to jump to a specific
subroutine.

21. List the priority interrupts of 8085.

The 8085 microprocessor has five interrupt inputs. They are TRAP, RST 7.5, RST 6.5,
RST 5.5, and INTR. These interrupts have a fixed priority of interrupt service. If two or more
interrupts go high at the same time, the 8085 will service them on priority basis. The TRAP has
the highest priority followed bye RST 7.5, RST 6.5, RST 5.5.
Interrupts Priority

22. What is a microcomputer?

A computer that is designed using a microprocessor as its CPU is called microcomputer.

23. What is the signal classification of 8085

All the signals of 8085 can be classified into 6 groups
• Address bus
• Data bus
• Control and status signals
• Power supply and frequency signals
• Externally initiated signals
• Serial I/O ports

24. What are operations performed on data in 8085

The various operations performed are
• Store 8-bit data
• Perform arithmetic and logical operations
• Test for conditions
• Sequence the execution of instructions
• Store data temporarily during execution in the defined R/W memory locations called the stack

25. Steps involved to fetch a byte in 8085

i. The PC places the 16-bit memory address on the address bus
ii. The control unit sends the control signal RD to enable the memory chip
iii. The byte from the memory location is placed on the data bus
iv. The byte is placed in the instruction decoder of the microprocessor and the task is carried out
according to the instruction

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26. How many interrupts does 8085 have, mention them

The 8085 has 5 interrupt signals; they are INTR, RST7.5, RST6.5, RST5.5 and TRAP

27. List the Basic concepts in memory interfacing.

The primary function of memory interfacing is that the microprocessor should be able to
read from and write into a given register of a memory chip. To perform these operations the
microprocessor should
• Be able to select the chip
• Identify the register
• Enable the appropriate buffer

28. Define instruction cycle, machine cycle and T-state

Instruction cycle is defined, as the time required completing the execution of an
instruction. Machine cycle is defined as the time required completing one operation of accessing
memory, I/O or acknowledging an external request. Tcycle is defined as one subdivision of the
operation performed in one clock period.

29. What is an instruction?

An instruction is a binary pattern entered through an input device to command the
microprocessor to perform that specific function.

30. What is the use of ALE?

The ALE is used to latch the lower order address so that it can be available in T2 and T3
and used for identifying the memory address. During T1 the ALE goes high, the latch is
transparent ie, the output changes according to the input data, so the output of the latch is the
lower order address. When ALE goes low the lower order address is latched until the next ALE.

31. How many machine cycles does 8085 have, mention them?
The 8085 have seven machine cycles. They are
• Opcode fetch
• Memory read
• Memory write
• I/O read
• I/O write
• Interrupt acknowledge
• Bus idle

32. Define the signals HOLD, READY and SID

HOLD indicates that a peripheral such as DMA controller is requesting the use of address
bus, data bus and control bus. READY is used to delay the microprocessor read or write cycles
until a slow responding peripheral is ready to send or accept data. SID is used to accept serial
data bit by bit.

33. Mention the categories of instruction and give two examples for each category.
The instructions of 8085 can be categorized into the following five
• Data transfer MOV Rd,Rs STA 16-bit
• Arithmetic ADD R DCR M
• Logical XRI 8-bit RAR

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• Branching JNZ CALL 16-bit

• Machine control HLT NOP

34. Define LDA, STA and DAA instructions.

LDA copies the data byte into accumulator from the memory location specified by the
16-bit address. STA copies the data byte from the accumulator in the memory location specified
by 16-bit address. DAA changes the contents of the accumulator from binary to 4-bit BCD
digits.

35. Define the different instruction formats with examples.

The instruction set is grouped into the following formats
• One byte instruction MOV C,A
• Two byte instruction MVI A,39H
• Three byte instruction JMP 2345H

36. What is the use of addressing modes, mention the different types?
The various formats of specifying the operands are called addressing modes, it is used to ccess
the operands or data. The different types are as follows
• Immediate addressing
• Register addressing
• Direct addressing
• Indirect addressing
• Implicit addressing

37. What is the use of bi-directional buffers?

It is used to increase the driving capacity of the data bus. The data bus of a
microcomputer system is bi-directional, so it requires a buffer that allows the data to flow in both
directions.

38. Define LDAX, STAX and DAA instructions.

LDA copies the data byte into accumulator from the memory location specified by the
16-bit address. STA copies the data byte from the accumulator in the memory location specified
by 16-bit address. DAA changes the contents of the accumulator from binary to 4-bit BCD
digits.

39. Define stack and explain stack related instructions.

The stack is a group of memory locations in the R/W memory that is used for the
temporary storage of binary information during the execution of the program. The stack related
instructions are PUSH & POP.

40. Why do we use XRA A instruction?

The XRA A instruction is used to clear the contents of the Accumulator and store the
value 00H.

41. Compare CALL and PUSH instructions.

When CALL is executed the microprocessor automatically stores the 16-bit address of
the instruction next to CALL on the stack The programmer uses the instruction PUSH to save the

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contents of the register pair on the stack. When CALL is executed the stack pointer is
decremented by two. When PUSH is executed the stack pointer register is decremented by two.

