PREFACE

In this current age of international competition, participants are facing many challenges in desire of achieving the top
positions.
Every candidate can achieve his or her goals but the way to success is the guidance which they are missing. Proper
guidance gives you a path to achieve success by doing smart work.
During the preparation of interviews, viva, quiz or other competitive exams, you need to go through many books
in order to get the basic knowledge to clear it but here comes the time factor which is very crucial in this fast moving
era.
After a long experience of teaching in electronics engineering field, I realized the need of such a book that can
serve the students to prepare for an interview, viva, Quiz or other competitive exam. Keeping this in mind, I have written
this Book to give you a set of targeted questions and answers from different subjects of electronics and communication
stream, which you can go through to get a command on it and gain confidence to face any interview, viva, Quiz etc.
This Book will help you to add another feather on your success cap.

MR.RAHUL NIGAM
B.TECH, M.TECH
ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION
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All rights are reserved. No part of this eBook can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means (Electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior written permission from the Author of this Book.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction.
2. Analog circuits interview questions and answers.
3. Digital circuits interview questions and answers.
4. Electronic devices interview questions and answers.
5. Signals and systems interview questions and answers.
6. Control system interview questions and answers.
7. Communication interview questions and answers.
8. Electromagnetics interview questions and answers.
9. Networks interview questions and answers.
 INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Electronics and communication interview questions and answers book. Firstly, I would like to say a huge
thank you for buying this book. I hope you will surely enjoy reading this book.
This book contains typical interview questions and answers that you might encounter while interviewing for any
electronics job. Did you know that people who make targeted questions and answers preparation for job interviews are
five times more likely to get job offers than those who don’t prepare. Did you also know that there is a set of questions
that is likely to repeatedly asked by interviewers during interviews across the industry. This book is packed with tons of
valuable questions and answers that help you to get your next mind-blowing job.
By reading this book, you don’t have to spend your valuable time searching the internet for Electronics interview
questions. We have already compiled most important and latest electronics interview questions from various subjects of
electronics stream.
Last but not the least, all the best for all your interviews.
 ANALOG CIRCUITS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q.1. What is integrated circuit (IC)?
Answer: Integrated circuit means that all the components in each circuit are fabricated on the same chip.
Q.2. What are linear ICs?
Answer: A linear integrated circuit is a solid state analog device characterized by a theoretically infinite number of
possible operating states. It operates over a continuous range of input levels. Within a certain input range, the
amplification curve of a linear IC is a straight line i.e. the input and output voltages are directly proportional. The best
known and most common linear IC is the operational amplifier or op amp.
Q.3. What is an operational amplifier?
Answer: An operational amplifier is a directly coupled high gain amplifier consisting of one or more differential
amplifiers, usually followed by a level translator and an output stage. The output stage is generally a push pull amplifier.
It can be used to amplify DC as well as AC input signals.
Q.4. What is the use of level translators?
Answer: Because of direct coupling, dc level at the emitters rises from stage to stage. This increase dc level tends to
shift the operating point of the succeeding stage and therefore limits the output voltage swing a may even distort the
output signal. So to increase this dc level, level translator circuits are used.
Q.5. What is differential amplifier and its significance?
Answer: A differential amplifier is an amplifier which is used to amplify the difference between the two input signals. It
suppresses the unwanted disturbances that might be amplified with the desired signal.
Q.6. What are the important features of differential amplifier?
Answer: The important features of differential amplifier are-
High differential gain and low common mode gain.
High common mode rejection ratio (CMRR).
High input impedance.
Low output impedance.
High gain.
Large bandwidth.
Q.7. How differential amplifiers can be configured and what are they?
Answer: A differential amplifier consists of two transistors. Depending on the way of connecting the input to them and
depending on the way of measuring output, there are four configurations of differential amplifier, they are:
Dual input balanced output differential amplifier.
Dual input unbalanced output differential amplifier.
Single input balanced output differential amplifier.
Single input unbalanced output differential amplifier.
Q.8. What is common mode rejection ratio (CMRR)?
Answer: Common mode rejection ratio is the ability of a differential amplifier to reject the common mode signals
successfully. It is called as a figure of merit of a differential amplifier. Ideally, the CMRR should be infinite and
practically it should be as high as possible.
Q.9. How CMRR can be improved?
Answer: CMRR is the ratio of differential voltage gain (Ad) to the common mode voltage gain (Ac), so we can improve
the CMRR by either increasing differential voltage gain or by decreasing common mode voltage gain.
To increase CMRR, emitter resistance RE should be increased. Higher the value of RE , more is the negative feedback
and less is the common mode gain. Thus with the increase in RE , common mode voltage gain decreases and CMRR
increases.
Q.10. What is the drawback of op amp IC 741?
Answer: The drawback of IC 741 is its low slew rate (0.5v/µs), which limits its use in relatively high frequency
applications, especially in oscillators, comparators and filters.
Q.11. What is current mirror?
Answer: A current mirror is a circuit designed to copy a current through one active device by controlling the current in
another device of a circuit, keeping the output current constant regardless of loading.
Q.12. What is the advantage of using a current mirror circuit?
Answer: The advantage of using current mirror circuit is that it requires less number of components than the constant
current bias circuit. It is simple and easy to fabricate. Therefore the current mirror circuit is widely used in the integrated
amplifiers.
Q.13. What is the advantage of using a constant current bias circuit?
Answer: Constant current bias circuit supplies constant emitter current. It also provides very high source resistance
since the AC equivalent of the DC current source is ideally an open circuit.
Q.14. How ICs are classified?
Answer: ICs are classified according to the number of components or gates in the case of digital ICs integrated on the
same chip as follows:
Small scale integration (SSI) < 10 components.
Medium scale integration (MSI) < 100 components.
Large scale integration (LSI) > 100 components.
Very large scale integration (VSSI) > 1000 components.
Q.15. What are the important characteristics of an ideal op amp?
Answer: The important characteristics of an ideal op amp are as follows-
Infinite open loop voltage gain.
Infinite input resistance.
Zero output resistance.
Zero offset voltage.
Infinite bandwidth.
Infinite CMRR.
Infinite slew rate.
Zero power supply rejection ratio.
Q.16. Define slew rate.
Answer: Slew rate is defined as the maximum rate of change of output per unit time and it is expressed in
volts/microsecond.
Q.17. What is the importance of slew rate?
Answer: Slew rate decides the capability of op amp to change its output rapidly; hence it decides the highest frequency
of operation of a given op-amp.
Q.18. What are the features of IC 741?
Answer: The features of IC 741 are-
No frequency compensation required.
Short circuit protection.
Offset voltage null capability.
Large common mode and differential voltage ranges.
No latch ups.
Q.19. Why op-amp is not used as an amplifier in the open loop configuration?
Answer: In practice the open loop op-amp is not used due to the following reasons-
Due to very large open loop gain, distortion is introduced in the amplified output signal.
The open loop gain does not remain constant. It varies with changes in temperature and power supply.
The bandwidth of an op-amp in the open loop mode is very small almost zero. For this reason the open loop op-
amp is not used in practice as an amplifier.
However the op-amp in open loop configuration is used in applications such as comparators (both inverting and
non inverting comparators).
Q.20. What are the advantages of negative feedback?
Answer: Negative feedback is used in the amplifier circuits as they provide the following improvements in the operation
of an amplifier-
It reduces and stabilizes the gain.
Reduces the distortion.
Increases the bandwidth.
Changes the value of input and output resistances.
Reduces the effect of variations in temperature and supply voltage on the output of the op-amp.
Q.21. What is the difference between positive feedback and negative feedback?
Answer: If the feedback signal and the original input signal are in phase with each other then it is called as the positive
feedback.
If the signal feedback to the input and the original input signal are 180 ∘ out of phase, then it is called as the negative
feedback.
Q.22. What is the virtual short or virtual ground concept?
Answer: According to the virtual short concept, the potential difference between the two input terminals of an op-amp is
almost zero. In other words both the input terminals are approximately at the same potential.
Q.23. What is input offset voltage?
Answer: Input offset voltage is the voltage that must be applied between the two input terminals of an op-amp to null
the output.
Q.24. What is input offset current?
Answer: The algebraic difference between the currents into the inverting and non inverting terminals is referred to as
input offset current.
Q.25. What is input bias current?
Answer: Input bias current is the average of the currents that flow into the inverting and non inverting terminals of the
op-amp.
Q.26. What are the features of a voltage follower circuit and what is its application?
Answer: The important features of the voltage follower circuit are as follows-
Closed loop voltage gain is equal to 1, i.e output is equal to input with no phase shift.
Very high input impedance.
Very low output impedance.
Large bandwidth.
Application- Voltage followers are placed between two networks to reduce the loading on the first network. This is due
to the high input impedance offered by the voltage follower.
Q.27. What are op-amp characteristics and its significance?
Answer: Op-amp characteristics are classified into two categories namely dc characteristics and ac characteristics.
DC characteristics includes-
Input bias current.
Input offset current.
Input offset voltage.
Thermal drift.
Ac characteristics includes-
Frequency response.
Stability.
Frequency compensation.
Slew rate.
The op-amp characteristics are important in practice because we can use them to compare the performance of various
op-amp ICs and select the best suitable from them for the required application.
Q.28. What is the output resistance of op-amp IC 741?
Answer: Output resistance is the equivalent resistance that can be measured between the output terminal of the op-amp
and ground. It is 75 ohm or IC 741.
Q.29. What is input capacitance of op-amp?
Answer: Input capacitance is the equivalent capacitance, measured at either the inverting or non inverting terminal with
the other terminal connected to ground.
Q.30. What is power supply rejection ratio (PSRR)?
Answer: The change in an op-amp input offset voltage caused by the variation in the supply voltage is called as power
supply rejection ratio (PSRR).
Q.31. What is gain bandwidth (GB) product?
Answer: The gain bandwidth product is the bandwidth of the op-amp when the voltage gain is 1.
Q.32. What are the parameters that should be considered for AC applications?
Answer: The parameters that should be considered for AC applications are-
Input and output resistance.
Output voltage swing.
Slew rate.
Gain bandwidth product.
Input offset voltage and current.
Equivalent noise voltage and current.
Q.33. What are the parameters that should be considered for DC applications?
Answer: The parameters that should be considered for DC applications are-
Input and output resistance.
Output voltage swing.
Input offset voltage and current.
Large signal voltage gain.
Q.34. Define frequency response of an op-amp.
Answer: The frequency response of an op-amp is the graph of its open loop gain versus frequency. The open loop gain
is generally expressed in dB and frequency is plotted on the logarithmic scale.
Ideally the open loop gain of the op-amp is expected to remain constant irrespective of frequency. That means ideally
the bandwidth of op-amp should be infinite but practically it is not so.
Q.35. What is transient response?
Answer: It is that portion of the complete response before attaining some fixed value at the output.
Q.36. What is steady state response?
Answer: The response of the network after it attains a fixed value is called as steady state response.
Q.37. Define full power bandwidth.
Answer: It is defined as the maximum frequency at which the op-amp will yield an undistorted ac output with the
largest possible signal amplitude. The amplitude is dependent on the type of op-amp and the power supplies.
Q.38. What is unity gain bandwidth (UGB)?
Answer: The frequency at which the gain equals one is known as the unity gain bandwidth. For an op-amp with a single
break frequency, the gain bandwidth (GB) product is constant and equal to unity gain bandwidth (UGB).
Q.39. What is the corner or break frequency?
Answer: It is the frequency at which gain A is 3 dB down from its value at 0 Hz.
Q.40. Define bandwidth of an amplifier.
Answer: Bandwidth of an amplifier is the range or band of frequencies for which the gain remains constant.
Q.41. What is the difference between inverting and non inverting amplifier?
Answer: Inverting amplifier is an amplifier in which the signal which is to amplified is applied at the inverting (-)
terminal of the op-amp. The amplified output signal will be 180 ∘ out of phase with the input signal. In other words the
output signal is inverted.
Non inverting amplifier is an amplifier in which the signal which is to be amplified is applied to the Non inverting (+)
terminal of the op-amp. The input and output voltages are in phase with each other.
Q.42. Which type of feedback is used in Non inverting amplifier?
Answer: Voltage series feedback is used in Non inverting amplifier.
Q.43. Which type of feedback is used in inverting amplifier?
Answer: Voltage shunt feedback is used in inverting amplifier.
Q.44. What is Instrumentation amplifier?
Answer: An instrumentation amplifier is basically a difference amplifier which must satisfy the following requirements-
Precise low level signal amplification.
Low noise.
Low thermal drift.
High input resistance.
Low power dissipation.
High CMRR.
High slew rate.
This amplifier amplifies the low level output signal of the transducer to such a level that it can drive the indicator or
display.
Q.45. What is transducer?
Answer: Transducer is a device which is used to convert one from of energy into another.
Q.46. What will be the output of an integrator if sine wave is applied at the input?
Answer: The output of the integrator is a cosine wave when the input is a sine wave.
Q.47. What are the applications of an Integrator?
Answer: Some of the important applications of an integrator are-
In the triangular wave or ramp generators.
In the analog to digital converters.
In the integral type controllers used in a closed loop control system.
In analog computers to solve differential equations.
Q.48. What will be the output of a differentiator for a square wave input?
Answer: The output voltage is in the form of a spikes corresponding to the rising and falling edges of the square wave
and the output voltage is zero when the input is constant.
Q.49. What will be the output of a differentiator for a sine wave input?
Answer: The output voltage will be an inverse cosine wave.
Q.50. What are the applications of a differentiator?
Answer: The applications of a differentiator are-
In the PID controllers.
As a high pass filter.
In the wave shaping circuits to generate narrow pulses corresponding to any sharp change in the input signal.
Q.51. What is thermal voltage drift?
Answer: The average rate of change of input offset voltage per unit change in temperature is called as thermal voltage
drift.
Q.52. What is an oscillator?
Answer: An oscillator is basically an amplifier which does not have any ac input but it operates on the principle of
positive feedback to generate an ac signal at its output.
Q.53. How does an oscillator operate without an input signal?
Answer: Due to random movement of electrons inside any electronic device such as resistor, a voltage is generated
which is called as noise voltage. This noise voltage is amplified by the amplifier and feedback. If the Barkhausen
criterion is satisfied then, sustained oscillations will be obtained at the output. Thus noise voltage acts as the starting
voltage and oscillators can operate without an input signal.
Q.54. What is Barkhausen criterion?
Answer: The Barkhausen criterion states that-
An oscillator will operate at that frequency for which the total phase shift introduced, as the signal proceeds
from the input terminals, through the amplifier and feedback network and back again to the input is precisely
0 ∘ or 360 ∘ or integral multiple of 360 ∘ .
At the oscillator frequency, the magnitude of the product of open loop gain of the amplifier ‘A’ and the
feedback factor ‘β’ is equal to or greater than unity. i.e. I Aβ I ≥ 1.
Q.55. What is frequency stability?
Answer: The ability of a oscillator circuit to oscillate at one exact frequency is called frequency stability.
Q.56. Wein bridge oscillator acts as which type of feedback network?
Answer: Wein bridge acts as the lead-lag RC feedback network.
Q.57. What is the range of oscillator frequency of a wein bridge oscillator?
Answer: Wein bridge oscillator is basically an RC oscillator. It is suitable for operation in the low frequency region
from 20 Hz to 100 KHz.
Q.58. What is Filter?
Answer: A filter is basically a frequency selective circuit. It is designed to pass a specific band of frequencies and block
or attenuate input signals of frequencies outside this band.
Q.59. What is Pass band?
Answer: It is the band or range of frequencies which are allowed to pass through to the output by the filter without any
attenuation.
Q.60. What is Stop band?
Answer: It is the band or range of frequencies which are not allowed to pass through to the output by the filter.
Q.61. What is transition band?
Answer: Band of frequencies between the pass band and stop band is defined as transition band.
Q.62. What are Passive filters?
Answer: The filter configurations using only passive components such as resistors, capacitors and inductors are called
as passive filters. The passive filters do not use any active device such as FET or transistors or op-amps. Passive filters
have low efficiency and their frequency response characteristics are not very sharp.
Q.63. What are Active filters?
Answer: The active filters use active devices such as an op-amp or transistors along with the passive components.
Active filters have more sharp frequency response characteristics and many other advantages over the passive filters.
Q.64. What are the advantages of active filters?
Answer: The advantages of active filters are-
Flexibility in gain and frequency adjustment.
No loading problem.
Low cost.
No insertion loss.
Interstage isolation and control of impedance.
Small component size.
Use of inductors can be avoided.
Q.65. What is Notch filter?
Answer: The narrow band reject filter is also called as the notch filter. The Q of such filters is higher than that of the
wide band reject filter (Q>10). Such filters therefore have very sharp frequency response characteristics. They are used
for rejecting a single frequency such as 50 Hz power line frequency hum.
Q.66. What is all pass filter?
Answer: It is a special type of filter which passes all the frequency components of the input signal to output without any
attenuation. But it introduces a predictable phase shift for different frequencies of the input signal. The all pass filters are
also called as delay equalizers or phase correctors.
Q.67. What is zero crossing detector?
Answer: Zero crossing detectors is nothing but the basic comparator circuit with a zero reference voltage applied to the
non inverting terminal.
The zero crossing detectors switch its output from one state to the other every time when the input voltage crosses the
zero. Zero crossing detectors are also known as sine wave to square wave converter.
Q.68. What are the applications of comparator?
Answer: Some of the important applications of a comparator are-
In signal generation and transmission.
Automatic control and measurement.
A/D converter.
Level detector and window comparator.
Voltage to frequency converter.
Switching regulator.
Q.69. What is Schmitt trigger or regenerative comparator?
Answer: The Schmitt trigger is a comparator with positive feedback that converts an irregular waveform to a square or
pulse waveform. In Schmitt trigger the input voltage triggers the output every time it exceeds certain voltage levels
called upper threshold and lower threshold.
Q.70. What is Hysteresis or backlash for a comparator?
Answer: The Hysteresis or backlash for a comparator comes into existence when positive feedback is used. It is defined
as the difference between the ‘turn –on’ and ‘turn-off’ input voltage. Due to hysteresis, the comparator output makes
transitions at different points when it changes its state from low to high and high to low state.
Q.71. What are the effects of hysteresis?
Answer: The effects of Hysteresis are-
Hysteresis improves the noise immunity.
It reduces the response time.
Increased hysteresis will make the sensitivity poor.
Hysteresis reduces the possibility of false triggering produced by noise.
Q.72. What is the use of precision rectifiers?
Answer: It is not possible to use the conventional rectifier circuits to rectify ac voltages below 0.6 volts because the
minimum voltage required to forward bias a silicon diode is 0.6 volt. The precision rectifiers will make it possible to
rectify input voltages of very small magnitudes even less than 0.6 volts.
Q.73. Why the diode op-amp combination is referred to as a super diode?
Answer: Placing the diode in the feedback loop eliminates any error that would have otherwise raised due to the forward
voltage drop of the diode. Hence the diode op-amp combination is referred to as a super diode.
Q.74. What is peak detector?
Answer: The peak detector circuit is one of the non linear applications of op-amp. It is used to detect and hold the peak
value of the input signal. Output of this circuit will follow the peak value of the input signal and store the maximum
value, infinitely.
Q.75. What is sample and hold amplifier?
Answer: The sample and hold amplifier is a circuit which captures the value of input signal instantaneously and holds it
in between the sampling instants.
Q.76. What are the applications of sample and hold circuit?
Answer: The applications of sample and hold circuit are-
In the pulse modulation systems.
In the analog to digital converter.
In digital interfacing.
In the analog demultiplexers.
Q.77. What is the difference between clipper and clamper circuits?
Answer: Clipper circuit is a circuit which is used for clipping off (removal) a certain portion of the signal whereas a
clamper circuit is used to shift the dc level of the input signal. It adds a desired dc level to the ac input voltage.
Q.78.What are hybrid IC’s?
Answer: In hybrid IC’s, passive components (such as resistors and capacitors) and the interconnections between them
are formed on an insulating substrate. Active components such as transistors and diodes, as well as monolithic integrated
circuits are then connected to form a complete circuit.
Q.79. What is monolithic ICs?
Answer: In monolithic ICs, all active and passive components are fabricated on a single piece of semiconductor
material, usually silicon. These ICs exhibit good thermal stability because all the components are integrated on the same
chip very close to each other.
Q.80. Why square wave generator is called as free running or astable multivibrator?
Answer: If output is not stable then multivibrator is called as astable or free running multivibrator and since square
wave is not stable, therefore square wave generator is called as free running or astable multivibrator.
Q.81. What is the use of wave shaping circuits?
Answer: Wave shaping circuits are used in digital computers and communications such as TV and FM receivers.
Q.82. For the analysis of binary weighted resistor network, we use Millman’s theorem what is it?
Answer: Millman’s theorem states that the voltage appearing at any node of resistive network is equal to the summation
of the conductances connected to that node.
Q.83. Define accuracy.
Answer: Accuracy indicates how close the analog output voltage is to its theoretical value. In short it indicates the
deviation of actual output from the theoretical value.
Q.84. What is the disadvantage of dual slope ADC?
Answer: The only major drawback of a dual slope type ADC is its longer conversion time as compared to other ADCs.
Q.85. What are the applications of analog to digital converter?
Answer: The applications of analog to digital converter are-
Microprocessor interfacing.
Data printing and recording.
Control of LED and LCD displays.
In digital voltmeters.
Q.86. What are the applications of digital to analog converter?
Answer: The applications of digital to analog converter are-
CRT graphics generation.
Microcomputer interfacing.
Programmable power supplies.
Digital filters.
Q.87. What is IC 555 timer?
Answer: The IC 555 timer is a monolithic timing circuit that can produce accurate and highly stable delays or
oscillations. It can be operated as a monostable multivibrator or as an astable multivibrator.
Q.88. Why IC 555 timer is called so?
Answer: IC 55 timer is called so because in this 3 resistors of 5k ohm each are used.
Q.89. What are the features of IC 555 timer?
Answer: The features of IC 555 timer are-
Supply voltage range is from 5 to 18 volt.
High temperature stability.
Timing can be adjusted from microseconds to hours.
Duty cycle of the output is adjustable.
Output is compatible with CMOS and TTL.
Good timing stability against supply voltage variations.
Low cost.
Q.90. What is monostable multivibrator?
Answer: Monostable multivibrator has only one stable state and the output of the monostable multivibrator is normally
low.
Q.91. What are the applications of a monostable multivibrator?
Answer: A monostable multivibrator can be used in the following applications-
Frequency divider.
Missing pulse detector.
Pulse width modulator.
Q.92. What is astable multivibrator?
Answer: Astable multivibrator is a multivibrator which is not having any stable state. This does not require any external
trigger to change the state of the output. Astable multivibrator is also known as free running multivibrator.
Q.93. What is duty cycle?
Answer: It is ratio of the time during which the output is high to the total time period.
Q.94. What are the applications of IC 555 timer?
Answer: The applications of IC 555 timer are-
Monostable and astable multivibrators.
Waveform generators.
Temperature measurement of control.
Voltage regulators.
Analog frequency meters.
Q.95. What is PLL (phase locked loop)?
Answer: The phase locked loop (PLL) is basically a closed loop system. Its application is to lock its output frequency
and phase to the frequency and phase of the input signal.
Q.96. Explain the operation of PLL circuit?
Answer: The operation of PLL circuit is as follows-
The PLL circuit is basically used for tracking a particular system. It synchronizes its output with the input signal
(also called as the reference signal) in terms of frequency and phase.
The state of synchronization between the input and output is called as the locked state. In the locked state the
 phase error between the input and output is minimum.
If the error tries to creep in, then the PLL system will work automatically to minimize the phase.
Thus the phase of the output signal is locked to that of the input signal. Hence the name phase locked loop.
Q.97. Where the principle of PLL is used?
Answer: The PLL principle is used in applications such as FM demodulation, FSK demodulation, motor speed
control, frequency multiplication and division etc.
Q.98. What is the role of low pass filter in the PLL?
Answer: The low pass filter which is also called as the loop filter is used for removing the difference frequency
components produced at the phase detector output by the unwanted interfering signals.
Q.99. What is lock range and capture range of PLL?
Answer: Lock Range- The lock range of a PLL is the range of the input frequencies about the centre frequency for
which the loop maintains a lock. The lock range is always symmetrically located with respect to the centre
frequency of the voltage controlled oscillator (VCO).
Capture Range- The capture range is the range of input frequencies for which the initially unlocked loop will lock
on an input signal. The capture range is always less than the lock range. The capture range denotes the transient
condition. The capture range also is symmetrically located with respect to the centre frequency of the voltage
controlled oscillator (VCO).
Q.100. What is voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and what are its use?
Answer: The voltage controlled oscillator is an oscillator, the output frequency of which is proportional to the dc
input voltage.
Voltage controlled oscillator is used in frequency modulation, tone generators and in frequency shift keying where
frequency needs to be controlled by means of an input voltage called control voltage.
 DIGITAL ELECTRONICS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q.1. What do you mean by word ‘digital’?
Answer: Digital means sequence of numbers having finite precision.
Q.2. What is the difference between digital system and analog system?
Answer: A digital system is a combination of devices designed to manipulate logical information or physical quantities
that are represented in digital form that is the quantities can take only discrete values. Example of digital systems
includes digital computers and calculators, digital audio and video equipments etc.
An analog system contains devices that manipulate physical quantities that are represented in analog forms. In an analog
system, the quantities can vary over a continuous range of values.
Q.3. What is the difference between digital signal and binary signal?
Answer: A digital signal is defined as a signal which has only a finite number of distinct values. Digital signals are not
continuous signal, they are discrete signals.
If a digital signal has only two distinct values, i.e. 0 and 1 then it is called as a binary signal.
Q.4. What are the advantages of digital signal?
Answer: Advantages of digital signal are:
Digital signals can be processed and transmitted more efficiently and reliably than analog signals.
It is possible to store the digital data.
Play back or further processing of the digital data is possible.
The effect of noise (unwanted voltage fluctuations) is less. So digital data does not get corrupt.
Q.5. Define number system.
Answer: A number system defines a set of values used to represent quantity. Examples of number system are binary,
octal, decimal, duodecimal, hexadecimal etc.
Q.6. How the resolution can be increased in floating point representation of numbers?
Answer: More the number of bits used in fraction part better will be the resolution.
Q.7. What is the size of bit, nibble, byte, word and double word in terms of number of bits?
Answer: Bit = 1 bits, Nibble = 4 bits, Byte = 8 bits, word = 16 bits, double word = 32 bits.
Q.8. Which code is called as minimum change code and why?
Answer: Gray code is called as minimum change code because it has a very special feature that only one bit will
change, each time the decimal number is incremented.
Q.9. What is a INHIBIT gate?
Answer: It is basically an AND gate with one of its input negated by an inverter. In INHIBIT operation output is zero
when blocking input is one.
Q.10. What is the advantage of fixed point representation compared to floating point representation?
Answer: Complexity and the cost of algorithm is less in fixed point representation, so it is suitable for time domain
filtering.
Q.11. What is the advantage of floating point representation compared to fixed point representation?
Answer: Quantization error is small and dynamic range is high for floating point representation so it is suitable for
frequency domain algorithm.
Q.12. What are ASCII codes?
Answer: ASCII is the abbreviation of American Standard Code for Information Interchange. It is a universally accepted
alphanumeric code.
It is used in most computers and other electronic equipment. Most computer keyboards are standardized with ASCII.
When we press a key, the corresponding ASCII code is generated which goes in to the computer.
ASCII has 128 characters and symbols. We need 7 bits to represent 128 characters. So ASCII is a 7 bit code.
Q.13. Which gate is known as coincidence detector?
Answer: XNOR gate is known as coincidence detector.
Q.14. Which gates are used in parity checking and parity generation of binary numbers?
Answer: XOR and XNOR gates.
Q.15. What are degenerated functions?
Answer: Degenerated functions are those which generate single operation.
Q.16. What do you mean by sampling jitter?
Answer: Sampling jitter is the error in placement of each block edge controlling the point when sampling begins.
Q.17. What do you mean by aperture jitter?
Answer: The RMS variation in time of the sampling instant caused by jitter in the sample-hold command signal is
known as aperture jitter. It is associated with sample and hold circuit.
Q.18. What are universal gates?
Answer: Universal gates are those gates with the help of which any gates can be designed. NAND and NOR gates are
universal gates.
Q.19. What is the difference between static logic circuits and dynamic logic circuits?
Answer: Static logic circuits perform the logical operations with voltage levels while dynamic logic circuits are based
on the capacitive nature of input of MOSFET, working by transferring stored charges corresponding to logic levels from
one circuit to another with the help of clock signals.
Q.20. Why look ahead carry adder is faster than ripple adder?
Answer: Look ahead carry adder is faster; since carry is generated in parallel at all the stages of addition rather than
sequentially as in ripple adder.
Q.21. What will be the number of possible combinations with n variables?
Answer: The number of possible combinations with n variables is 2n.
Q.22. What will be the number of possible Boolean function with n variables?
Answer: The number of possible Boolean function with n variables is 22n.
Q.23. What is the difference between compiler and interpreter?
Answer: Compiler- Programs that converts English like words of a high level language into the machine language of a
computer. It needs a given program called source code and translates the program into the machine language, called
object code.
Interpreter- It translates one statement at a time from a source code to an object code.
Q.24. What is the difference between simulator and emulator?
Answer: Simulator is just software which acts like hardware inside which we can see all electronic components and
connect them in different manner to get the output while emulator is actual hardware.
Q.25. What is the difference between assembler and cross assembler?
Answer: Assembler- The program that translates an assembly language program from mnemonics to the binary
machine code of the computer is called Assembler.
Cross Assembler- The program that translates the mnemonics of a particular microprocessor into the mnemonics of
other microprocessor is called a Cross Assembler.
Q.26. How microprocessor works without internal memory?
Answer: Microprocessor consists of address, data and control buses with some internal registers to process the task
through external memory.
Q.27. Define memory word.
Answer: Memory word is a group of bits in a memory that represents instructions of some type. For example, a register
consisting of 8 flip flops can be used as a memory for storing an 8 bit word.
Q.28. What is direct memory access (DMA)?
Answer: DMA interface is used for transferring data directly between an external device and memory. The bus buffers in
the microprocessor are disabled and go into a high impedance state during DMA transfer.
Q.29. What is PLD?
Answer: Programmable logic device (PLD) is an IC that contains a large number of interconnected logic functions. The
user can program the IC for a specific function by selective breaking the appropriate interconnections.
Q.30. Define PAL and PLA.
Answer: Programmable array logic (PAL) - It is a class of programmable logic devices. Its AND array is
programmable while its OR array is hard wired.
Programmable logic array (PLA) - It is a class of programmable logic devices. Both its AND and OR arrays are
programmable. It is also called as field programmable logic array (FLPA).
Q.31. What are the requirements of a logic family?
Answer: The requirements of a logic family are-
Propagation delay time is minimum.
Losses should be minimum.
It should be highly immune to noise.
The size should be minimum.
Q.32. What are the characteristics of Resistor Transistor logic (RTL)?
Answer: The characteristics of Resistor Transistor logic (RTL)are-
Very much compatible with other logic families.
It is very economical.
Its design is easy.
It has poor noise immunity.
Its speed is low.
 Power dissipation is low.
It has low threshold and fan out is also less.
Q.33. What are the characteristics of Diode Transistor logic (DTL)?
Answer: The characteristics of Diode Transistor logic (DTL) are-
In this transistor acts as inverting amplifier.
It possesses high speed.
It has low power dissipation.
Logic is performed by diodes.
Noise immunity and fan out is poor.
Q.34. What are the characteristics of Integrated Injection logic (IIL)?
Answer: The characteristics of Integrated Injection logic (IIL) are-
Its power consumption is low.
It has only one output per gate.
It has good packing density.
Speed is low.
Noise margin is poor.
One transistor is grown for each gate.
Q.35. What are the characteristics of Transistor Transistor logic (TTL)?
Answer: The characteristics of Transistor Transistor logic (TTL) are-
It has good current capability.
It is very economical.
Its switching speed is good.
It is compatible with DTL and CMOS.
Schottky type has very high switching speed and low power consumption.
Q.36. What are the characteristics of Emitter Coupled logic (ECL)?
Answer: The characteristics of Emitter Coupled logic (ECL) are-
It has low noise.
It has got fastest speed among all logic devices.
It needs good heat sinking.
Its cost is high.
Both normal and inverted outputs are obtained.
Its power consumption is high.
Q.37. What are the characteristics of Metal Oxide Semiconductor logic (MOS)?
Answer: The characteristics of Metal Oxide Semiconductor logic (MOS) are-
 MOS family uses negative logic for its operation.
It is very economical.
It is easier to make large complex chips.
It needs both positive and negative supplies.
Its speed is very low.
Q.38. What are the characteristics of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)?
Answer: The characteristics of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) are-
Noise margin is high.
Its power dissipation is very low.
Area used is more than MOS.
Processing is very complicated.
Its speed is very low.
Q.39. What do you mean by current hogging and which logic family has this problem?
Answer: Current hogging problem is due to different characteristics of transistor. Owing to these differences, the
saturation voltages of the load transistors may be different. So when one transistor enters into saturation it will not allow
other transistors to enter saturation and will take whole of the current supplied from the driver gate. This is known as
current hogging. DCTL has the problem of current hogging.
Q.40. What is Fanout?
Answer: It is the maximum number of similar logic gate input that can be driven by a logic gate output without affecting