42. What is Microcontroller and Microcomputer?

Microcontroller is a device that includes microprocessor; memory and I/Osignal lines on
a single chip, fabricated using VLSI technology. Microcomputer is a computer that is designed
using microprocessor as its CPU. It includes microprocessor, memory and I/O.

43. Define Flags.

The flags are used to reflect the data conditions in the accumulator. The 8085 flags are S-
Sign flag, Z-Zero flag, AC-Auxiliary carry flag, P-Parity flag, CY Carry flag.

44. How does the microprocessor differentiate between data and instruction?
When the first m/c code of an instruction is fetched and decoded in the instruction
register, the microprocessor recognizes the number of bytes required to fetch the entire
instruction. For example MVI A, Data, the second byte is always considered as data. If the data
byte is omitted by mistake whatever is in that memory location will be considered as data & the
byte after the “data” will be treated as the next instruction.

45. Compare RET and POP.

RET transfers the contents of the top two locations of the stack to the PC. POP transfers
the contents of the top two locations of the stack to the specified register pair. When RET is
executed the SP is incremented by two. When POP is executed the SP is incremented by two.

46. What is assembler?

The assembler translates the assembly language program text which is given as input to
the assembler to their binary equivalents known as object code. The time required to translate the
assembly code to object code is called access time. The assembler checks for syntax errors &
displays them before giving the object code.

47. What is loader?

The loader copies the program into the computer’s main memory at load time and begins
the program execution at execution time.

48. What is linker?

A linker is a program used to join together several object files into one large object file.
For large programs it is more efficient to divide the large program modules into smaller modules.
Each module is individually written, tested & debugged. When all the modules work they are
linked together to form a large functioning program.

49. Define ALIGN & ASSUME.

The ALIGN directive forces the assembler to align the next segment at an address
divisible by specified divisor. The format is ALIGN number where number can be 2, 4, 8 or 16.
Example ALIGN 8.
The ASSUME directive assigns a logical segment to a physical segment at any given
time. It tells the assembler what address will be in the segment registers at execution time.
Example ASSUME CS: code, DS: data, SS: stack.

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50. Define PTR & GROUP.

A program may contain several segments of the same type. The GROUP directive
collects them under a single name so they can reside in a single segment, usually a data segment.
The format is Name GROUP Seg-name Seg-name PTR is used to assign a specific type to a
variable or a label. It is also used to override the declared type of a variable.

51. Define MODEL.

This directive provides short cuts in defining segments. It initializes memory model
before defining any segment. The memory model can be SMALL, MEDIUM, COMPACT or
LARGE.

Model Code segments Data segments

Small One One
Medium Multiple One
Compact One Multiple
Large Multiple Multiple

52. Define PROC & ENDP.

PROC directive defines the procedures in the program. The procedure name must be
unique. After PROC the term NEAR or FAR are used to specify the type of procedure. Example
FACT PROC FAR. ENDP is used along with PROC and defines the end of the procedure.

53. Define SEGMENT & ENDS.

An assembly program in .EXE format consists of one or more segments. The starts of
these segments are defined by SEGMENT and the end of the segment is indicated by ENDS
directive.

54. Define TITLE & TYPE.

The TITLE directive helps to control the format of a listing of an assembled program. It
causes a title for the program to print on line 2 of each page of the program listing. Maximum 60
characters are allowed. Format TITLE text. TYPE operator tells the assembler to determine the
type of specified variable in bytes. For bytes the assembler gives a value 1, for word 2 & double
word 4.

55. Define SOP.

The segment override prefix allows the programmer to deviate from the default segment
Eg : MOV CS : [BX] , AL

56. Define variable.

A variable is an identifier that is associated with the first byte of data item. In assembly
language statement: COUNT DB 20H, COUNT is the variable.

57. What are procedures?

Procedures are a group of instructions stored as a separate program in memory and it is
called from the main program whenever required. The type of procedure depends on where the
procedures are stored in memory. If it is in the same code segment as that of the main program
then it is a near procedure otherwise it is a far procedure.

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58. Define the linking process.

A linker is a program used to join together several object files into one large object file.
The linker produces a link file which contains the binary codes for all the combined modules. It
also produces a link map which contains the address information about the link files. The linker
does not assign absolute addresses but only relative address starting from zero, so the programs
are relocatable & can be put anywhere in memory to be run.

59. Define about passing parameters using registers with example.

Procedures process some data or address variable from the main program, for processing
it is necessary to pass the address variables or data. This is called passing parameters to
procedures. In passing parameters using registers the data to be passed is stored in registers &
these registers are accessed in the procedure to process the data.
CODE SEGMENT
MOV AL, DATA
CALL PRO1
PRO1 PROC NEAR
MOV INPUT, AL
RET
PRO1 ENDP
CODE ENDS

60. What is recursive procedures?

A recursive procedure is a procedure, which calls itself. Recursive procedures are used to
work with complex data structures called trees. If the procedure is called with N=3, then the N is
decremented by 1 after each procedure CALL and the procedure is called until N=0.

61. What are libraries?

Library files are collection of procedures that can be used in other programs. These
procedures are assembled and compiled into a library file by the LIB program. The library file is
invoked when a program is linked with linker program. When a library file is linked only the
required procedures are copied into the program. Use of library files increase s/w reusability &
reduce s/w development time.

62. What are Macros?

Macro is a group of instruction. The macro assembler generates the code in the program
each time where the macro is called. Macros are defined by MACRO & ENDM directives.
Creating macro is similar to creating new opcodes that can be used in the program
INIT MACRO
MOV AX, data
MOV DS
MOV ES, AX
ENDM

63. How do 8086 interrupts occur?

An 8086 interrupt can come from any of the following three sources
• External signals
• Special instructions in the program
• Condition produced by instruction

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64. What are the 8086 interrupt types?

Dedicated interrupts
• Type 0: Divide by zero interrupt
• Type 1: Single step interrupt
• Type 2:Non maskable interrupt
• Type 3: Breakpoint
• Type 4: Overflow interrupt
Software interrupts
• Type 0-255

65. What is interrupt service routine?

Interrupt means to break the sequence of operation. While the CPU is executing a
program an interrupt breaks the normal sequence of execution of instructions & diverts its
execution to some other program. This program to which the control is transferred is called the
interrupt service routine.

66. Define BIOS.

The IBM PC has in its ROM a collection of routines, each of which performs some
specific function such as reading a character from keyboard, writing character to CRT. This
collection of routines is referred to as Basic Input Output System or BIOS.

67. Define PUBLIC.

For large programs several small modules are linked together. In order that the modules
link together correctly any variable name or label referred to in other modules must be declared
public in the module where it is defined. The PUBLIC directive is used to tell the assembler that
a specified name or label will be accessed from other modules. Format PUBLIC Symbol.

68. Define DUP.

The DUP directive can be used to initialize several locations & to assign values to these
locations.

69. Compare Procedure & Macro.

Accessed by CALL & RET instruction Accessed during assembly with name given
during program execution to macro when defined Machine code for instruction is put only once
in the memory Machine code is generated for instruction each time when macro is called With
procedures less memory is required With macro more memory is required Parameters can be
passed in registers, memory locations or stack Parameters passed as part of statement which
calls macro.

70. What is the purpose of segment registers in 8086?

There are 4 segment registers present in 8086. They are
1. Code Segment (CS ) register
2. Data Segment (DS ) register
3. Stack Segment (SS ) register
4. Extra Segment (ES ) register
The code segment register gives the address of the current code segment. ie. It will points out
where the instructions, to be executed, are stored in the memory. The data segment register
points out where the operands are stored in the memory. The stack segment registers points out

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the address of the current stack, which is used to store the temporary results. If the amount of
data used is more the Extra segment register points out where the large amount of data is stored
in the memory.

71. Define pipelining.

In 8086, to speedup the execution of program, the instructions fetching and execution of
instructions are overlapped each other. This technique is known as pipelining. In pipelining,
when the n th instruction is executed, the n+1 th instruction is fetched and thus the processing
speed is increased.

72. Discuss the function of instruction queue in 8086.

In 8086, a 6-byte instruction queue is presented at the Bus Interface Unit (BIU). It is used
to prefetch and store at the maximum of 6 bytes of instruction code from the memory. Due to
this, overlapping instruction fetch with instruction execution increases the processing speed.

73. What is the maximum memory size that can be addressed by 8086?
In 8086, an memory location is addressed by 20 bit address and the address bus is 20 bit
address and the address bus is 20 bits. So it can address up to one mega byte (2^20) of memory
space.

74. What is the function of the BHE signal in 8086?

BHE signal means Bus High Enable signal. The BHE signal is made low when there is
some read or write operation is carried out. ie . When ever the data bus of the system is busy i.e.
whenever there is some data transfer then the BHE signal is made low.

75. What are the different flag available in status register of 8086?
There are 6 one bit flags are present. They are,
AF - Auxiliary Carry Flag
CF - Carry Flag
OF - Overflow Flag
SF - Sign Flag
PF - Parity Flag
ZF - Zero Flag

77. List the various addressing modes present in 8086.

There are 12 addressing modes present in 8086. They are,
(a) Register and immediate addressing modes
_ Register addressing modes
_ Immediate addressing mode

(b) Memory addressing modes.

_ Direct addressing modes
_ Register indirect addressing modes
_ Based addressing modes
_ Indexed addressing modes
_ Based Indexed addressing modes
_ String addressing modes

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(c) I/O addressing modes

_ Direct addressing mode
_ Indirect addressing mode
(d) Relative addressing mode
(e) Implied addressing mode

78. How single stepping can be done in 8086?

By setting the Trace Flag (TF) the 8086 goes to single-step mode. In this mode, after the
execution of each instruction s 8086 generates an internal interrupt and by writing some interrupt
service routine we can display the content of desired registers and `memory locations. So it is
useful for debugging the program.