the logic gate performance. High fanout is advantageous because it reduces the need for additional drivers to drive more
gates.
Q.41. What are combinational circuits?
Answer: A combinational circuit is a logic circuit the output of which depends only on the combination of the inputs.
The output does not depend on the past values of inputs or outputs. Hence combinational circuits do not require any
memory.
Q.42. What is magnitude comparator?
Answer: A magnitude comparator is a combinational circuit that compares two numbers A and B and determines their
relative magnitudes. The outcome of comparison is specified by three variables that indicates whether A>B, A<B or
A=B.
Q.43. What is the range of temperature over which logic families works satisfactorily?
Answer:The temperature range is 0 to 70 ∘ c.
Q.44. Which saturated logic family is suitable for large scale integration (LSI)?
Answer: Integrated Injection logic (IIL) is the only saturated bipolar logic suitable for large scale integration because of
small silicon chip area required and low power consumption.
Q.45. What is the use of schottky TTL?
Answer: Schottky TTL removes the storage time of transistors by preventing them from going into saturation. This
version increases the speed of operation without an excessive increase in power dissipation. This is the most popular
version in new designs.
Q.46. What is the advantage of using open collector output in TTL logic gates rather than using totem pole
output?
Answer: With Totem pole output wired-And operation is not possible in TTL gates which may lead to transistor
burning. With open collector output wired-AND operation is possible.
Q.47. What are sequential circuits?
Answer: In the sequential circuit, the timing parameter comes into picture. The output of a sequential circuit depends on
the present time inputs, the previous output and the sequence in which the inputs are applied. In order to provide the
previous input or output, a memory element is required to be used. Thus a sequential circuit needs a memory element.
Q.48. How will you define the present state and next state of sequential circuit?
Answer: Present state- The data stored by the memory element at any given instant of time is called as the present state
of the sequential circuit.
Next state- The combinational circuit operates on the external inputs and the present state to produce new outputs. Some
of these new outputs are stored in the memory element and called as the next state of the sequential circuit.
Q.49. Define clock skew.
Answer: Clock skew is defined as the difference in time between the clock edges arriving at a pair of clock inputs.
Q.50. What is a flip flop?
Answer: Flip flop is also known as the basic digital memory circuit or in other words it is the basic memory element. It
has two stable states namely logic 1 state and logic 0 state. It can store one bit of digital information therefore it is also
called as 1-bit memory cell. We can design it by using NOR gates or NAND gates.
Q.51. What is the difference between Flip flop and Latch?
Answer: While gates had to be built directly from transistors, Latches can be built from gates and Flip flops can be built
from latches. This fact will make it somewhat easier to understand Latches and Flip flops.
The difference between them are:
Latch is a combinational logic device while Flip flop is a sequential device.
Flip flop is a synchronous device while Latch is asynchronous device.
Latch does not have a clock signal whereas a Flip flop always does.
Latch is faster than Flip flop.
Q.52. A Flip flop is which type of Multivibrator: Astable, Monostable or Bistable?
Answer: A Flip flop is a bistable multivibrator because it has two stable states logic 1 state and logic 0 state.
Q.53. What is the setup time and hold time in Flip flop?
Answer: Setup time is the minimum time required to keep input at proper level before applying clock and hold time is
the minimum time required to keep input at same level after applying clock.
Q.54. What is Master Slave Flip flop?
Answer: The master slave flip flop eliminates all the timing problems by using two SR Flip flops connected together in
series configuration. One flip flop acts as the ‘Master’ circuit, which triggers on the leading edge of the clock pulse
while the other acts as the ‘Slave’ circuit, which triggers on the falling edge of the clock pulse. This results in the two
sections, the master section and the slave section being enabled during opposite half-cycles of the clock signal. In this
the output of the master will be transferred to the output of slave.
Q.55. What is Race around condition?
Answer: Race around condition occurs in JK flip flop and T flip flop to store 2-bits of information. Race around
condition always arises in asynchronous circuits.
Q.56. Which flip flop is called as universal flip flop?
Answer: JK flip flop is called as universal flip flop because the flip flops like D-FFs, SR-FFs and T-FF can be derived
from it.
Q.57. Explain what are preset and clear inputs of flip flops?
Answer: In the flip flops, when the power switch is turned on, the state of outputs is uncertain. But this uncertainty
cannot be tolerated in certain applications. In some applications it is necessary to initially set or reset the flip flops.
This can be practically achieved by adding two more inputs to a flip flop, called preset (PR) and Clear (CLR) inputs.
These inputs are called as direct or asynchronous inputs because we can apply them any time between clock pulses
without thinking about their synchronization with the clock.
Q.58. What are the applications of flip flops?
Answer: The important applications of the flip flops are-
Elimination of keyboard debounce.
As a memory element.
In various types of registers.
In counters/timers.
As a delay element.
Q.59. What is the difference between synchronous and asynchronous sequential circuits?
Answer: In the synchronous sequential circuits, the contents of memory elements can be changed only at rising or
falling edges of clock signal while in the asynchronous sequential circuit, the contents of memory elements can be
changed at any instant of time.
Q.60. What is the difference between Moore and Mealy circuit?
Answer: The synchronous sequential circuit is called as a Moore circuit if the output depends only on the present state of
flip flops.
The circuit is called as a Mealy circuit if the output is dependent on the present state of flip flops and the external inputs.
Q.61. What are Registers?
Answer: To increase the storage capacity in terms of number of bits, we have to use a group of flip flops. Such a group
of flip flops is known as Register. The n-bit register will consist of ‘n’ number of flip flops and it is capable of storing an
‘n’ bit word.
Q.62. How Registers can be classified?
Answer: Registers are classified based on the way in which data are entered and taken out from a register. There are
four possible modes as follows-
Serial in serial out (SISO).
Serial in parallel out (SIPO).
Parallel in serial out (PISO).
Parallel in parallel out ( PIPO).
Q.63. What are shift registers?
Answer: The binary data in a register can be moved within the register from one flip flop to the other or outside it with
application of clock pulses. The registers that allow such data transfers are called as shift registers. Shift registers are
used for data storage, data transfer and certain arithmetic and logic operations.
Q.64. What are Bidirectional shift register?
Answer: If a binary number is shifted left by one position then it is equivalent to multiplying the original number by 2.
Similarly if a binary number is shifted right by one position then it is equivalent to dividing the original number by 2.
Hence if we want to use the shift register to multiply and divide the given binary number, then we should be able to
move the data in either left or right direction. Such a register is called as a Bidirectional register.
Q.65. What are the applications of shift registers?
Answer: The common applications of a shift register are-
For temporary data storage.
For multiplication and division.
As a delay line.
Serial to parallel converter.
Parallel to serial converter.
Twisted ring counter or Johnson counter.
Q.66. Which shift register is used to convert temporal code into spatial code and vice versa?
Answer: To convert temporal code into spatial code, we use SIPO register while to convert spatial code to temporal
code , we use PISO register.
Q.67. What are counters?
Answer: The digital circuit used for counting pulses is known as counter. It is a sequential circuit. Counters are the
widest application of flip flops. It is a group of flip flops with a clock signal applied. Counters count the number of clock
pulses. Hence with some modifications it can be used for measuring frequency or time period.
Q.68. What is the difference between synchronous and asynchronous or ripple counters?
Answer: Synchronous counters- In synchronous counters all the flip flops receive the external clock pulse
simultaneously. Ring counter and Johnson counter are the examples of synchronous counters.
Asynchronous or ripple counters- For these counters the external clock signal is applied to one flip flop and then the
output of preceding flip flop is connected to the clock of next flip flop.
Q.69. What are Glitches?
Answer: Glitch is a short duration pulse or spike that appears in the outputs of a counter with mod number less than 2n.
Glitches are the appearance of spikes in the output when the input changes. It is due to different turn on and turn off
times of transistors. Glitches are present in asynchronous counters.
Q.70. What is MOD number?
Answer: The MOD number indicates the number of states in counting sequence. It indicates the frequency division
obtained from the last flip flop.
Q.71. What is lock out condition in counters?
Answer: A counter is supposed to follow the sequence of only the desired states. If it enters into an unused or unwanted
state, then it is expected to return back to a desired state. Instead if the next state of an unwanted state is again an
unwanted state then the counter is said to be in the lockout conditions.
Q.72. What are the problems faced by the Ripple counters?
Answer: The two major problems associated with the Ripple counters are as follows-
Generation of unwanted short duration pulses called glitch.
 Propagation delay.
Q.73. What is Bushless circuit?
Answer: The sequential circuit which enters into the lockout condition is called as the Bushless circuit.
Q.74. What are the applications of counters?
Answer: Some of the applications of counters are-
In digital clock.
In the frequency counters.
In time measurement.
In digital voltmeters.
In the counter type A to D converter.
In the digital triangular wave generator.
In the frequency divider circuits.
Q.75. What are the characteristics of Johnson counter or switch tail ring counter?
Answer: The characteristics of Johnson counter or switch tail ring counter are-
With n flip flops there are 2n states in this counter.
With n flip flops the maximum count by this counter is ( 2n -1 ).
In normal Johnson counter, with n flip flops and the input frequency is ‘f’ then output frequency of flip-flops is
“f/2n”.
In Johnson counter to decode each state one two input AND or NOR gate is used.
Lockout may occur when counter enter into unused state.
Q.76. What are the characteristics of Ring counter?
Answer: The characteristics of Ring counter are-
With n flip flops, there are n-states present in ring counter.
With n flip flops, maximum count possible in Ring counter is (2n-1).
Decoding is very easy in Ring counter, because there is no aid of extra circuit.
Q.77. Which flip flop is free from race around problem?
Answer: Master slave flip flop is free from race around problem.
Q.78. What is the use of T flip flop?
Answer: T flip flop is commonly used as digital counter and frequency divider.
Q.79. What is the output frequency of T flip flop?
Answer: The frequency is halved at the output of T flip flop.
Q.80. Which diode is used in HTL logic circuit to increase noise immunity?
Answer: HTL possesses highest noise immunity. In HTL logic circuit zener diode is used in place of normal diode to
increase noise immunity.
Q.81. What are the advantages of semiconductor memory?
Answer: Earlier the memory used to be of magnetic type. But now days we use semiconductor memories of various
types and size due to some of the advantages of semiconductor memories such as-
Small size.
High speed.
Better reliability.
Low cost.
Ease of expansion of memory size.
Q.82. What are the parameters on which memories can be classified?
Answer: The parameters used as basis of classification are as follows-
Principle of operation.
Physical characteristics.
Mode of access.
Technology used for fabrication.
Q.83. What is the difference between volatile memory and non volatile memory?
Answer: Volatile memory- If the information stored in a memory chip is lost when the electrical power is switched
OFF, then the memory is called as volatile memory. RAM is a volatile memory.
Non volatile memory- If the information once stored in memory chip does not change unless altered deliberately are
called as non volatile memory. Such memories can hold the information even after switching off the power supply. Read
only memories (ROM’s) of all types are examples of non volatile memory.
Q.84. Why Flash type of memories are preferred over EEPROM?
Answer: EEPROM memories are slow as compared to flash memories because in EEPROM, a single read or write of
memory location can be done in single operation whereas in flash memory multiple memory locations can be erased or
written in one programming operation.
Q.85. What is Random access memory (RAM)?
Answer: Random access memory is also called as read write memory (RWM). The memory locations in this type of
memory are organized in such a way that the access time required for accessing any location is the same. This is the
advantage of using RAM over the sequential memories.
RAMs can also be further classified into two types namely the static RAM and dynamic RAM. RAMs can be fabricated
using either bipolar technology or unipolar technology.
Q.86. What are Read only memories (ROM)?
Answer: These memories are designed only for reading the information which is already stored on them. The users
cannot write any new information on them. These are similar to the prerecorded cassettes.
A manufacturer or someone else can write ROMs, but the writing process is much more complicated as compared to that
of a RAM. ROM is used to store fixed information’s such as look up tables, instructions, fixed data etc.
Q.87. What is CAM?
Answer: CAM is called as content accessible memories. It is a special type of RAM. It can perform association
operation in addition to the read/write operations performed by the conventional memories.
Q.88. What are the characteristics of Flash memory?
Answer: The characteristics of Flash memory are-
 It is a special type of RAM.
It is a non volatile memory which is powered continuously.
The erasing and programming of this memory takes place block by block.
Due to this process, the flash memories are faster than EEPROMs which erase and write new data at byte level.
Important features of a flash memory are high speed, low operating voltages. Low power consumption and
durability.
Q.89. What are Hazards?
Answer: The term specifies the unwanted switching transients or false outputs or glitches which appear at the output of
a circuit. These transient false outputs are due to finite propagation delay times of the components along different paths
within the network.
Q.90. What are parity bits and what is its use?
Answer: A parity bit is an additional bit which is added to a binary word in order to make the number of 1’s in the new
word formed, even (even parity) or odd (odd parity). Parity bits are added in order to detect any error occurred in the
process of transmission.
Q.91. What do you mean by cross compiler?
Answer: A program runs on one machine and executes on another is known as cross compiler.
Q.92. What is the difference between parallel port and serial port?
Answer: Parallel ports are easy to program and faster than serial port. But main disadvantage is that it needs more
number of transmission lines so they are used for long distance communication.
Q.93. What is the main difference between Harvard architecture and Van-Newmen architecture of computer?
Answer: In Harvard architecture model, separate data and instruction memory was used which makes it faster whereas
in Van-newmen architecture, model instructions and data were stored in single memory. So this model was simple but
slow.
Q.94. How many addressing modes are there in 8085 microprocessor?
Answer: The addressing modes of 8085 microprocessor are-
Direct addressing.
Register addressing.
Register indirect addressing.
Immediate addressing.
Implicit addressing.
Q.95. Which is the faster addressing mode in 8085 microprocessor?
Answer: Register indirect addressing mode is fastest.
Q.96. What do you mean by jitter?
Answer: The short term variations of a signal with respect to its ideal position in time. It is also defined as variation of
clock period from edge to edge.
Q.97. What is the difference between bit, nibble, byte and word?
Answer: A bit is a single binary digit, a nibble is a combination of 4 binary digits, a byte is a combination of 8 binary
digits while a word is made up of several bytes.
Q.98. Which interrupts are level triggering interrupts in 8085 microprocessor?
Answer: RST 5.5 and RST 6.5 are level triggering interrupts.
Q.99. Is it possible to alter the instruction set of a microprocessor?
Answer: No, instruction set of a microprocessor cannot be altered because it is stored in its read only memory at the
time of chip manufacturing.
Q.100. Which segment can be used to sore interrupt and subroutine return address in 8086 microprocessor?
Answer: Stack segment is used to sore interrupt and subroutine return address in 8086 microprocessor.
 ELECTRONIC DEVICES INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q.1. What are the characteristics of semiconductor?
Answer: The characteristics of semiconductor are as follows-
Semiconductors have negative temperature coefficient of resistance.
At very low temperatures, the resistivity of semiconductors matches with that of insulators.
They don’t follow ohms law.
The electrical conductivity is very much affected by even a very minute amount of other substances called
impurities.
Q.2. What is the difference between direct and indirect band gap semiconductors?
Answer: In direct band gap semiconductor minimum of conduction band and maximum of valence band occurs for
same K value (K is known as wave vector or propagation constant) while in indirect band gap semiconductors the
minimum of conduction band and maximum of valence band occurs for different values of K. Direct band gap
semiconductors are GaAs, GaSb, ZnS etc whereas Si and Ge are indirect band gap semiconductors.
Q.3. Define Fermi level.
Answer: Fermi level in a semiconductor can be defined as the maximum energy that an electron in an semiconductor
have at zero degree Kelvin.
Q.4. What is a degenerate semiconductor?
Answer: A heavily doped semiconductor, in which the Fermi level lies in the conduction or valence band so that
material behaves as a metal is known as degenerate semiconductor.
Q.5. What will be the direction of electrons and holes when an electric field is applied across the semiconductor?
Answer: when an electric field is applied across the semiconductor, direction of holes is same as the direction of electric
field and direction of electrons is opposite to that of electric field.
Q.6. What is recombination and also tell what is used in semiconductor to increase the recombination rate?
Answer: Recombination is a process of merging a free electron and hole. Gold is used in semiconductor to increase the
recombination rate.
Q.7. What will be the effect on the conductivity of metals, silicon and germanium semiconductor upon per degree
rise in temperature?
Answer: Conductivity of metals is decreased by 0.4% per degree rise in temperature.
Conductivity of silicon semiconductor is increased by 8% per degree rise in temperature.
Conductivity of germanium semiconductor is increased by 6% per degree rise in temperature.
Q.8. What is mass action law?
Answer: Under thermal equilibrium, the product of concentration of free electrons (n) and the concentration of holes (p)
is constant and is independent of the amount of doping by donor and acceptor impurities. This is known as mass action
law. Thus, n.p = ni2. Where ni is the intrinsic concentration and is a function of temperature.