79. State the significance of LOCK signal in 8086.

If 8086 is working at maximum mode, there are multiprocessors are present. If the system
bus is given to a processor then the LOCK signal is made low. Processors. After the use of the
system bus again the LOCK signal is made high. That means it is ready to give the system bus to
any processor.

80. What are the functions of bus interface unit (BIU) in 8086?
(a) Fetch instructions from memory.
(b) Fetch data from memory and I/O ports.
(c) Write data to memory and I/O ports.
(d) To communicate with outside world.
(e) Provide external bus operations and bus control signals.

81. What is the clock frequency of 8086?

Internal clock Frequency 5 MHz 8MHz 4MHz
External Clock Frequency 15MHZ 24MHZ 12MHZ

82. What are the two modes of operations present in 8086?

i. Minimum mode (or) Uniprocessor system
ii. Maximum mode (or) Multiprocessor system

84. Define the process control instructions.

STC – It sets the carry flag & does not affect any other flag
CLC – it resets the carry flag to zero &does not affect any other flag
CMC – It complements the carry flag & does not affect any other flag
STD – It sets the direction flag to 1 so that SI and/or DI can be decremented automatically after
execution of string instruction & does not affect other flags
CLD – It resets the direction flag to 0 so that SI and/or DI can be incremented automatically after
execution of string instruction & does not affect other flags
STI – Sets the interrupt flag to 1. Enables INTR of 8086.
CLI – Resets the interrupt flagto0. 8086 will not respond to INTR.

85. Define REPEAT-UNTIL statements.

REPEAT-UNTIL statements allow executing a series of instructions repeatedly until
some condition occurs. The REPEAT defines the start of the loop & UNTIL the end of the loop.
UNTIL has a condition when the condition is true the loop is terminated.

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86. What is multiprogramming?

If more than one process is carried out at the same time, then it is know as
multiprogramming. Another definition is the interleaving of CPU and I/O operations among
several programs is called multiprogramming. To improve the utilization of CPU and I/O
devices, we are designing to process a set of independent programs concurrently by a single
CPU. This technique is known as multiprogramming.

87. Differentiate between absolute and linear select decoding.

Absolute decoding
 All higher address lines are defined to select the memory or I/O device.
 More h/w is required to design decoding logic
 Higher cost for decoding circuit
 No multiple address
 Used in large systems
Linear decoding
 Few higher address lines are decoded to select the memory or I/O device
 Hardware required to design decoding logic is less
 Less cost for decoding circuit
 Has a disadvantage of multiple addressing
 Used in small systems

88. What are the three classifications of 8086 interrupts?

(1) Predefined interrupts
(2) User defined Hardware interrupts
(3) User defined software interrupts.

89. What are the functions of status pins in 8086?

S2 S1 S0
0 0 0 ---- Interrupt acknowledge
0 0 1 ---- Read I/O
0 1 0 ---- Write I/O
0 1 1 ---- Halt
1 0 0 ---- Code access
1 0 1 ---- Read memory
1 1 0 ---- Write memory
1 1 1 ---- inactive
S4 S3
0 0 --I/O from extra segment
0 1 --I/O from Stack Segment
1 0 --I/O from Code segment
1 1 --I/O from Data segment
S5 --Status of interrupt enable flag
S6 --Hold acknowledge for system bus
S7 --Address transfer.

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90. What are the schemes for establishing priority in order to resolve bus arbitration
problem?
There are three basic bus access control and arbitration schemes
1. Daisy Chaining
2. Independent Request
3. Polling

91. What is the use of 8251 chip?

Intel’s 8251A is a universal synchronous asynchronous receiver and transmitter
compatible with Intel’s Processors. This may be programmed to operate in any of the serial
communication modes built into it. This chip converts the parallel data into a serial stream of bits
suitable for serial transmission. It is also able to receive a serial stream of bits and converts it into
parallel data bytes to be read by a microprocessor.

92.What are the different types of methods used for data transmission?
The data transmission between two points involves unidirectional or bi-directional
transmission of meaningful digital data through a medium. There are basically there modes of
data transmission
(a) Simplex
(b) Duplex
(c) Half Duplex
In simplex mode, data is transmitted only in one direction over a single communication
channel.For example, a computer (CPU) may transmit data for a CRT display unit in this mode.
In duplex mode, data may be transferred between two transreceivers in both directions
simultaneously.
In half duplex mode, on the other hand, data transmission may take pace in either
direction, but at a time data may be transmitted only in one direction. For example, a computer
may communicate with a terminal in this mode. When the terminal sends data (i.e. terminal is
sender). The message is received by the computer (i.e the computer is receiver). However, it is
not possible to transmit data from the computer to terminal and from terminal to the computer
simultaneously.

93.What are the various programmed data transfer methods?

ii) Synchronous data transfer
iii) Asynchronous data transfer
iv) Interrupt driven data transfer

94. What is synchronous data transfer?

It is a data method which is used when the I/O device and the microprocessor match in
speed. To transfer a data to or from the device, the user program issues a suitable instruction
addressing the device. The data transfer is completed at the end of the execution of this
instruction.

95. What is asynchronous data transfer?

It is a data transfer method which is used when the speed of an I/O device does not match
with the speed of the microprocessor. Asynchronous data transfer is also called as Handshaking.

96. What are the functional types used in control words of 8251a?

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The control words of 8251A are divided into two functional types.
1. Mode Instruction control word
2. Command Instruction control word
Mode Instruction control word :-This defines the general operational characteristics of 8251A.
Command Instruction control word:-The command instruction controls the actual operations of
the selected format like enable transmit/receive, error reset and modem control.

97. What are the basic modes of operation of 8255?

There are two basic modes of operation of 8255, viz.
1. I/O mode.
2. BSR mode.
In I/O mode, the 8255 ports work as programmable I/O ports, while In BSR mode only port C
(PC0-PC7) can be used to set or reset its individual port bits. Under the IO mode of operation,
further there are three modes of operation of 8 255, So as to support different types of
applications, viz. mode 0, mode 1 and mode 2.
Mode 0 - Basic I/O mode
Mode 1 - Strobed I/O mode
Mode 2 - Strobed bi-directional I/O

98. Write the features of mode 0 in 8255?

1. Two 8-bit ports (port A and port B) and two 4-bit ports (port C upper and lower) are available.
The two 4-bit ports can be combined used as a third 8-bit port.
2. Any port can be used as an input or output port.
3.Output ports are latched. Input ports are not latched.
4. A maximum of four ports are available so that overall 16 I/O configurations are possible.

99. What are the features used mode 1 in 8255?

Two groups – group A and group B are available for strobed data transfer.
1. Each group contains one 8-bit data I/O port and one 4-bit control/data port.
2. The 8-bit data port can be either used as input or output port. The inputs and outputs both are
latched.
3. Out of 8-bit port C, PC0-PC2 is used to generate control signals for port B and PC3=PC5 are
used to generate control signals for port A. The lines PC6, PC7 may be used as independent data
lines.

100. What are the signals used in input control signal & output control signal?
Input control signal
 STB (Strobe input)
 IBF (Input buffer full)
 INTR(Interrupt request)
Output control signal
 OBF (Output buffer full)
 ACK (Acknowledge input)
 INTR(Interrupt request)

101. What are the features used mode 2 in 8255?

The single 8-bit port in-group A is available.

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1. The 8-bit port is bi-directional and additionally a 5-bit control port is available.
2. Three I/O lines are available at port C, viz PC2-PC0.
3. Inputs and outputs are both latched.
4. The 5-bit control port C (PC3=PC7) is used for generating/accepting handshake signals for the
8-bit data transfer on port A.

102. What are the modes of operations used in 8253?

Each of the three counters of 8253 can be operated in one of the following six modes of
operation.
1. Mode 0 (Interrupt on terminal count)
2. Mode 1 (Programmable monoshot)
3. Mode 2 (Rate generator)
4. Mode 3 (Square wave generator)
5. Mode 4 (Software triggered strobe)
6. Mode 5 (Hardware triggered strobe)

103. What are the different types of write operations used in 8253?
There are two types of write operations in 8253
(1) Writing a control word register
(2) Writing a count value into a count register
The control word register accepts data from the data buffer and initializes the counters, as
required. The control word register contents are used for
(a) Initializing the operating modes (mode 0-mode4)
(b) Selection of counters (counter 0- counter 2)
(c) Choosing binary /BCD counters
(d) Loading of the counter registers.
The mode control register is a write only register and the CPU cannot read its contents.

104. Give the different types of command words used in 8259a.

The command words of 8259A are classified in two groups
1. Initialization command words (ICWs)
2. Operation command words (OCWs)

105. Give the operating modes of 8259a.

(a) Fully Nested Mode
(b) End of Interrupt (EOI)
(c) Automatic Rotation
(d) Automatic EOI Mode
(e) Specific Rotation
(f) Special Mask Mode
(g) Edge and level Triggered Mode
(h) Reading 8259 Status
(i) Poll command
(j) Special Fully Nested Mode
(k) Buffered mode
(l) Cascade mode

106. Define scan counter.

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The scan counter has two modes to scan the key matrix and refresh the display. In the
encoded mode, the counter provides binary count that is to be externally decoded to provide the
scan lines for keyboard and display. In the decoded scan mode, the counter internally decodes
the least significant 2 bits and provides a decoded 1 out of 4 scan on SL0-SL3.The keyboard and
display both are in the same mode at a time.

107. What is the output modes used in 8279?

8279 provides two output modes for selecting the display options.

1.Display Scan.
In this mode, 8279 provides 8 or 16 character-multiplexed displays those can be organized as
dual 4-bit or single 8-bit display units.