Q.9. How electrons and holes will move when an electric field is applied to an intrinsic semiconductor from left to
right?
Answer: Electrons move to the left while holes drift to the left.
Q.10. What is Hall effect and its use?
Answer: When a specimen (metal or semiconductor) carrying a current ‘I’ is placed in a transverse magnetic field ‘B’,
then an electric field ‘E’ is induced in the direction perpendicular to both ‘I’ and ‘B’. This phenomenon is called Hall
effect. The Hall effect may be used for-
Whether a semiconductor is N type or P type.
Finding the carrier concentration.
In calculating the mobility by measuring the conductivity.
Q.11. Which band gap materials are used for the fabrication of Laser?
Answer: Direct band gap materials having high carrier life time are used for fabrication of laser.
Q.12. Which type of semiconductor is not applicable to Einstein formula?
Answer: Degenerate semiconductors are not applicable to Einstein formula because in this type of semiconductor the
Fermi level is with-in the valence band and conduction band.
Q.13. What are the properties of an ideal diode?
Answer: An ideal diode is a two terminal device which has the following properties-
Conducts with zero resistance when forward biased.
Offers an infinite resistance when reverse biased.
Q.14. What is the difference between static and dynamic resistance of a diode?
Answer: Static resistance is defined as the ratio of dc voltage across the diode to the dc current flowing through it.
The dynamic or ac resistance of a diode at a particular dc voltage is defined as the reciprocal of the slope of the forward
characteristics.
Q.15. What is the difference between drift current and diffusion current?
Answer: Drift current is the current which flows due to electric field applied whereas diffusion current flows due to
concentration gradient.
Q.16. When consider together, what will be the combination when an ideal constant voltage source is connected in
series with an ideal constant current source?
Answer: The combination will be a constant current source.
Q.17. What is the difference between transducer and sensor?
Answer: In transducer the input is some physical quantity like temperature, water level etc and output is either some
electrical signal or may be some other physical quantity while in sensor the input may be a physical quantity or electrical
signal while output is always electrical quantity.
Q.18. Which diode capacitance is higher in forward and reverse biased?
Answer: In forward biased diffusion capacitance is higher than transition capacitance whereas in reverse biased
transition capacitance is higher than diffusion capacitance.
Q.19. What is zener breakdown?
Answer: When the PN junction diode is heavily doped the depletion layer is very thin, therefore a small reverse
potential difference causes a high electric field at the junction. When field becomes sufficiently high, it may break the
covalent bonds and reduce new electron hole pairs. Then the reverse current increases rapidly and the breakdown is
known as zener breakdown.
Q.20. What is Avalanche breakdown?
Answer: The Avalanche breakdown occurs in those junctions which are lightly doped (means wide depletion layer). In
this case, the minority carriers gain a large amount of kinetic energy from the applied reverse voltage to collide with the
covalent bonds of the atom.
So due to head on collision between the covalent bonds and the minority carriers, bonds are broken and a new pairs of
electrons and holes are generated. This process will continue and number of free electrons and holes are generated and
therefore produces a rapid multiplication of reverse current. This phenomenon is known as Avalanche breakdown.
Q.21. What are the applications of zener diode?
Answer: The applications of zener diode are-
As a voltage regulator.
As a fixed reference voltage in transistor biasing.
As a limiter in wave shaping circuits.
For a meter protection.
Q.22. What is the temperature coefficient of resistance for zener and Avalanche diode?
Answer: Temperature coefficient of resistance of zener diode is negative whereas the temperature coefficient of
resistance of Avalanche diode is positive.
Q.23. Whether diode is a linear or non-linear device?
Answer: A diode is a non-linear device.
Q.24. Which diode is used to generate harmonics?
Answer: Step recovery diode is used to generate harmonics.
Q.25. What Einstein’s equation relates?
Answer: Einstein’s equation relates diffusion constant with mobility.
Q.26. What is the difference between thermistor and sensistors?
Answer: Thermistor is a bulk semiconductor device which has negative temperature coefficient of resistivity i.e., the
resistance decreases exponentially with increasing temperature whereas sensistors is a heavily doped bulk semiconductor
which has positive temperature coefficient of resistance because heavily doped semiconductor acquires the properties of
a metal.
Q.27. Does the thickness of the depletion region ever become zero as the applied forward biased to a p-n junction
is increased?
Answer: No because as the applied voltage is increased, less and less voltage is dropped across it due to a progressive
fall in its resistance.
Q.28. What is photo diode?
Answer: Photo diode is a two terminal device which operates on reverse bias. It has a small transparent window which
allows light to strike the PN junction. When there is a dark current it means no radiation.
In reverse bias condition in the absence of light the reverse current through diode is very small, but as soon as light is
made to fall on the junction a large amount of current flows and the diode is forward biased.
Q.29. What are the applications of photo diode?
Answer: Some important applications are-
Photo detection.
Demodulation.
Logic circuits.
 Switching.
Optical communication system
Photo voltaic cell is a special application of photo diode.
Q.30. What is the difference between LED and PN junction diode?
Answer: PN junction which emits light when forward biased are called light emitting diode. Only difference between
LED and PN junction diode is of the material used for manufacturing LEDs. Examples are-
Gallium arsenide (GaAs) emits infrared radiation.
Gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) emits red or yellow light.
Gallium phosphide (GaP) emits red or green light.
Gallium nitride emits blue light.
Q.31. What is schottky diode?
Answer: It is formed by joining a doped semiconductor region with a metal such as gold, silver or platinum. Few
important points about schottky diode are-
Schottky diode is a metal to semiconductor junction.
Schottky diode only operates with majority carriers.
Semiconductor used is usually N type.
It does not have any charge storage, therefore it is very fast.
Semiconductor region is lightly doped.
Q.32. What is the use of Rectifier circuit?
Answer: Rectifier circuit is used to convert an ac voltage into dc voltage.
Q.33. What is the output frequency of full wave rectifier as compared to half wave rectifier?
Answer: The output frequency of the full wave rectifier will be doubled as compared to half wave rectifier.
Q.34. What is transistor?
Answer: A transistor is a three layer semiconductor device consisting of either two ‘n’ and one ‘p’ layer of material or
two ‘p’ and one ‘n’ type layer of material to form npn and pnp transistor respectively.
The word ‘TRANSISTOR’ means transfer + resistor. It means transfer of signal from low resistance circuit to a high
resistance circuit i.e, from input to output.
A transistor has a very important property that it can raise the strength of a weak signal, which is called amplification.
Q.35. Can any device acts as an amplifier?
Answer: Since no device can generate energy, so no one can act as an amplifier. Actually all the amplifying devices
works as an energy converter.
Q.36. What is the difference between amplifier and transformer?
Answer: An amplifier changes the power level of a signal by changing either current or voltage or both whereas in a
transformer if the voltage increases the current decreases and vice-versa. No change in the power level of the signal
takes place. So we can say that transformer cannot be treated as an amplifier.
Q.37. What is Early effect or base width modulation effect in BJT?
Answer: In a BJT area of collector is largest while that of base is smallest so when reverse bias is applied to collector
base junction, the depletion layer widens more in lightly doped base region than in collector region. A stage is reached
when reverse bias voltage is made so large that effective base width becomes negligible and electrons flow directly from
collector to emitter. This is known as Early effect or base width modulation effect in BJT.
Q.38. Which transistor configuration is most widely used and its application?
Answer: Common emitter configuration is most widely used configuration because it provides voltage as well as current
gain. CE configuration is used in audio frequency applications.
Q.39. What is the application of common base configuration?
Answer: Common base (CB) configuration is used for high frequency applications.
Q.40. What is the application of common collector (CC) configuration?
Answer: Because of high input resistance and low output resistance, this circuit is used for impedance matching.
Q.41. What are the effects of fixed emitter bias configuration circuit?
Answer: When emitter resistance RE is introduced in fixed bias circuit is called emitter bias. It’s effects are-