2.Display Entry
8279 allows options for data entry on the displays. The display data is entered for display from
the right side or from the left side.

108. What are the modes used in keyboard modes?

1. Scanned Keyboard mode with 2 Key Lockout.
2. Scanned Keyboard with N-key Rollover.
3. Scanned Keyboard special Error Mode.
4. Sensor Matrix Mode.

109. What are the modes used in display modes?

1. Left Entry mode
In the left entry mode, the data is entered from the left side of the display unit..
2. Right Entry Mode
In the right entry mode, the first entry to be displayed is entered on the rightmost display.

110. What is the use of modem control unit in 8251?

The modem control unit handles the modem handshake signals to coordinate the communication
between the modem and the USART.

111. Give the register organization of 8257.

The 8257 perform the DMA operation over four independent DMA channels. Each of the
four channels of 8257 has a pair of two 16-bit registers. DMA address register and terminal
count register. Also, there are two common registers for all the channels; namely, mode set
registers and status register. Thus there are a total of ten registers. The CPU selects one of these
ten registers using address lines A0- A3.

112. What is the function of DMA address register?

Each DMA channel has one DMA address register. The function of this register is to
store the address of the starting memory location, which will be accessed by the DMA channel.
Thus the starting address of the memory block that will be accessed by the device is first loaded
in the DMA address register of the channel. Naturally, the device that wants to transfer data over
a DMA channel, will access the block of memory with the starting address stored in the DMA
Address Register.

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113. What is the use of terminal count register?

Each of the four DMA channels of 8257 has one terminal count register. This 16-bit
register is used for ascertaining that the data transfer through a DMA channel ceases or stops
after the required number of DMA cycles.

114. What is the function of mode set register in 8257?

The mode set register is used for programming the 8257 as per the requirements of the
system. The function of the mode set register is to enable the DMA channels individually and
also to set the various modes of operation.

115. Distinguish between the memories mapped I/O peripheral I/O?

Memory Mapped I/O
 16-bit device address
 Data transfer between any general-purpose register and I/O port.
 The memory map (64K) is shared between I/O device and system memory.
 More hardware is required to decode 16-bit address
 Arithmetic or logic operation can be directly performed with I/O data
Peripheral I/O
 8-bit device address
 Data is transfer only between accumulator and I.O port
 The I/O map is independent of the memory map; 256 input device and 256 output device
can be connected
 Less hardware is required to decode 8-bit address
 Arithmetic or logical operation cannot be directly performed with I/O data

116. List the operation modes of 8255.

a) I.O Mode
i. Mode 0-Simple Input/Output.
ii. Mode 1-Strobed Input/Output (Handshake mode)
iii. Mode 2-Strobed bidirectional mode
b) Bit Set/Reset Mode.

117. What is a control word?

It is a word stored in a register (control register) used to control the operation of a
program digital device.

118. What is the purpose of control word written to control register in 8255?
The control words written to control register specify an I/O function for each I.O port.
The bit D7 of the control word determines either the I/O function of the BSR function.

119.What is the size of ports in 8255?

Port-A : 8-bits
Port-B : 8-bits
Port-CU : 4-bits
Port-CL : 4-bits

120. What is interfacing?

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An interface is a shared boundary between the devices which involves sharing

information. Interfacing is the process of making two different systems communicate with each
other.

121. What is memory mapping?

The assignment of memory addresses to various registers in a memory chip is called as
memory mapping.

122. What is I/O mapping?

The assignment of addresses to various I/O devices in the memory chip is called as I/O
mapping.

123. What is an USART?

USART stands for universal synchronous/Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter. It is a
programmable communication interface that can communicate by using either synchronous or
asynchronous serial data.

123.What is the use of 8251 chip?

8251 chip is mainly used as the asynchronous serial interface between the processor and
the external equipment.

125. The 8279 is a programmable __________ interface.

Keyboard/Display

126. List the major components of the keyboard/Display interface.

a. Keyboard section
b. Scan section
c. Display section
d. CPU interface section

127. What is Key bouncing?

Mechanical switches are used as keys in most of the keyboards. When a key is pressed
the contact bounce back and forth and settle down only after a small time delay (about 20ms).
Even though a key is actuated once, it will appear to have been actuated several times. This
problem is called Key Bouncing.

128.Define HRQ.
The hold request output requests the access of the system bus. In non- cascaded 8257
systems, this is connected with HOLD pin of CPU. In cascade mode, this pin of a slave is
connected with a DRQ input line of the master 8257, while that of the master is connected with
HOLD input of the CPU.

129. What is the use of stepper motor?

A stepper motor is a device used to obtain an accurate position control of rotating shafts.
A stepper motor employs rotation of its shaft in terms of steps, rather than continuous rotation as
in case of AC or DC motor.

130. What is TXD?

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TXD- Transmitter Data Output is a output pin carries serial stream of the transmitted data
bits along with other information like start bit, stop bits and priority bit.

131. What is RXD?

RXD- Receive Data Input This input pin of 8251A receives a composite stream of the data to be
received by 8251A.