It improves stability by negative feedback.

Input impedance increases due to resistance RE in the emitter.

Emitter bias circuit is less sensitive for variation in β.

Q.42. What is thermal runaway?
Answer: Because of I2R losses, temperature of transistor increases which in turn further increases IC. This increase in IC
will further increase the temperature and this process is cumulative which ultimately lead to very high value of IC at very
high temperature. Because of this high temperature thermal breakdown in transistor is observed which is called thermal
runaway.
To avoid the thermal runaway, VCE < VCC / 2.

Q.43. Is it possible to measure the built in potential of a PN junction with the help of voltmeter?
Answer: Voltmeter cannot be used for measurement because the contact potential established at the points of connection
of the voltmeter will give wrong measurements.
Q.44. What are the advantages of FET over conventional transistors?
Answer: The advantages of FET over conventional transistors are as follows-
The FET is a unipolar device, depending only upon majority carriers. Vacuum tube is also an example of
unipolar device. The conventional transistor is a bipolar device (operation depends on both the majority and
minority carriers).
FET has high input resistance. Thus , FET is a voltage controlled device like a vacuum tube and not current
controlled like a conventional transistor.
FET is less noisy than a vacuum tube or bipolar transistor because no junctions are present like BJT. so, the
partition noise is absent.
FET is relatively less affected by radiation.
It has better thermal stability.
In integrated form, the fabrication of FET is simpler and it occupies less space.
FET has smaller size, longer life and high efficiency.
FET has very high power gain.
Q.45. What are the disadvantages of FET over conventional transistor?
Answer: The disadvantages of FET over conventional transistor are as follows-
Transconductance is low and hence the voltage gain is low. In case of transistor, Transconductance is high, so
the voltage gain is high.
They are more costly than junction transistors.
FET has relatively small gain bandwidth product.
Q.46. Many FET devices can be connected in parallel increase the current and power capability. Is the same true
for BJT’s?
Answer: No, it is not possible in BJT’s because the collector current in a BJT increases rapidly with temperature leading
to second breakdown.
Q.47. Describe how an FET can be used as a voltage variable resistor (VVR)?
Answer: In most of the linear applications of FET the device is operated in the constant current portion of its output
characteristics that is in saturation region. FET can also be used in the region before pinch-off VDS is small. FET when
used in region before pinch-off, it works as variable resistance device i.e., the channel resistance is controlled by the gate
bias voltage (VGS). In such an application the FET is referred as voltage variable or voltage dependent resistor.

Q.48. Why n-channel MOSFETS are preferred over p-channel MOSFETS in integrated circuits?
Answer: The n-channel MOSFETS are preferred over p-channel MOSFETS in integrated circuits due o following
reasons-
NMOS has faster operation than PMOS because the mobility of electrons is greater than mobility of holes.
P-channel MOSFETS are very bulky and hence difficult to fabricate in integrated circuits.
N-channel MOSFETs is equally suitable for both depletion and enhancement mode operation while P-channel
MOSFET is suitable only for enhancement mode operation.
N-channel MOSFETs have higher packing density than that of p-channel MOSFETs.
Q.49. What is channel length modulation?
Answer: Channel length modulation is present in MOSFET and it is similar to early effect in BJT. When the drain
voltage is increased beyond the onset of saturation, the pinch-off point begins to shift towards the source. This
displacement is called as channel length modulation.
Q.50. Which type of amplifier has feedback BJT or FE or both?
Answer: Due to component hre there is feedback from output to input in BJT while there is no feedback in FET.

Q.51. What is the application of voltage variable resistor (VVR)?

Answer: The VVR can be used to vary the voltage gain (AV) of a multistage amplifier as the signal level is increased.
This action is called “Automatic gain control (AGC)”.
Q.52. Why are enhancement mode MOSFETs preferred over the depletion mode ones in the fabrication of
integrated circuits?
Answer: The enhancement mode MOSFETs preferred over the depletion mode ones in the fabrication of integrated
circuits due to some of the following reasons-
The enhancement FET is very popular in MOS systems because it is much easier to produce than the depletion
type device.
Most of the contaminants in ICs fabrications are mobile ions which are positively charged and are trapped in the
oxide layer (sio2-layer) between the gate and substrate.
 As we know in an enhancement mode MOSFETs the gate is normally positive with respect to the substrate and
hence the positively charged contaminants collect along the interface between the sio2-layer and the Si substrate.
The positive charge from this layer of ions attracts free electrons in the channel which tends to make the
transistor turn ON prematurely.
Q.53. In addition to avoiding damage from heat, MOSFET and MOS ICs has to be protected from which
important factor?
Answer: MOSFET and MOS ICs have to be protected from electrostatic charge. This is the discharge of the static
voltage stored in the capacitance of out body which occurs when we pick up a device. This voltage can cause a
breakdown of the gate dielectric, damaging the device.
Q.54. What is the use of sio2-layer in an integrated circuit?

Answer: The sio2-layer is used or providing isolation.

Q.55. Can hybrid π-model of a transistor can be reduced to its h-parameter model and vice-versa?
Answer: Yes because hybrid π and h-parameter models are inter-related as both of them describe the same transistor.
Q.56. Why a bipolar junction transistor has high gain, high emitter efficiency and high speed?
Answer: A bipolar junction transistor has high gain, high emitter efficiency and high speed because the transistor has
heavy emitter doping and narrow base width.
Q.57. What are the advantages of ICs over discrete assembly?
Answer: The advantages of ICs over discrete assembly are as follows-
Low cost (due to large quantities processed).
Small size.
High reliability (all components are fabricated simultaneously, and there are no soldered joints).
Improved performance (because of the low cost, more complex circuitry may be used to obtain better functional
characteristics).
Q.58. What are the disadvantages of ICs over discrete assembly?
Answer: The disadvantages of ICs over discrete assembly are as follows-
A restricted range of values exists for resistors and capacitors.
Poor tolerances are obtained in fabricating resistors and capacitors of specific magnitudes.
The technology is very costly for small quantity production.
No practical inductors or transformers can be integrated.
Q.59. How can you change an n-channel depletion mode MOSFET into an enhancement mode?
Answer: This change can be done by applying backgate bias that is by applying few volts to the p-substrate we can shift
the threshold voltage for enhancement mode operation. This method requires an extra power supply.
Q.60. How mobility of the minority carriers can be determined?
Answer: The mobility of the minority carriers can be determined by Haynes-Shockley experiment.
Q.61. In switching diode fabrication which dopant is introduced into silicon which introduces additional trap
levels in the material thereby reducing the mean life time of carriers?
Answer: Gold is used.
Q.62. Why the light emitting diode (LED) emits light of a particular color?
Answer: Light emitting diode (LED) emits light of a particular color because the band gap of the semiconductor
material used in the fabrication of the diode is equal to the energy of the light photon.
Q.63. Between CMOS and bipolar switching circuits, which one has faster switching speed and why?
Answer: In CMOS and bipolar switching circuit, bipolar switching circuit has faster switching speed, in case of CMOS
due to charging and discharging of MOS capacitor delays are more.
Q.64. What are the advantages of CMOS inverter as the basic building block of VLSI circuit?
Answer: The advantages of CMOS inverter as the basic building block of VLSI circuit are as follows-
Due to smaller components, packing density of CMOS devices is very high so they are very useful in designing
of VLSI circuits.
In case of both logic ‘1’ or ‘0’ resistance offered by CMOS inverters is very high, so power dissipation is very
less.
Manufacturing of CMOS inverter circuits is much simpler.
Fan out of VLSI circuit designed using CMOS inverter is very high compare to bipolar device.
Q.65. What are power amplifiers?
Answer: The power amplifiers are large signal amplifiers which raise the power level of the signals. The power
amplifier may also be defined as a device which converts dc power to ac power and whose action is controlled by the
input signal.
Q.66. What are class A power amplifiers?
Answer: When the collector current flows at all times during the full cycle of the input signal, the power amplifier is
known as class A power amplifiers.
Q.67. What are class B power amplifiers?
Answer: When the collector current flows only during the positive half cycle of the input signal, the power amplifier is
known as class B power amplifiers.
Q.68. What are class C power amplifiers?
Answer: When the collector current flows for less than half cycle of the input signal, the power amplifier is known as
class C power amplifiers.
Q.69. Which amplifier suffers from cross over distortion and how it can be minimize?
Answer: The class B amplifier suffers from cross over distortion due to non-linearity in the input characteristics. To
minimize the cross over distortion, the transistor should operate in class AB mode. In this mode biasing is made just
above the cut-off and the efficiency in class AB is less than class B amplifier.
Q.70. What are class D amplifiers?
Answer: Class D amplifiers are the special amplifiers design to operate with digital pulse signal, which are ‘ON’ for a
short interval and ‘OFF’ for a long interval. Efficiency of class D operation is above 90%.
Q.71. What is hot-carrier effect in MOSFET?
Answer: When large operating voltages are applied to a MOSFET the electrons in the channel acquire high energies
become hot. It causes MOS Transconductance degradation and threshold voltage shift.
Q.72. Which amplifier has maximum bandwidth?
Answer: Direct coupled amplifier has maximum bandwidth.
Q.73. Why X-rays are used for lithography in IC technology?
Answer: X-rays are used for lithography in IC technology because high resolution is achievable and scatting effects are
small.
Q.74. What is Ion implantation?
Answer: In Ion implantation, ions of dopant like phosphorous or boron are accelerated to high energy about 300,000 ev
and is bombarded with silicon wafer target. The energy of the ions determines the depth of penetration of target.
Q.75. What are the steps of IC fabrication?
Answer: The steps of IC fabrication are as follows-
Crystal growth of a substrate.
Formation of epitaxial layer.
SiO2 layer growth.

Photo etching.
Diffusion.
Evaporation of aluminum.
Q.76. What is the basic function of buried n+ layer in n-p-n transistor in IC?
Answer: The basic function of buried n+ layer in n-p-n transistor in IC is to reduce the collector series resistance.
Q.77. Why an IC is more reliable as compared to its discrete circuit equivalent?
Answer: An IC is more reliable as compared to its discrete circuit equivalent because all the joints in an IC are soldered
simultaneously.
Q.78. Why the resistors and capacitors fabricated using IC technology have poor tolerances with respect to their
absolute values?
Answer: The resistors and capacitors fabricated using IC technology have poor tolerances with respect to their absolute
values because in IC fabrication all the components are fabricated simultaneously therefore their ratio of tolerances is
very low.
Q.79. Why a graded base BJTs exhibit high frequency response characteristic as compared to their uniform base
counterparts?
Answer: The graded base BJTs exhibit high frequency response characteristic as compared to their uniform base
counterparts because there exists a built-in electric field in the base region of the graded base BJTs which is absent in
case of uniform base counterparts.
Q.80. Why is silicon dioxide (SiO2) layer used in ICs?

Answer: silicon dioxide (SiO2) layer is used in ICs to protect the surface of the chip from external contaminants and to
allow for selective formation of the n and p regions by diffusion.
Q.81. Why silicon is mainly used for making ICs and not germanium?
Answer: Because in silicon, silicon dioxide (SiO2) layer which acts as an insulator can be formed for isolation purposes.
Corresponding oxide layer cannot be formed in germanium.
Q.82. Why RF input impedance of a MOSFET is low?
Answer: RF input impedance of a MOSFET is low because of the inter-electrode capacitances which provide a low
reactance shunting path at the high frequencies.
Q.83. What is a snubber circuit?
Answer: Snubber circuit is a protection circuit, usually an R-C circuit connected across a thyristor to limit the dv/dt rise
below the manufacturer’s specifications.
Q.84. With the help of which experiment one can able to determine the mobility of minority carriers?
Answer: Haynes-Shockley experiment.
Q.85. What are opto-isolators and where do they find application?
Answer: The opto-isolators which is also called opto-coupler are the device which are optically coupled but electrically
isolated that incorporate many characteristics. These are widely used in industrial applications, where a very good DC
isolation better than the transformer is required. Due to its small response time it can be used to transmit data in
megahertz range.
Q.86. What is the drawback of MOS ICs or unipolar ICs?
Answer: The major drawback of MOS ICs is their operating speed. The operating speed of MOS ICs is comparatively
low and hence they are not suitable for ultra high speed applications.
Q.87. What are the limitations of an IC?
Answer: An IC has the following limitations-
The inductors and transformers cannot be fabricated.
Capacitors and resistors are limited in maximum value.
It is not possible to produce high power ICs.
Low noise and high voltage operation are not easily obtained.
High frequency response is limited.
If any component of the IC goes out of order, the whole IC has to be replaced by new one.
Q.88. In current shunt feedback amplifier which parameter is stabilized?
Answer: In current shunt feedback amplifier the current at the output is sampled and mixing at the input is done in
shunt. So the parameter that is stabilized is current gain.
Q.89. In voltage shunt feedback amplifier which parameter is stabilized?
Answer: In voltage shunt feedback amplifier voltage is sampled and added in shunt to the input so the parameter that is
stabilized is transresistance.
Q.90. What are the features of power MOSFET?
Answer: The features of power MOSFET are as follows-
Power MOSFET has lower switching losses but its on-resistance and conduction losses are more. So at high
frequency applications, power MOSFET is the obvious choice.
Power MOSFET is a voltage controlled device.
Power MOSFET has positive temperature coefficient of resistance.
Power MOSFET is a unipolar device.
Power MOSFETs in higher voltage ratings have more conduction loss.
Power MOSFETs have much more linear transfer functions.
Q.91. In current series feedback amplifier which is the parameter that is stabilized?
Answer: In current series feedback amplifier the current at output is sampled and is added in series with the input so the
parameter that is stabilized is Transconductance.
Q.92. Indicate whether β-value of the BJT increases or decreases with increase in the value of base width?
Answer: With increase in base width, the recombination in the base region will increase and therefore base current
increases and collector current decreases so β = IC/IB decreases.

Q.93. Indicate whether β-value of the BJT increases or decreases with increase in the value of minority carrier
life time in base region?
Answer: As carrier (minority) life time in base region increases the number of recombination in base region decreases
and more and more carriers reach to collector, therefore IB decreases and IC increases and as a result β = IC/IB increases.

Q.94. Indicate whether β-value of the BJT increases or decreases with increase in the value of temperature?
Answer: With increase in temperature, minority carrier life time increases in base region and this tend to increase β
while on the other hand due o increase in temperature, transit time increases which tend to decrease β, but the effect of
increasing lifetime with temperature dominates so β increases with temperature.
Q.95. Indicate whether β-value of the BJT increases or decreases with increase in the value of collector current?
Answer: With increase in collector current, β will remain same, as collector current will increase when base current
increases, as base current is controlling current on which collector current depends.
Q.96. Indicate whether β-value of the BJT increases or decreases with increase in the value of collector voltage?
Answer: As collector voltage increases, effective base width decreases, so recombination in base region decreases due
to this IB decreases and IC increases and therefore β = IC/IB increases.

Q.97. What should be the input impedance of an ideal voltage source and current source?
Answer: For ideal voltage source input impedance should be zero so that there is no voltage drop across it for the same
reason an ideal current source should have infinite impedance.
Q.98. Give an example of current series feedback?
Answer: Amplifier with an unbiased emitter resistance is an example of current series feedback.
Q.99. How temperature dependency of differential amplifier can be minimized?
Answer: Temperature dependency of differential amplifier is minimized by using swamping resistor of high value in the
circuit.
Q.100. Which semiconductor is having higher temperature of operation, silicon or gallium arsenide?
Answer: Since gallium arsenide has higher forbidden energy gap which implies more energy is required to remove an
electron from a valence band. Therefore, the intrinsic temperature of material is higher. So gallium arsenide has higher
temperature of operation or in other words we can say that it can withstand higher temperature.
 SIGNALS AND SYSTEMS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q.1. What is a signal and system?
Answer: A function of one or more independent variables which contain some information is called signal.
A system is a set of elements or functional blocks that are connected together and produces an output in response to an
input signal.
Q.2. How can you differentiate signal and wave?
Answer: A signal is what which contains information while wave does not contain any information.
Q.3. What is the difference between deterministic and random signals?
Answer: A deterministic signal can be completely represented by mathematical equation at any time whereas a signal
which cannot be represented by any mathematical equation is called random signal.
Q.4. What will be the signal in the frequency domain when a signal is discrete and periodic in time domain?
Answer: Since periodicity in one domain reveals discrete in other domain, so if the signal is discrete and periodic in one
domain then it is periodic nad discrete in other domain.
Q.5. What are analog and digital signals?
Answer: When amplitude of CT signal varies continuously, it is called analog signal. In other words amplitude and time
both are continuous for analog signal.
When amplitude of DT signal takes only finite values, it is called digital signal. In other words amplitude and time both
are discrete for digital signal.
Q.6. What are even and odd signals?
Answer: A signal is said to be even signal if inversion of time axis does not change the amplitude. i.e, x(t) = x(-t)
A signal is said to be odd signal if inversion of time axis also inverts amplitude of the signal. i.e, x(t) = -x(-t)
Q.7. What is the significance of even and odd signals?
Answer: Even or odd symmetry of the signal have specific harmony or frequency contents and this even and odd
symmetry property is used in designing of filters.
Q.8. Can you able to reconstruct the original signal from sampled signal if it has been sampled at Nyquist rate?
Answer: No original signal cannot be reconstructed because in order to reconstruct the original signal from sampled
signal when it is sampled at Nyquist rate, an ideal low pass filter is required which is impossible in real life to construct.
Q.9. What is the difference between power signal and energy signal in terms of energy and power?
Answer: Energy of the power signal is infinite whereas power of the energy signal is zero.
Q.10. What is the significance of unit impulse or unit sample functions?
Answer: Unit impulse or unit sample functions are used to determine impulse response of the system. It also contains all
the frequencies from -∞ to ∞.
Q.11. What is the significance of unit ramp function?
Answer: The ramp function indicates linear relationship. It also indicates constant current charging of the capacitor.
Q.12. Can you able to construct original signal from the quantized signal?
Answer: No, since quantizer is a non invertible system so we cannot construct original signal from quantized signal.
Q.13. What is the basic difference between amplitude and magnitude?
Answer: Amplitude is a vector quantity having both value and direction whereas magnitude is a scalar quantity having
only value but not the direction.
Q.14. What are the limitations of Fourier transform and use of Laplace transform?
Answer: They are:
Fourier transform can be calculated only for the signals which are absolutely integrable. But Laplace transform
exists for signals which are not absolutely integrable.
Fourier transform is calculated only on the imaginary axis, but Laplace transform can be calculated over
complete s-plane. Hence Laplace transform is more broader compared to Fourier transform.
Q.15. What are the applications of initial and final value theorems?
Answer: They are:
The initial voltage on the capacitor or current through an inductor can be evaluated with the help of initial value
theorem.
The final charging voltage on capacitor or saturating currents through an inductor can be evaluated with the
help of final value theorem.
Q.16. Can we interchange the sampling and quantization operations, means instead of sampling the signal first
and then quantized, can we do quantization first and then sampling?
Answer: Yes we can interchange the sampling and quantization operations but the drawback is that it results in
increased quantization noise.
Q.17. What is the significance of region of convergence (ROC) of Z transform?
Answer: The significance of region of convergence (ROC) of Z transform are:
ROC gives an idea about values of z for which Z-transform can be calculated.
ROC can be used to determine causality of the system.
ROC can be used to determine stability of the system.
Q.18. What is the relationship between z-transform and DTFT?
Answer: When z-transform is evaluated on unit circle, then it becomes Fourier transform or in other words we can say
that DTFT is a special case of z-transform on unit circle.
Q.19. What is the similarity between Laplace transform and z-transform?
Answer: Z-transform is the discrete time counter part of Laplace transform with negative real axis mapped within unit
circle, jω axis mapped on unit circle and right half mapped on outside a unit circle.
Q.20. What is the relationship between Laplace transform and CTFT?
Answer: When Laplace transform is evaluated on jω axis , then it becomes Fourier transform or in other words CTFT is
a special case of Laplace transform evaluated on jω axis.
Q.21. What is the difference between DTFT and DFT?
Answer: In DTFT the discrete signal is assumed to be aperiodic so the frequency domain signal is periodic and
continuous whereas in DFT, the discrete signal is assumed to be periodic so frequency domain signal is periodic and
discrete.
Q.22. What do you mean by Gibbs phenomenon?
Answer: Gibbs phenomenon says that whenever there is abrupt discontinuity in the signal which is being sampled, the
reconstructed signal will always have high frequency oscillations and as the number of samples increases the oscillations
compress towards discontinuity but their maximum value remains the same.
Q.23. Define invertible system?
Answer: A system is said to be invertible if there is unique output for every unique input.
Q.24. What is the difference between convolution and correlation?
Answer: In convolution one of the two signals is folded and shifted while in correlation none of the signal is folded but
one signal is shifted to right or left.
Q.25. What are the applications of convolution?
Answer: The applications of convolution are:
It is used for system analysis such as causality, stability, step response, impulse response, invertibility etc.
It is used to determine output of the system if input and impulse response is given.
It relates input output and impulse response.
Convolution helps to represent system in frequency domain using Fourier, Laplace and z-transform. This is
used to study pole-zero plots, stability, filtering etc.
Q.26. What is autocorrelation?
Answer: When we calculate correlation function of the signal with itself, then it is called autocorrelation. Thus if x1(t) =
x2(t), then correlation becomes autocorrelation.

Q.27. What is the importance of unit impulse function?

Answer: One of the important characteristics of unit impulse is that very general signals can be represented as linear
combination of delayed impulses.
Q.28. Define Parseval’s Theorem.
Answer: It states that the power of the signal is equal to the sum of the square of the magnitudes of various harmonics
present in the spectrum.
Q.29. What are Dirichlet’s condition?
Answer: Following are the Dirichlet’s conditions:
The function f(t) is the single valued function of the variable t within the interval (t1, t2).

The function f(t) has a finite number of discontinuities in the interval (t1, t2).

The function f(t) has a finite number of maxima and minima in the interval (t1, t2).

The function f(t) is absolutely integrable.