132. State the status word format for 8254.

OUT
NULL
COUNT
RW1 RW0 M2 M1 M0 BCD

133. What is meant by key bouncing?

Microprocessor must wait until the key reach to a steady state; this is known as Key
bounce.

134. Write the function of crossbar switch?

The crossbar switch provides the inter connection paths between the memory module and
the processor. Each node of the crossbar represents a bus switch. All these nodes may be
controlled by one of these processors or by a separate one altogether.

135. What is a data amplifier?

Transceivers are the bi-directional buffers are some times they are called as data
amplifiers. They are required to separate the valid data from the time multiplexed address data
signal. They are controlled by 2 signals i.e DEN & DT/R.

136.What are the different inter connection topologies?

• Shared bus
• Multiport Memory
• Linked Input/Output
• Bus window
• Crossbar Switching.

137. What are the configurations used for physical interconnections?

• Star Configuration
• Loop configuration
• Complete interconnection
• Regular topologies
• Irregular topologies

138. Give the instruction set of 8087?

1. Data Transfer Instructions
2. Arithmetic Instructions
3. Comparison Instructions.
4. Transcendental Operations.
5. Constant Operations.
6. Coprocessor Control Operations.

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139. Write the advantages of loosely coupled system over tightly coupled systems?
1. More number of CPUs can be added in a loosely coupled system to improve the system
performance.
2. The system structure is modular and hence easy to maintain and troubleshoot.
3. A fault in a single module does not lead to a complete system breakdown.

140. What is the different clock frequencies used in 80286?

Various versions of 80286 are available that run on 12.5MHz, 10MHz and
8MHz clock frequencies.

141. Define swapping.

The portion of a program is required for execution by the CPU, it is fetched from the
secondary memory and placed in the physical memory. This is called ‘swapping in’ of the
program.

142. What are the different operating modes used in 80286?

The 80286 works in two operating modes
1. Real addressing mode
2. Protected virtual address mode.

143. What are the CPU contents used in 80286?

The 80286 CPU contains almost the same set of registers, as in 8086
• Eight 16-bit general purpose register
• Four 16-bit segment registers
• Status and control register
• Instruction pointer.

144. What is status flag bit?

The flag register reflects the results of logical and arithmetic instructions. The flag
register digits D0, D2, D4, D6, D7 and D11 are modified according to the result of the execution
of logical and arithmetic instruction. These are called as status flag bits.

145. What is a control flag?

The bits D8 and D9 namely, trap flag (TF) and interrupt flag (IF) bits, are used for controlling
machine operation and thus they are called control flags.

146. What is instruction pipelining?

Major function of the bus unit is to fetch instruction bytes from the memory. In fact, the
instructions are fetched in advance and stored in a queue to enable faster execution of the
instructions. This concept is known as instruction pipelining.

147. What is swapping?

The procedure of fetching the chosen program segments or data from the secondary
storage into the physical memory is called ‘swapping’.

148. What is mean by microcontroller?

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A device which contains the microprocessor with integrated peripherals like memory,
serial ports, parallel ports, timer/counter, interrupt controller, data acquisition interfaces like
ADC,DAC is called microcontroller.

149. Explain DJNZ instructions of intel 8051 microcontroller?

a) DJNZ Rn, rel Decrement the content of the register Rn and jump if not zero.
b) DJNZ direct , rel Decrement the content of direct 8-bit address and jump if not zero.

150. State the function of RS1 and RS0 bits in the flag register of intel 8051
microcontroller?
RS1 , RS0 – Register bank select bits
RS1 RS0 Bank Selection
Bank 0
Bank 1
Bank 2
Bank 3

151. Write a program using 8051 assembly language to change the date 55H stored in the
lower byte of the data pointer register to AAH using rotate instruction.
MOV DPL,#55H
MOV A, DPL
RL A
Label :SJMP label

152. Give the alternate functions for the port pins of port3?
RD WR T1
INT1 INT0 TXD RXD
RD – Read data control output.
WR – Write data control output.
T1 – Timer / Counter1 external input or test pin.
T0 – Timer / Counter0 external input or test pin.
INT1- Interrupt 1 input pin.
INT 0 – Interrupt 0 input pin.
TXD – Transmit data pin for serial port in UART mode.
RXD - Receive data pin for serial port in UART mode.

153. Specify the single instruction, which clears the most significant bit of B register of
8051, without affecting the remaining bits.
Single instruction, which clears the most significant bit of B register of 8051, without
affecting the remaining bits is CLR B.7.

154. Specify the function of the pins PSEN and EA of 8051.

PSEN: PSEN stands for program store enable. In 8051 based system in which an external
ROM holds the program code, this pin is connected to the OE pin of the ROM. EA :EA stands
for external access. When the EA pin is connected to Vcc, program fetched to addresses 0000H
through 0FFFH are directed to the internal ROM and program fetches to addresses 1000H
through FFFFH are directed to external ROM/EPROM. When the EA pin is grounded, all
addresses fetched by program are directed to the external ROM/EPROM.