Q.30. Why do we do Fourier Transform?
Answer: By Fourier Transform we can represent the signal from time domain to frequency domain, thus we can find the
various frequency components contained in the given signal. Helping us to find the total bandwidth required for the
transmission of the given signal.
Q.31. Why for signal analysis we use only sinusoidal waves and not other signals?
Answer: We use only sinusoidal waves and not other signals because:
The response of sine wave to a LTI system is also sinusoidal.
The sinusoidal analysis of electric network is more simple and convenient.
Q.32. What do you mean by sinusoidal fidelity?
Answer: sinusoidal fidelity is an important characteristic of linear system. If input to a linear system is a sine wave, the
output will also be a sine wave at exactly the same frequency. Only the amplitude and phase can be different.
Q.33. Define Aliasing effect.
Answer: Aliasing is an effect that causes different signals to become indistinguishable (or aliases of one another)
when sampled. It also refers to the distortion or artifact that results when the signal reconstructed from samples is
different from the original continuous signal.
Q.34. What is the double curse effect of Aliasing?
Answer: Due to Aliasing high frequency contents are recovered at low frequency so both high frequency and low
frequency contents are lost.
Q.35. What are mutually orthogonal functions?
Answer: Two vectors are said to be orthogonal if their product is zero. i.e, the two vectors have nothing in common.
Example, Trignometric and exponential functions.
Q.36. Define linearity or linear system.
Answer: A linear system is a system that possesses the property of superposition, i.e, additive property and scaling or
homogeneity property.
Q.37. Define fundamental frequency.
Answer: It is the smallest frequency with which a signal repeats itself.
Q.38. What are passive and active filters?
Answer: A passive filter is a kind of electronic filter that is made only from passive elements – in contrast to an active
filter, it does not require an external power source (beyond the signal). An active filter is a type of analog electronic
filter, distinguished by the use of one or more active components and require an external power source.
Q.39. Is it possible to design a filter which can give good results both in time domain and frequency domain?
Answer: No it is not possible to design such kind of filter.
Q.40. What are the advantages of digital filter over analog filters?
Answer: Digital filters have the following advantages compared to analog filters:
Digital filters are software programmable, which makes them esay to build and test.
Digital filters require only the arithmetic operations of addition, subtraction and multiplication.
Digital filters do not drift with temperature or humidity or require precision components.
Digital filters have a superior performance to cost ratio.
Digital filters do not suffer from manufacturing variations or aging.
Q.41. Which property of Fourier transform is used in Analog modulation?
Answer: Time shifting property of Fourier transform.
Q.42. What are the classification of the system based on unit sample response?
Answer: FIR (Finite impulse response) system and IIR (Infinite impulse response) system.
Q.43. Define FIR system.
Answer: If the system has finite duration impulse response then the system is said to be finite impulse response (FIR)
system.
Q.44. Define IIR system.
Answer: If the system has infinite duration impulse response then the system is said to be infinite impulse response
(IIR) system.
Q.45. Give one example of FIR and IIR filters?
Answer: Windowed sinc filters are the examples of FIR filters and moving average filters are the example of IIR filters.
Q.46. Which filter (FIR or IIR filters) is always stable and why?
Answer: FIR filters are always stable because they do not contain poles.
Q.47. Define Fourier series?
Answer: Fourier series is the representation of a function f(t) by the linear combination of elements of a closed set of
infinite mutually orthogonal functions.
Q.48. What is Hilbert Transform?
Answer: Hilbert transform of a signal x(t) is defined as the transform in which phase angle of all components of the
signal is shifted by ±90 ∘ .
Q.49. What do you mean by linear phase filter?
Answer: If the system is having even symmetry around some frequency other than zero then the filter is said to have
linear phase.
Q.50. Can we make non linear phase of IIR filter as linear phase?
Answer: Yes linear phase can be obtained by bidirectional filtering at the expense of double the execution time and
program complexity.
Q.51. What are piecewise-defined signals?
Answer: Signals which cannot be represented by a single equation for all time but can be represented by a set of
equations are called piecewise equations or piecewise-defined signals.
Q.52. What is the value of area under the unit impulse function?
Answer: The area under the unit impulse function is equal to unity (1).
Q.53. What are the applications of Bilateral and Unilateral Laplace transform?
Answer: The applications of Bilateral and Unilateral Laplace transform are as follows-
Solution of differential equation.
To determine the system response.
To determine the system function or transfer function.
To determine impulse response of systems.
To draw the Bode plot and to determine the system stability by considering gain margin and phase margin.
To determine the steady state error.
To determine the initial and final value of a system.
Q.54. What are the methods for finding inverse Z-transform?
Answer: There are three methods for finding inverse Z-transform-
The power series or long division method.
The partial fraction expansion method.
 The complex inversion integral method (also known as the residue method).
Q.55. What are the applications of Z-transform?
Answer: The applications of Z-transform are as follows-
To solve the linear differential equation.
To determine transfer function.
To determine system response.
System realization.
To determine system stability.
In digital signal processing and digital control system.
Q.56. What do you mean by cross correlation?
Answer: Cross correlation is the measure of similarity between two waveforms (one waveform and time delayed
version of other waveform). This express how much waveform is related to the time delayed version of the other
waveform when scanned over time axis.
Q.57. What do you mean by distributed parameter system?
Answer: If the size of the component is large with respect to the wavelength of highest frequency component present in
the signal associated with it then it is called distributed parameter system. Example- coaxial cable.
Q.58. What do you mean by lumped parameter system?
Answer: If the size of the component is small with respect to the wavelength of highest frequency component present in
the signal associated with it then it is called lumped parameter system. Example- electrical circuit.
Q.59. What do you mean by BIBO stable and unstable system?
Answer: An initially relaxed system is said to be bounded input bounded output (BIBO) stable if every bounded input
produces a bounded output. Informally, a stable system is one in which small input leads to responses (outputs) that do
not diverse.
A system which does not produce a bounded output from a bounded input is termed as BIBO unstable system.
Q.60. Define autocorrelation.
Answer: Autocorrelation is the degree of measure of similarity between two same signal waveforms.
Q.61. How can you identify causal and non-causal time domain signal with the help of ROC?
Answer: If the ROC lies on right hand side of the pole in s-plane, then corresponding time domain signal is causal.
If the ROC lies on left hand side of the pole in s-plane, then corresponding time domain signal is non-causal.
Q.62. How can you identify stability of time domain system with the help of ROC?
Answer: For the stable system, the ROC includes jw axis of s-plane whereas for the unstable system, the ROC does not
include jw axis of s-plane.
Q.63. What should be the condition for the time domain system to be stable and causal both?
Answer: The system is stable and causal both if all the poles lie in left half side of s-plane and ROC of Laplace
transform is on right hand side of all the poles (i.e. it includes jw axis.
Q.64. What is the relation of power spectral density to autocorrelation?
Answer: Autocorrelation function and power spectral density form a Fourier transform pair.
Q.65. What is the role of energy spectral density (ESD) and power spectral density (PSD)?
Answer: Role of ESD and PSD-
The spectral densities give the distribution of energy or power of the signal as a function of frequency. This
information is used to calculate bandwidth power relationship of the signal.
The spectral densities are also used to evaluate total energy or power of the signal. The energy or power of the
signal can also be evaluated over a certain frequency range.
Autocorrelation function and spectral densities are related by Fourier transform. These are time and frequency
domain representations respectively.
Q.66. How we can obtain step response by impulse response?
Answer: The step response is obtained by integration of impulse response.
Q.67. Define ROC of Z-transform and its significance?
Answer: ROC is the region where Z-transform converges.
Significance of ROC-
ROC gives an idea about values of Z for which Z-transform can be calculated.
ROC can be used to determine causality of the system.
ROC can be used to determine stability of the system.
Q.68. What conditions should be satisfied by the function x(t) for Fourier transform to exist?
Answer: Following conditions should be satisfied by the function x(t) for Fourier transform to exist-
Single valued property - x(t) must have only value at any time instant over a finite time interval T.
Finite discontinuities – x(t) should have at the most finite number of discontinuities over a finite time interval T.
Finite peaks – The signal x(t) should have finite number of maxima and minima over a finite time interval T.
Absolute integrability – x(t) should be absolutely integrable.
These conditions are sufficient, but not necessary for the signal to be Fourier transformable.
Q.69. What do you mean by time scaling property of Fourier transform?
Answer: It means compression of a signal in time domain is equivalent to expansion in frequency domain and vice
versa.
Q.70. What is the significance of integration property of Fourier transform?
Answer: Integration in time represents smoothing in time domain. This smoothing in time corresponds to de-
emphasizing the high frequency components of the signal.
Q.71. Why windowing is necessary for a sampled signal?
Answer: When a signal is sampled and FFT is performed directly then the first side lobe is only 14 dB less than the
main lobe i.e. the SNR is very poor. Windowing of sampled signal is done to improve the ratio between main lobe and
the first side lobe.
Q.72. What is the range of frequency of CTFT and DTFT?
Answer: In CTFT the range of frequencies varies from -∞ to +∞ whereas in DTFT the range of frequencies varies from
–π to +π.
Q.73. What do you mean by time invariant system?
Answer: A continuous time system is time invariant if the time shifts in the input signal results in corresponding time
shift in the output.
Q.74. What are the applications of convolution?
Answer: The applications of convolution are as follows-
It is used for system analysis such as causality, stability, step response, impulse response, invertibility etc.
It is used to determine output of the system if input and impulse response is given.
It relates input, output and impulse response.
Convolution can be used to resolve interconnected systems using convolution properties.
Convolution helps to represent system in frequency domain using Fourier, Laplace and Z-transforms. This is
used to study pole-zero plots, stability filtering etc.
Q.75. What is the relationship between the Fourier transform and Laplace transform?
Answer: Laplace transform is basically Fourier transform on imaginary (jw) axis in the s-plane.
Q.76. What do you mean by complex translation in Laplace transform?
Answer: It means a shift in the frequency domain is equivalent to multiplying the time domain signal by complex
exponential.
Q.77. Which mathematical operation in time domain adds a zero to the system?
Answer: Differentiation in time domain adds a zero to the system.
Q.78. Which mathematical operation in time domain adds a pole to the system?
Answer: Integration in time domain adds a zero to the system.
Q.79. What is the output of differentiating unit step function?
Answer: The differentiation of unit step function gives unit impulse function.
Q.80. What are the applications of initial and final value theorems?
Answer: The applications of initial and final value theorems are-
The initial voltage on the capacitor or current through an inductor can be evaluated with the help of initial value
theorem.
The final charging voltage on capacitor or saturating currents through an inductor can be evaluated with the
help of final value theorem.
Q.81. What is the precedence rule for time shifting and time scaling?
Answer: Rule-
First do the shifting operation.
Then do the time scaling operation.
Q.82. With the help of which operations on signal, the independent variable ‘t’ or ‘n’ can be manipulated?
Answer: Independent variable ‘t’ or ‘n’ can be manipulated by-
Delay/advancing.
Time folding.
Time scaling.
Q.83. What are the significance of CT exponential signal?
Answer: The significance of CT exponential signal are-
Charging and discharging of a capacitor.
Current flow through an inductor.
Radioactive decay.
Q.84. What are the significance of DT exponential signal?
Answer: The significance of DT exponential signal are-
Population growth as a function of generation.
Return or investment as a function of day, month or quarter.
Q.85. What is the relationship between unit step and unit ramp function?
Answer: Unit ramp function is the integration of unit step function.
Q.86. What is the disadvantage of performing windowing of sampled discrete signal?
Answer: No doubt, windowing improves signal to noise ratio but at the same time it increases the width of main lobe
which results in poor resolution and increased bandwidth.
Q.87. State Parseval’s theorem.
Answer: Parseval’s theorem states that the total energy contained in a signal may be determined either by computing the
energy per unit time and integrating over all time or by computing the energy per unit frequency and integrating over all
frequencies.
Q.88. How you can represent recursive and non-recursive discrete time system with the help of constant
coefficient difference equation?
Answer: Non-recursive system-
Y[n] = ax[n] + bx[n-1], where a and b are constant.
Response is not depending on previous response.
Recursive system-
Y[n] = ay[n-1] + bx[n] + cx[n-1], where a, b, c are constants.
Response is depending on previous response, so recursive response.
Q.89. Which type of filter can be represented by an impulse?
Answer: All pass filter since the Fourier transform of impulse is 1, so it passes all the frequencies ranging from -∞ to
+∞.
Q.90. What are the advantages of state-variable approach for analysis of a circuit or system?
Answer: Following are the advantages of state-variable approach-
We can deal with systems having many inputs and many outputs at a time.
We can deal with the systems having some initial conditions.
We can deal with non-linear and time varying systems.
It is less time consuming.
It reduces the complexity of mathematical expressions.
 The use of vector matrix notation greatly simplifies the mathematical representation of system of equation.
Q.91. What do you mean by memory less system?
Answer: A system is said to be memory less if its output for each value of the independent variable at a given time is
independent only on the input at the same time.
Memory less system is also called static system.
A system having memory is also called dynamic system.
Q.92. Why the discrete time equation y[n+1] + 0.5ny[n] = 0.5x[n+1] is not attributable to a memory less system?
Answer: Since the output for each value of the independent variable at a given time is not dependent on the input at the
same time, hence the system is having memory. Therefore, the system is not attributable to a memory less system.
Q.93. What will be the effect if the sampling frequency goes on increasing?
Answer: There is no effect of increasing sampling frequency. It does not increase information in the reconstructed
signal.
Q.94. Comment upon the periodicity of the sum of two or more arbitrary sinusoids?
Answer: The sum of two sinusoids is periodic if the ratio of the time periods of the sinusoids is a rational number.
Q.95. What do you mean by zero phase of the signal?
Answer: If the spectrum of a signal is having even symmetry around zero frequency then the signal is said to have zero
phase.
Q.96. How we can say that the second order system is under damped or critically damped or over damped on the
basis of the roots of its characteristic equation?
Answer: Roots of second order under damped system are complex conjugates.
Roots of second order critically damped system are negative, real and equal.
Roots of second order over damped system are negative, real and unequal.
Q.97. What is the spectral density of a white noise?
Answer: Spectral density of a white noise is a constant.
Q.98. What do you mean by decimation?
Answer: Decimation is the process of time scaling in discrete time sequence when scaling factor is greater than 1.
Q.99. What we have to do, if the spectrum of a discrete signal is to be expanded?
Answer: We have to decimate the discrete signal.
Q.100. If x(t) is a finite duration and is absolutely integrable, then what will be the region of convergence?
Answer: The region of convergence is entire s-plane.
 CONTROL SYSTEM INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q.1. Define control.
Answer: Control means to keep something under limits. In electronics control word is used to keep the output of a
system within specified limits. A control system manages commands, directs or regulates the behavior of other devices
or systems.
Q.2. What is servomechanism?
Answer: In control engineering a servomechanism, sometimes shortened to servo, is an automatic device that uses error-
sensing negative feedback to correct the action of a mechanism. It usually includes a built-in encoder or other position
feedback mechanism to ensure the output is achieving the desired effect.
Q.3. what is open loop and closed loop control system?
Answer: Open loop control system- In open loop system any change in the output has no effect on the input i.e.
feedback does not exists. It is inaccurate and unreliable. It is simple to construct and cheap.
Closed loop control system- In closed loop system any change in the output, affects the input which is possible by use
of feedback. It is highly accurate and reliable. It is complicated to design and hence costly.
Q.4. How can you define the stability of a control system?
Answer: The stability of a system relates to its response to inputs or disturbances. A system which remains in a constant
state unless affected by an external action and which returns to a constant state when the external action is removed can
be considered to be stable. Systems stability can be defined in terms of its response to external impulse inputs.
A system is stable if every bounded input produces a bounded output.
A system is stable if its impulse response approaches zero as time approaches infinity.
Q.5. What do you mean by BIBO stability?
Answer: A system is said to be BIBO stable if a bounded input results in bounded output.
Q.6. Which system is always stable?
Answer: A second order system is always stable.
Q.7. Define transfer function.
Answer: The transfer function of a control system is defined as the ratio of the Laplace transform of the output variable
to Laplace transform of the input variable. Transfer function is always calculated with zero initial conditions because
zero initial conditions ensure the linearity.
Q.8. What is the difference between absolute and relative stability of a system?
Answer: Absolute stability only tells about that the system is stable or not whereas relative stability not tells about the
stability but also tells the margin of stability.
Q.9. Why transfer function is not suitable in dynamic systems?
Answer: Since transfer function is always calculated with zero initial conditions because zero initial conditions ensure
the linearity and does not take initial conditions of a system into account and dynamic systems are not linear time
invariant system and also possesses initial conditions.
Q.10. What are time domain methods of determining stability of a system?
Answer: Routh stability criterion and root locus are time domain methods of determining stability of a system.
Q.11. What are frequency domain methods of determining stability of a system?
Answer: Bode plot, Nyquist plot, Nichlos chart and constant M-N circle are frequency domain methods of determining
stability of a system.
Q.12. What is Routh’s stability criterion?
Answer: This states that, the necessary and sufficient condition for system to be stable is “All the terms in the first
column of Routh’s array must have same sign. There should not be any sign change in the first column of Routh’s
array.”
If there are any sign changes existing then, system are unstable and the number of sign changes equals the number of
roots lying in the right half of the s-plane.
Q.13. What is Tachometer?
Answer: Tachometer is an electromechanical unit which generates an electrical output proportional to the speed of the
shaft. In automatic control system tachometer performs two main functions, stabilization of system and computation of
closed loops in a control system.
Q.14. What is regenerative feedback?
Answer: Feedback in which the portion of the output signal that is returned to the input has a component that is
in phase with the input signal. The regenerative feedback is sometimes used for increasing the loop gain of the feedback
systems.
Q.15. What is ‘type’ of system?
Answer: Type denotes number of integrations in the system which involves Sn term in denominator where n is called
type of system. For example type-1 system would have ‘S’ in the denominator, type-2 system would have ‘S2’ in
denominator.
Q.16. What is the order of the system?
Answer: The highest power of the complex variable ‘S’ in the denominator of the transfer function determines the order
of the system.
Q.17. What is viscous friction force?
Answer: The force of friction between moving surfaces separated by viscous fluid or force between solid body and fluid
motion.
Q.18. What are minimum phase systems?
Answer: The system having transfer function having neither poles nor zeros in the right half of the s-plane is called as
minimum phase system or in other words system with all poles and zeros in left half of the s-plane are called as
minimum phase systems.
Q.19. What are non minimum phase system?
Answer: The system having transfer function containing either a pole or a zero or both in the right half of the s-plane is
called as non minimum phase system.
Q.20. What are all pass systems?
Answer: The function in which zeros lie on right half side of s-plane while poles in left half side of s-plane and the
locations of poles and zeros are symmetric about imaginary axis is called all pass function or all pass system.
Q.21. What are the factors on which transient response and steady state response of a system depends?
Answer: Transient response only depends on the system component and their layout not on input.
Steady state response depends on both input as well as system components and their layout.
Q.22. What is steady state error?
Answer: Steady state error is difference between steady state output and desired output. Steady state error is caused by
imperfection in the system components, deterioration and ageing of components.
Q.23. What do you mean by asymptotic stability?
Answer: A system without any input and having some initial condition is said to be stable if response decays to zero
regardless of magnitude of initial conditions.
Q.24. What is the effect of adding a zero to closed loop transfer function of second order system?
Answer: Peak overshoot increases
Rise time decreases
Peak time decreases
Q.25. What is the effect of adding a zero to open loop transfer function of second order system?
Answer: If zero is added very near to origin then damping of the system worsens.
If zero is added far from origin then damping of the system improves.
Q.26. What is zero order hold?
Answer: The simplest hold circuit used in reconstruction of signal is zero order hold. In this scheme the reconstructed
signal acquires the same value as the last received sample for the entire sampling period. The simple zero order hold
when used in conjunction with a high sampling rate provides a satisfactory performance.
Q.27. What do you mean by peak overshoot? Is it desirable or not?
Answer: Difference between the maximum value attained by a response and final value of response, is known as peak
overshoot. It should be as low as possible because it increases noise in the system.
Q.28. How can you differentiate controller and compensator?
Answer: Both controller and compensator has the function of improving stability and response of a system. But
controller is incorporated in the system during manufacturing while compensator is incorporated when system fails to
work according to specifications.
Q.29. What will be the effect of adding a pole to the origin on the response of system?
Answer: Addition of a pole always tend to make system more slow and unstable so it should be always avoided to add a
pole closer to origin.
Q.30. What is root locus technique?
Answer: This is a graphical method, in which movement of poles in the s-plane is sketched when a particular parameter
of a system is varied from zero to infinity. Note that the parameter is usually the gain but any other parameter may be
varied. But for root locus method, gain is assumed to be a parameter which is to be varied from zero to infinity.
Q.31. Why root locus plot is symmetrical about the real axis?
Answer: Because roots are either real or occur in complex conjugate pairs, so root locus is symmetrical about real axis.
Q.32. What is the effect of adding poles on the shape of root locus?
Answer: The complex part of root locus has tendency to shift towards right side.
The range of K for which system is stable decreases which makes system relatively less stable.
The addition is somewhat equivalent to applying integral control to the system.
Q.33. What is the effect of adding zeros on the shape of root locus?
Answer: The complex part of root locus has tendency to shift towards left side.
The range of K for which system is stable increases which makes system relatively more stable.
The addition is somewhat equivalent to applying derivative control to the system.
Q.34. What is break away point?
Answer: Breakaway point is a point on the root locus where multiple roots of the characteristic equation occurs for a
particular value of K. As breakaway point indicates values of multiple root, it is always on the root locus.
Q.35. Which segment of real axis are part of root locus?
Answer: Segments of the real axis having an odd number of real axis open loop poles plus zeros to their right are parts
of the root locus.
Q.36. What is PD controller?
Answer: A controller in the forward path, which changes the controller output corresponding to proportional plus
derivative of error signal is called PD controller.
Q.37. What are the effects of PD controller on the system?
Answer: PD controller has following effects on system
It increases damping ratio.
Natural frequency for system remains unchanged.
‘TYPE’ of the system remains unchanged.
It reduces peak overshoot.
It reduces settling time.
Steady state error remains unchanged.
It improves gain margin and phase margin of the system.
Q.38. What is PI controller?
Answer: A controller in the forward path, which changes the controller output corresponding to proportional plus
integral of error signal is called PI controller.
Q.39. What are the effects of PI controller on the system?
Answer: PI controller has following effects on system
It increases order of the system.
It increases ‘TYPE’ of the system.
It improves damping and reduces maximum overshoot.
It improves gain margin and phase margin of the system.
Steady state error reduces tremendously for same type of inputs.
Q.40. What is PID controller?
Answer: A controller in the forward path, which changes the controller output corresponding to proportional plus
integral plus derivative of error signal is called PID controller. As PD improves transient and PI improves steady state
response, combination of two may be used to improve overall time response of the system.
Q.41. What is integral error compensation? Where is it used?
Answer: In an integral error compensation scheme, the output response depends in some manner upon the integral of the
actuating signal. A significant contribution of integral error compensation to the system steady state performance is ,
however obvious as the additional integration in the forward path changes the system from type-1 to type-2 and the error
of velocity input is eliminated or considerably reduced as the practical integration may not be perfect.
Q.42. What is the frequency response of a system?
Answer: The steady state response of a system to a purely sinusoidal input is defined as frequency response of a system.
In such method frequency of the input signal is to be varied over a certain range and the resulting response of system is
to be studied. Such response is called frequency response.
In other words, the magnitude and phase relationship between the sinusoidal input and the steady state output of a
system is called as frequency response.
Q.43. What are Bode plots?
Answer: In general Bode plots consists of two plots which are-
Magnitude expressed in logarithmic values against logarithmic values of frequency called Magnitude Plot.
Phase angle in degrees against logarithmic values of frequency called Phase Angle Plot.
Q.44. Bode Plot is suitable for which type of system?
Answer: It is suitable only for minimum phase transfer function systems.
Q.45. What is semilog paper?
Answer: In such paper the X-axis is divided into logarithmic scale which is non linear one, while Y-axis is divided
into linear scale and hence it is called semilog paper.
Q.46. What is Gain Margin and Phase Margin?
Answer: Bode Plots provide relative stability in terms of Gain Margin and Phase Margin.
Gain Margin- Greater the gain margin greater will be the stability of the system. It refers to the amount of gain,
which can be increased or decreased without making the system unstable.
Phase Margin- Greater the phase margin greater will be the stability of the system. It refers to the phase which can
be increased or decreased without making the system unstable.
Q.47. What do you mean by Gain cross over frequency? Give significance.
Answer: Frequency at which magnitude bode plot crosses 0 dB axis is known as gain cross over frequency. At
Gain cross over frequency we can calculate Phase margin.
Q.48. What do you mean by Phase cross over frequency? Give significance.
Answer: Frequency at which Nyquist plot crosses the negative real axis or at which bode plot crosses 180 degree
phase line is known as phase cross over frequency. At phase cross over frequency we can calculate gain margin.
Q.49. How can you differentiate stable, unstable and marginally stable systems on the basis of gain cross over
frequency and phase cross over frequency?
Answer: For stable systems gain cross over frequency should be less than phase cross over frequency.
For unstable systems gain cross over frequency should be greater than phase cross over frequency.
For marginally stable systems gain cross over frequency should be equal to phase cross over frequency.
Q.50. How can you differentiate stable, unstable and marginally stable systems on the basis of gain margin
and phase margin?
Answer: For stable systems, gain margin and phase margin both are positive.
For unstable systems, gain margin and phase margin both are negative.
For marginally stable systems, gain margin and phase margin both are zero.
 Q.51. How can you differentiate conditionally stable and marginally stable system in terms of gain margin?
Answer: For conditionally stable system gain margin should lie between zero and infinity and for marginally stable
gain margin should be zero.
Q.52. What happens to the stability and steady state error when the gain of the system is increased?
Answer: When the gain of the system is increased than both stability and the steady state error of the system
decreases.
Q.53. Which factor is required to decide the starting slope of the bode plot for the function G(s)H(s)?
Answer: The starting slope of the bode plot for the function G(s)H(s) gets decided by number of poles or zeros at
origin present in G(s)H(s).
Q.54. What is corner frequency in bode plot?
Answer: The frequency at which change of slope from 0 dB to -20 dB/decade occurs is called corner frequency.
Q.55. How gain margin and phase margin can be improved?
Answer: The easiest way to improve is to reduce the gain. However this increases the steady state error and makes
the system sluggish. Better methods are available. These methods are adding compensating networks or
compensators.
Q.56. What are the advantages of bode plots?
Answer: Some of the advantages of bode plots are as follows-
It shows both low and high frequency characteristics of transfer function in single diagram.
Relative stability of a system can be studied by calculating gain margin and phase margin from the bode
plot.
The various other frequency domain specifications like cutoff frequency, bandwidth etc can be determined.
Data for constructing complicated polar and Nyquist plots can be easily obtained from bode plot.
Transfer function of system can be obtained from bode plot.
Q.57. How you can define polar plot?
Answer: Polar plot is the locus of tips of the phasor of various magnitudes plotted at the corresponding phase angles for
different values of frequencies from zero to infinity.
Q.58. What is Nyquist Plot?
Answer: Nyquist plots are the continuation of polar plots for finding the stability of the closed loop control systems by
varying ω from −∞ to ∞. That means, Nyquist plots are used to draw the complete frequency response of the open loop
transfer function.
Q.59. What is the difference between polar plot and Nyquist plot?
Answer: A polar plot is a sub part of Nyquist plot. A Nyquist plot varies from ω = 0 to ω = ∞, ω = ∞ to ω = -∞ and
finally ω = -∞ to ω = -0 while polar plot varies from ω = 0 to ω = ∞ only.
Q.60. Why Nyquist plot is symmetric with respect to real axis?
Answer: As Nyquist plot is suitable for linear time invariant systems therefore it is symmetric with respect to real axis.
Q.61. What do you mean by compensation of a control system?
Answer: If a system is to be redesigned so as to meet the required specifications, it is necessary to alter the system by
adding an external device to it. Such a redesign or alteration of system using an additional suitable device (compensator)
is called compensation of a control system.
Q.62. What is lead, lag and lag-lead network?
Answer: When a sinusoidal input is applied to a network and it produces a sinusoidal steady state output having a phase
lead with respect to input then the network is called lead network. If the steady state output has phase lag then the
network is called lag network. In the lag-lead network both phase lag and lead occur but in different frequency regions.
The phase lag occurs in the low frequency region while the phase lead occurs in the high frequency region.
Q.63. What are the effects of lead compensation?
Answer: The various effects of lead compensation are-
The lead compensator adds a dominant pole and zero. This increases the damping of the closed loop system.
The increased damping means less overshoot, less rise time and less settling time. Thus there is improvement in
the transient response.
It improves the phase margin of the closed loop system.
It increases bandwidth of the closed loop system. More the bandwidth, faster is the response.
The steady state error does not get affected.
Q.64. What are the effects of lag compensator?
Answer: The various effects of lag compensator are-
Lag compensator allows high gain at low frequencies thus it is basically a low pass filter. Hence it improves the
steady state performance.
The attenuation due to lag compensator shifts the gain cross over frequency to a lower frequency point. Thus
the bandwidth of the system gets reduced.
Reduced bandwidth means slower response. Thus rise time and settling time are usually longer. The transient
response lasts for longer time.
The system becomes more sensitive to the parameter variations.
Q.65. What are the effects of lag-lead compensator?
Answer: Lag-lead compensator is used when both fast response and good static accuracy are desired. Use of lag-lead
compensator increases the low frequency gain which improves the steady state. While at the same time it increases
bandwidth of a system, making the system response very fast.
Q.66. Which method is best used to showing the change in behavior of a system when a pole is added or removed
from the system?
Answer: Root locus method is the best method.
Q.67. What is the drawback of using PD controller?
Answer: A PD controller is basically a high pass filter due to this it amplifies high frequency noise which results in the
reduction of signal to noise ratio of a system.
Q.68. What are dynamic systems?
Answer: Such systems in which the output is not only dependent on the input but also on the initial conditions are called
the systems with memory or dynamic systems.
Q.69. What are the advantages of state variable analysis?
Answer: The various advantages of state variable analysis are-
This method takes in to account the effect of all initial conditions.
It can be applied to non linear as well as time varying systems.
 It can also be applied to multiple input multiple output systems.
Any type of input can be considered for designing the system.
Q.70. Define state of a dynamic system.
Answer: The state of a dynamic system is defined as minimal set of variables (state variables) such that the knowledge
of these variables at t = to together with the knowledge of the inputs for t ≥ to , completely determines the behavior of the
system for t > to .