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155. Specify the 16-bit registers DPTR and SP of 8051.

DPTR: DPTR stands for data pointer. DPTR consists of a high byte (DPH) and a low
byte (DPL). Its function is to hold a 16-bit address. It may be manipulated as a 16-bit data
register or as two independent 8-bit registers. It serves as a base register in indirect jumps,
lookup table instructions and external data transfer. SP: SP stands for stack pointer. SP is a 8- bit
wide register. It is incremented before data is stored during PUSH and CALL instructions. The
stack array can reside anywhere in on-chip RAM. The stack pointer is initialised to 07H after a
reset. This causes the stack to begin at location 08H.

156. Name the special functions registers available in 8051.

• Accumulator
• B Register
• Program Status Word.
• Stack Pointer.
• Data Pointer.
• Port 0
• Port 1
• Port 2
• Port 3
• Interrupt priority control register.
• Interrupt enable control register.

157.Explain the register IE format of 8051.

ET1 EX1 ET0 EX0
EA- Enable all control bit.
ET2- Timer 2 interrupt enable bit.
ES – Enable serial port control bit.
ET1 – Enable Timer1 control bit.
EX1- Enable external interrupt1 control bit.
ET0 – Enable Timer0 control bit.
EX0- Enable external interrupt0 control bit.

158. Compare Microprocessor and Microcontroller.

Microprocessor
 Microprocessor contains ALU,general purpose registers,stack pointer, program counter,
clock timing circuit and interrupt circuit.
 It has many instructions to move data between memory and CPU.
 It has one or two bit handling instructions.
 Access times for memory and I/O devices are more.
 5Microprocessor based system requires more hardware.

Microcontroller
 Microcontroller based system requires less hardware reducing PCB size and increasing
the reliability.
 Less access times for built-in memory and I/O devices.
 It has many bit handling instructions
 It has one or two instructions to move data between memory and CPU.

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 Microcontroller contains the circuitry of microprocessor and in addition it has built- in

ROM, RAM, I/O devices, timers and counters.

159.Name the five interrupt sources of 8051.

The interrupts are:
Vector address
• External interrupt 0 : IE0 : 0003H
• Timer interrupt 0 : TF0 : 000BH
• External interrupt 1 : IE1 : 0013H
• Timer Interrupt 1 : TF1 : 001BH
• Serial Interrupt
Receive interrupt : RI : 0023H
Transmit interrupt: TI : 0023H

160.What are the contents of the accumulator after the execution of the following program
segments?
MOV A,#3CH
MOV R4,#66H
ANL A,R4
A 3C
R4 66
A 24

161. Write a program to load accumulator A, DPH and DPL with 30H.
MOV A,#30
MOV DPH,A
MOV DPL,A

162.Write a program to subtract the contents of R1 of Bank0 from the contents of R0 of

Bank2.
MOV PSW,#10
MOV A,R0
MOV PSW,#00
SUBB A,R1

163. How the RS -232C serial bus is interfaced to 1TL logic device?
The RS-232C signal voltage levels are not compatible with TTL logic levels. Hence for
interfacing TTL devices to RS-232C serial bus, level converters are used. The popularly used
level converters are MC 1488 & MC 1489 or MAX 232.

164. List some of the features of 8096 microcontroller.

a. The 8096 is a 16-bit microcontroller.
b. The 8096 is designed to use in applications which require high speed calculations and fast I/O
operations.
c. The high speed I/O section of an 8096 includes a 16-bit timer, a 16-bit counter, a 4 input
programmable edge detector, 4 software timers and
a 6-output programmable event generator.

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d. It has 100 instructions, which can operate on bit, byte, word, and double words.
e. The bit operations are possible and these can be performed on any bit in the register file or in
the special function register.

165. List the features of 8051 microcontroller.

The features are
*single_ supply +5 volt operation using HMOS technology.
*4096 bytes program memory on chip(not on 8031)
*128 data memory on chip.
*Four register banks.
*Two multiple mode,16-bit timer/counter.
*Extensive Boolean processing capabilities.
*64 KB external RAM size
*32 bi-directional individually addressable I/O lines.
*8 bit CPU optimized for control applications.

166. What is the function of NEU?

The numeric execution unit executes all the instructions including arithmetic, logical
transcendental, and data transfer instructions. The numeric execution unit executes all the
numeric processor instructions while the control unit (CU) receives, decodes instructions, reads
and writes memory operands and executes the 8087 control instructions.

167. Give the disadvantages of bus window technique.

The numeric execution unit executes all the instructions including arithmetic, logical
transcendental, and data transfer instructions. The numeric execution unit executes all the
numeric processor instructions while the control unit (CU) receives, decodes instructions, reads
and writes memory operands and executes the 8087 control instructions.

168. What is swapping out?

A portion of the program or important partial results required for further execution may e
saved back on secondary storage to make the physical memory free for further execution of
another required portion of the program. This is called ‘swapping out’ of the executable program.

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