Q.71. What do you mean by zero input response and zero state response?
Answer: In zero input response only initial conditions are considered and input function is zero whereas in zero state
response only input function is considered and initial conditions are zero.
Q.72. Comment on the stability of the system when a pole or zero is added to the transfer function.
Answer: Addition of poles to the transfer function will lead the system towards instability whereas addition of zeros to
the transfer function will make the system more stable.
Q.73. Which information does transient part and steady state part of the response reveals?
Answer: Transient part of the response gives an idea about the nature of response (oscillatory or overdamped) and also
gives an indication about its speed. It depends upon the poles and zeros of the system.
The steady part of the response reveals the accuracy of a control system. It depends upon the input signal applied.
Q.74.What are controllability and observability?
Answer: controllability- A system is said to be completely state controllable if it is possible to transfer the system state
from any initial state x(to) to any other desired state x(t) in specified finite time by a control vector u(t).

Observability- A system is said to be completely observable, if every state x(to) can be completely identified by
measurements of the output y(t) over a finite time interval.
Q.75. In Nyquist plot which transfer function is used?
Answer: In Nyquist plot open loop transfer function is used.
Q.76. What is Ampidyne?
Answer: It is rotatory or dynamic or mechanical amplifier used when amplification could not be achieved by linear
electronic amplifiers. It is a two pole machine. It is also called cross field amplifier.
Q.77. What is Metadyne?
Answer: It is a two stage cross field amplifier. In Metadyne, the cross magnetizing flux of armature reaction is used foe
generation of emf in second stage. It is also known as rotating amplifier. Metadyne is used as constant current source.
Q.78. What do you mean by root contour in root locus?
Answer: When more than one variable is changed then path followed is called root contour.
Q.79. What do you mean by Diagonalisation in state space analysis?
Answer: Diagonalisation is a technique for transforming a general static model into a canonical one.
Q.80. What is the difference between zero input response and zero state response?
Answer: In zero input response only initial conditions are considered and input function is zero whereas in zero state
response only input function is considered and initial conditions are zero.
Q.81. What do you mean by feed forward compensation?
Answer: Disturbance at input introduces error in the system performance. In several systems where the disturbance
input can be predicted, its effect can be eliminated by a feed forward compensation.
Q.82. What are the advantages of state space analysis over the conventional differential equation methods?
Answer: The advantages of state space analysis over the conventional differential equation methods are as follows:
The state variable analysis gives the complete information about the internal states of the system at any given
point of time.
It takes initial conditions into consideration.
It is applicable to multiple input – multiple output system.
It is applicable to both LTI and time varying system.
The controllability and observability can be determined easily.
It employs the use of vector matrix notation.
Representation of higher order system thus becomes very simple through this technique.
Q.83. Which industrial controller is having the best steady state accuracy?
Answer: An integral controller is having the best steady state accuracy.
Q.84. Why feedback control systems offer more accurate control over open-loop systems?
Answer: Because the feedback path establishes a link for input and output comparison and subsequent error correction.
Q.85. Which compensation is adopted for improving transient response of a negative unity feedback system?
Answer: Phase lead compensation.
Q.86. A plant is controlled by a proportional controller. If a time delay element is introduced in the loop, then
what will be the effect on phase margin and gain margin?
Answer: The introduction of a time delay element decreases both phase margin and gain margin.
Q.87. What is the basic difference between absolute stability and relative stability?
Answer: Absolute stability is qualitative analysis of stability whereas relative stability is comparative analysis of
stability.
Q.88. How we can determine the intersection of root locus branches with imaginary axis?
Answer: The intersection of root locus branches with the imaginary axis can be determined by use of the Routh
criterion.
Q.89. Which controller is never used and why?
Answer: PI controller. No doubt, PI controller decreases the steady state error of system but it increases the order of
system and hence it tends to de-stabilize the system.
Q.90. What do you mean by phase variables?
Answer: The phase variables are those particular state variables which are obtained from one of the system variable and
its derivatives.
Q.91. What is the advantage and disadvantage of phase variables?
Answer: Advantage-
It is easy to form the state model using phase variables.
Disadvantage-
These are not physical variable of the system and therefore are not available for measurement and control
 purposes.
Q.92. What is signal flow graph?
Answer: A signal flow graph is a graphical representation of the relationships between the variables of a set of linear
algebraic equations. It consists of a network in which nodes representing each of the system variables are connected by
directed branches.
Q.93. What is the effect of phase-lag compensation on the performance of a servo system?
Answer: Phase-lag compensation is an integrator. It reduces the steady state error.
Velocity constant = 1/steady state error
So, the velocity constant is increased.
Q.94. What is the characteristic of a good control system?
Answer: In a good control system, output is sensitive to input variations but insensitive to parameter variation.
Q.95. How can the bandwidth of a control system be increased?
Answer: Bandwidth of a control system is increased by the use of phase lead network.
Q.96. How we can find break away points of root locus?
Answer: The breakaway points of the root locus are determined from the roots of the equation dK/dS = 0.
Q.97. What is the condition of stability in Z-plane?
Answer: The condition of stability in Z-plane is that all the poles of the z-transform function would lie within the unit
circle.
Q.98. What are the advantages of selecting physical variables as state variables?
Answer: The advantages of selecting physical variables as state variables are-
It helps in implementation of design.
The solution of state equation with physical variables gives the idea of time variation of state variables, which
have direct relevance to the physical system.
Q.99. Comment about the stability of a system in Routh stability criterion, when one of the elements of first
column becomes zero and there is no sign change?
Answer: When there is no sign change it represents pair of conjugate roots on jw axis. System is marginally stable.
Q.100. What happens to the speed when rise time of a system decreases?
Answer: since, tr = 0.35/fH, so as rise time decreases bandwidth of system increases so is the speed.
 COMMUNICATION INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q.1. What are the series of processes involved in the communication process?
Answer: Communication basically involves transmission of information from one point to the other, through a series of
processes as described below-
The generation of message signal such as voice, picture or computer data.
Describe the message signal in the electrical symbols.
Encode these symbols.
Transmission of the encoded symbols.
Decoding the symbols.
Reproduction of original electrical symbols.
Recreation of the original message signal such as voice, picture or computer data.
Q.2. What are the basic elements of a communication system?
Answer: Irrespective of the type of communication process being used there are three basic elements of every
communication system namely transmitter, channel and receiver.
Q.3. What is inter symbol interference?
Answer: Since the bandwidth of channel is limited so the transmitted pulses may not retain their shape at the output of
channel. So the transmitted pulses tend to spread during transmission. This pulse spreading or dispersion causes overlap
of pulses into adjacent time slots which results an error at the receiver. The error is known as inter symbol interference.
Q.4. What is bandwidth of a signal?
Answer: Bandwidth is defined as the frequency range over which an information signal is transmitted or in other words
we can say that bandwidth is the difference between the upper and lower frequency limits of the signal.
Q.5. Upon which factor the bandwidth in the data transmission depends?
Answer: The required bandwidth in the data transmission depends on the rate at which the data is being transmitted. The
bandwidth increases with the increase in the rate of data transmission.
Q.6. What is the difference between half duplex and full duplex communication system?
Answer: Half duplex system- These systems are bidirectional, i.e. they can transmit as well as receive but not
simultaneously. At a time these systems can either transmit or receive, for example a transmitter or walky talky set.
Full duplex system- These are truly bidirectional systems as they allow the communication to take place in both the
directions simultaneously. These systems can transmit as well as receive simultaneously, for example the telephone
systems.
Q.7. What is the difference between sensitivity and selectivity of a communication receiver?
Answer: The sensitivity of the communication receiver is the ability of a receiver to satisfactorily work on weak signals
while selectivity of a receiver is the characteristic which determines the extent to which it is capable of distinguishing
between the desired and undesired signals.
Q.8. What is noise figure?
Answer: The noise figure F is defined as the ratio of the signal-to-noise power supplied to the input terminals of a
receiver or amplifier to the signal-to-noise power supplied to the output or load resistor.
Q.9. Why microwave links are preferred over coaxial cable for TV transmission?
Answer: Microwave links are preferred over coaxial cable for TV transmission because microwave links provide greater
bandwidth.
Q.10. What is modulation and why do we need modulation?
Answer: Modulation is the process by which some characteristic of a carrier is varied in accordance with a modulating
wave.
Need of modulation-
To decrease the length of transmitting and receiving antenna.
Long distance communication is possible.
To obtain higher value of signal to noise ratio or modulating.
To have frequency division multiplexing where large number of signals is transmitted at different frequencies.
Q.11. What is the range of frequencies allotted for commercial AM and FM broadcast?
Answer: For AM range is 550 – 1650 KHz and for FM range is 88 – 108 MHz.
Q.12. What is the difference between AM and NBFM?
Answer: In AM, the resultant of the two side band frequencies vectors is always in phase with the unmodulated carrier
vector.
In NBFM, the resultant of the two side band frequencies vectors is always out of phase with the unmodulated carrier
vector.
Q.13. Why should the shape of the AM wave envelope be same as that of modulating signal and how it can be
achieved?
Answer: The shape of the AM wave envelope should be same as that of the modulating signal because this reduces the
complexity of the demodulator circuit to a great extent.
This can be achieved if the following conditions are satisfied-
The percentage modulation should be less than 100% to avoid the envelope distortion.
The bandwidth of the modulating signal should be small as compared to carrier frequency. This will help to
visualize the envelope satisfactorily.
Q.14. What are the disadvantage of AM technique?
Answer: The AM signal is also called as “double sideband full carrier (DCBFC)” signal. The main disadvantages of this
technique are-
Power wastage takes place.
AM needs larger bandwidth.
AM wave gets affected due to noise.
Q.15. What is AGC?
Answer: AGC means automatic gain control. This circuit controls the gains of the RF and IF amplifiers to maintain a
constant output voltage level even when the signal level at the receiver input is fluctuating.
Q.16. What do you mean by heterodyning?
Answer: The process of mixing two signals having different frequencies to produce a new frequency is called as
heterodyning.
Q.17. What are the disadvantages of FM over AM?
Answer: The disadvantages of FM over AM are-
Threshold effect is more prounced in FM than AM.
Circuit is more complex.
FM required more bandwidth than AM because bandwidth for FM is 10 times greater than AM.
Q.18. Although light travels much faster than sound, then also why the sound is heard first and the picture
appear later when the TV is switched on?
Answer: Because although both audio and video sections use solid state electronics, the TV picture tube is a big valve
whose filament tales time to heat up, causing a delay.
Q.19. What is “Gamma” of the picture?
Answer: The ratio of brightness variations in the reproduced picture on the screen of the picture tube, to the bright
variations in the original scene is known as Gamma of the picture.
Q.20. What is the Aspect ratio of a TV screen?
Answer: It is defined as the ratio of raster width to the raster height. Generally the aspect ratio for TV screen is 4:3.
Q.21. What is white noise?
Answer: White noise is noise whose power spectral density is uniform over the entire frequency range of interest.
Q.22. What is capture effect in frequency modulation?
Answer: Capture effect is inherent ability of FM to minimize the effect of interfering signal. The capture effect causes
the receiver to lock on the stronger signal by suppressing the weaker one when two signals are of nearly equal strength.
Q.23. What is the correct sequence of subsystems in an FM receiver?
Answer: The correct sequence of subsystems in an FM receiver is RF amplifier, mixer, IF amplifier, limiter,
discriminator and audio amplifier.
Q.24. What is noise triangle in FM?
Answer: The noise output from the receiver decreases uniformly with noise sideband frequency for FM. This triangular
noise distribution for FM is called the noise triangle.
Q.25. How sensitivity of a radio receiver can be improved?
Answer: Sensitivity of a radio receiver is defined as its ability to amplify weak signals. Sensitivity of a radio receiver is
dependent on the RF and IF amplifier stages. By increasing the gains of these stages it is possible to increase the
sensitivity of a receiver.
Q.26. How selectivity of a receiver can be improved?
Answer: The selectivity of a receiver is its ability to reject unwanted signals. The selectivity of a receiver depends on
the IF amplifier. Higher the “Q” of the tuned circuit used in the IF amplifier, better is the selectivity.
Q.27. What do you mean by fidelity of a receiver?
Answer: The fidelity is the ability of a receiver to reproduce all the modulating frequencies equally. The fidelity
basically depends on the frequency response of the AF amplifier. High fidelity is essential in order to reproduce good
quality music faithfully, i.e. without introducing any distortion. For this it is essential to have a flat frequency response
over a wide range of audio frequencies.
Q.28. How image frequency rejection can be done?
Answer: The image frequency must be rejected by the receiver. The image rejection depends on the front end selectivity
of the receiver i.e. the selectivity of the RF circuit. The image frequency rejection must be achieved before the IF stage
because once it reaches the IF stage it cannot be removed. The use of RF amplifiers thus improves the image frequency
rejection.
Q.29. What is double spotting and how it can be reduced?
Answer: Double spotting means the same stations gets picked up at two different nearby points, on the receiver dial. It
is due to poor front end selectivity i.e. inadequate image frequency rejection. Double spotting is harmful because a weak
station may be masked by the reception of a strong station at the same point, on the dial.
Double spotting can be reduced by increasing the front end selectivity of the receiver. Inclusion of the RF amplifier
stage will help in avoiding the double spotting.
Q.30. What is acquisition?
Answer: Acquisition is to acquire the same signal used previously.
Q.31. What are Eigen values in FM?
Answer: The values of modulation index at which carrier disappears completely are called Eigen values.
Q.32. Why the carrier frequencies allotted for AM broadcast are comparatively smaller than those allotted for
FM broadcast?
Answer: F M signal is having a comparatively larger bandwidth. Thus to accommodate more FM signals on a particular
frequency spectrum without any adjacent channel interference, higher carrier frequencies are must.
Q.33. What is mixer or frequency changer?
Answer: The mixer is basically a nonlinear resistance which has two inputs at different frequencies (fs and fo). Its output
has several frequency components including the difference between the two input frequencies.
Q.34. What is equalization?
Answer: A pulse train is attenuated and distorted by the transmission medium. The distortion is in the form of
dispersion, which is caused by on attenuation of high frequency components of the pulse train. Equalization is the
correction of the distortion in the pulse train.
Theoretically, an equalizer should have a frequency characteristic that is the inverse of that of the transmission medium.
This will restore higher frequency components and eliminate pulse dispersion.
Q.35. What is the principle of QAM scheme?
Answer: The QAM technique enables two DSB-SC modulated waves to occupy the same transmission bandwidth
without mixing them with each other. These two DSB-SC waves have resulted from two different message signals and at
the receiver it is possible to separate them and obtain both the message signals.
Q.36. What are the advantages of SSB-SC modulation?
Answer: The main advantages of SSB-SC modulation are-
Reduction in transmission bandwidth.
Power saving since the high power carrier and one sideband are not being transmitted.
Q.37. What is the advantage of pulse code modulation over analog modulation schemes?
Answer: The major advantage of pulse code modulation (PCM) is that it is much more immune to noise and
interference.
Q.38. Why the local oscillator frequency is always kept higher than RF frequency?
Answer: It is much easier to design an oscillator that is tunable over a smaller frequency ratio. Keeping local oscillator
frequency higher than RF frequency, the frequency ratio is much smaller than that keeping local oscillator frequency
lower. So local oscillator frequency is always kept higher than RF frequency.
Q.39. Why is SSB not used for broadcasting?
Answer: There are two reasons for it-
As the SSB transmitter and receiver require excellent frequency stability, a small frequency shift in the system
can result in degradation in the quality of the transmitted signal. Thus it is not possible to transmit a good
quality music using the SSB system.
It is not possible to design a tunable receiver oscillator with very high frequency stability. Now with the advent
of the frequency synthesizers, this has become possible. But such receivers are very expensive.
Q.40. What are the advantages of vestigial sideband modulation (VSB)?
Answer: The advantages of vestigial sideband modulation (VSB) are as follows-
The main advantage of VSB modulation is the reduction in bandwidth. It is almost as efficient as the SSB.
Due to allowance of transmitting a part of lower sideband, the constraint on the filters has been relaxed. So
practically, easy to design filters can be used.
It possesses good phase characteristics and makes the transmission of low frequency components possible.
Q.41. What are the applications of VSB?
Answer: VSB modulation has become standard for the transmission of television signals. Because the video signals
need a large transmission bandwidth if transmitted using DSB-FC or DSB-SC techniques.
Q.42. What is pre-emphasis and de-emphasis?
Answer: Noise has greater effect on the higher modulating frequencies than on the lower ones. Thus if the higher
frequencies were artificially boosted at the transmitter and correspondingly cut at the receiver, an improvement in noise
immunity could be expected, thereby increasing the signal to noise ratio.
The boosting of the higher energy components to improve SNR prior to the transmission of signal is called pre-
emphasis. To restore the original signal by bringing down the boosted frequencies to the same level and in the same
proportion is called de-emphasis.
Q.43. What type of filters are pre-emphasis and de-emphasis?
Answer: Pre-emphasis is a high pass filter and e-emphasis is a low pass filter.
Q.44. What is multiplexing and its application?
Answer: Multiplexing is a process of simultaneously transmitting two or more individual signals over a single
communication channel. Due to multiplexing it is possible to increase the number of communication channels so that
more information can be transmitted.
The typical applications of multiplexing are in telemetry and telephony or in the satellite communication.
Q.45. What is frequency division multiplexing (FDM)?
Answer: The operation of FDM is based on sharing the available bandwidth of a communication channel among the
signals to be transmitted. That means many signals are transmitted simultaneously with each signal occupying a different
frequency slot within a common bandwidth.
Q.46. What are guardbands and their importance?
Answer: The adjacent spectrums in the spectrum of an FDM signal do not touch each other. They are separated from
each other by the guardbands. The guardbands are introduced in order to avoid any interface between the adjacent
channels. Wider the guardbands, smaller the interference.
Q.47. What is Hilbert transform and its applications?
Answer: Hilbert transform of a signal means, each component of frequency undergoes a phase shift of –π/2.
Following are the applications in which Hilbert transform is used-
 Generation of SSB signals.
Design of minimum phase type filter.
Representation of Bandpass signal.
Q.48. What are the methods for the generation of SSB-SC waves?
Answer: SSB-SC waves can be generated by three methods-
Frequency discriminator or filter method.
Phase discriminator or phase shift method or phasing method.
Weaver’s method.
Q.49. What do you mean by diagonal clipping?
Answer: Diagonal clipping is the name given to a trouble that may arise when using diode detector. At high values of
modulation index the current will change so quickly that the time constant of the load may be too slow to follow this
change. This is known as diagonal clipping. It does not normally occurs whenpercentage modulation is below 60 ∘ .
Q.50. What is squelch?
Answer: When no carrier is present at the input i.e. in the absence of transmission on a given channel or between
stations a sensitive receiver will produce a disagreeable amount of loud noise. Squelch or muting enable’s the receiver
output to remain cut off unless the carrier is present.
Q.51. What is the function of amplitude limiter?
Answer: An amplitude limiter is used after the IF section and is used to remove amplitude variations by clipping the
modulated wave at the IF section output almost to the zero axis.
Q.52. What is the relationship between PM and FM?
Answer: FM and PM are closely related to each other because the net effect of both is variation in total phase angle. In
PM, the phase angle varies linearly with f(t) whereas in FM phase angle varies linearly with the integral of f(t).
Hence we can get FM by using PM, provided that the modulating signal is first integrated and then passed through a
phase modulator.
The modulating signal f(t) is first differentiated and then passed through a frequency modulator, we get PM wave at the
output.
Q.53. What is Aliasing?
Answer: The derivation of the sampling theorem is based on the assumption that the signal f(t) is strictly band limited.
In practice an information bearing signal is not strictly band limited. Then it causes some degree of under sampling,
which in turn produces overlapping of different frequency components. This overlapping is called Aliasing.
If sampling rate is less than Nyquist rate than there is reappearance of high frequency components which causes
distortion. Aliasing error occurs when fs < 2fm.

Q.54. What corrective measures can be used to overcome the effect of aliasing?
Answer: To overcome the effect of Aliasing we use two corrective measures as-
Prior to sampling, a low pass pre-alias filter is used to attenuate those high frequency components of the signal
that are not essential to the information being conveyed by the signal.
The filtered signal is sampled at a rate slightly higher than Nyquist rate i.e. fs ≥ 2fm.

Q.55. What is Carson’s rule?

Answer: It states that the bandwidth of FM wave is twice the sum of the deviation and the highest modulating
frequency.
Q.56. What are the advantages of angle modulation over amplitude modulation?
Answer: The advantages of angle modulation over amplitude modulation are-
Noise immunity.
Improvement in signal to noise ratio.
Capture effect.
Better power utilization.
Higher efficiency.
Q.57. What is the difference between analog pulse communication and digital pulse communication?
Answer: The difference between analog pulse communication and digital pulse communication are-
For analog as well as digital pulse communication systems, the transmitted signal is a discrete time signal.
In analog pulse communication, the information is transmitted in the form of change in amplitude, width or
position of the carrier pulses. So the transmitted pulse signal is still an analog signal.
In digital pulse communication, the information is transmitted in the form of codes. Codeword are formed by
grouping the digital pulses.
Note that we do not change amplitude, frequency or phase of the transmitted signal. Thus the transmitted signal
in digital pulse communication is a digital signal.
Q.58. What do you mean by channel capacity?
Answer: The channel capacity represent the maximum rate at which information can be transmitted over the channel.
Q.59. What is matched filter?
Answer: A matched filter is an optimum communication system which maxims signal to noise ratio in the presence of
white noise.
Q.60. Why matched filter is so called?
Answer: A matched filter is so called because the impulse response of matched filter is matched to the input signal i.e.
h(t) = x(T-t).
Q.61. What is the difference between Hilbert transform and Fourier transform?
Answer: The two transforms are used to separate signals in different domain. Fourier transform provides a mean of
analyzing and designing frequency selective filters while Hilbert transform is based upon separating signals on phase
selectivity.
Q.62. What are the applications of PCM?
Answer: Some of the application of PCM are-
In telephony (with the advent of fiber optic cables).
In the space communication, space craft transmits signals to earth. Here the transmitted power is very low (10 to
15W) and the distances are huge (a few million km). Still due to the high noise immunity, only PCM systems
can be used in such applications.
Q.63. What are the disadvantages of Delta modulation?
Answer: The disadvantages of Delta modulation are-
The two distortions i.e. slope overload error and granular noise are present.
 Practically the signaling rate with no slope overload error will be much higher than that of PCM.
Q.64. What is slope overload error and granular noise?
Answer: If slope of input signal is large as compare to step size then the error is slope overload error and if input signal
slope is very small then the error is granular noise.
Q.65. What are the advantages of adaptive delta modulation over delta modulation?
Answer: The advantages of adaptive delta modulation over delta modulation are-
Reductions in slope overload error and granular noise.
Improvement in signal to noise ratio.
Wide dynamic range due to variable step size.
Better utilization of bandwidth as compared to delta modulation.
Low signaling rate.
Simplicity of implementation.
Q.66. Why we cannot send the digital signal as it is on the telephone lines?
Answer: The digital data consists of binary 0’s and 1’s, therefore the waveform changes its value abruptly from high to
low or low to high. In order to carry such a signal without any distortion being introduced, the communication medium
needs to have a larger bandwidth.
Unfortunately the telephone lines do not have high bandwidth. Therefore we have to convert the digital signal first into
an analog signal which needs lower bandwidth by means of the modulation process.
Q.67. What is the difference between bit and a symbol?
Answer: Each bit is treated as a separate symbol whereas ‘N’ successive bits are clubbed together to form a symbol.
Q.68. What is bit padding?
Answer: In the bit padding technique the multiplexer adds extra bits to the bit stream of a source so as to force the
integer relationship between all the sources to be multiplexed. For example if the bit rate of one source is 3.5 times the
bit rate of the other source then by using the bit padding, we can make it 4 times the bit rate of the other.
These extra bits however do not contain any information. So they are discarded by the multiplexer.
Q.69. Define Entropy?
Answer: The “Entropy” is defined as the average information per message. It is denoted by H and its units are
bits/message. The entropy must be as high as possible in order to ensure maximum transfer of information.
Q.70. Why is companding used in PCM transmission?
Answer: The companding in PCM transmission is used to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the low signals. Basically
it is used to overcome non linearity’s of the system.
Q.71. What do you mean by circuit switching?
Answer: When one places a telephone call, the switching equipment within the telephone system searches a physical
path from sender’s telephone to the receiver’s telephone. This technique is known as circuit switching.
Q.72. What do you mean by packet switching?
Answer: Packet switching is an alternative to circuit switching. In this technique, the individual packet is transmitted as
required with no dedicated path being setup in advance. It is up to each packet to find its way to the destinations on its
own.
Q.73. What do you mean by Handover?
Answer: Mobile terminals in a cellular environment will occasionally cross a cell boundary. In that event, the ideal
situation is to transfer the cell to the base station of the new cell in a procedure known as Handover.
If the Handover does not occur and the call is lost, it is referred to as a dropped call. A handover requires the
identification of the new base station as well as potentially new traffic and signaling channels.
Q.74. What do you mean by adjacent channel interference (ACI)?
Answer: Adjacent channel interference (ACI) results from signals which are adjacent in frequency to the desired signal.
ACI is mainly due to imperfect receiver filters which allow nearby frequencies to leak in to the pass band.
Q.75. What is the frequency reuse concept?
Answer: Frequency reuse is the core concept of the cellular mobile radio system. In this frequency reuse system, users
in different geographic locations (different cells) may simultaneously use the same frequency channel.
In short, the designing process of selecting and assigning channel groups for all of the cellular base stations within a
system is termed as frequency planning or frequency reuse concept.
Q.76. Define multiple access technique.
Answer: Multiple access is a signal transmission situation in which two or more users wish to simultaneously
communicate with each other using the same propagation channel.
Q.77. Define Frequency division multiple access (FDMA).
Answer: In frequency division multiple access (FDMA), the total bandwidth is divided into non-overlapping frequency
sub-hands. Each user is allocated a unique frequency sub-hand for the duration of the connection, whether the
connection is in an active or ideal state.
This type of multiple access support is narrowband, and is not suitable for multimedia communications with various
transmission rates. In addition, it incurs a waste of bandwidth when the user is in dormant state.
Q.78. Define Time division multiple access (TDMA).
Answer: In a TDMA system, the channel time is partitioned into frames. The length of the frame is long enough so that
every user in service has an opportunity to transmit once per frame. To achieve this, a TDMA frame is further
partitioned into time slots. Users have to transmit in their assigned slots from frame to frame.
The slot of assignment can be fixed or dynamic. If the assigned slot is fixed from frame to frame for the duration of the
connection, the users have to synchronize to their respective assigned slots.
Q.79. Define Code division multiple access (CDMA).
Answer: Code division multiple access (CDMA) is a spread spectrum multiple access method. The principle of spread
spectrum communications is that the bandwidth of the baseband information carrying signals from the different users is
spread by different signals with a bandwidth much larger than that of the baseband signals. Ideally, the spreading signals
used for the different users are orthogonal to each other.
Q.80. What is the advantage of using orthogonal transmission in digital communication?
Answer: With orthogonal transmission we can increase the duration of each symbol for a given data transmission rate.
The longer the symbol duration, the greater the time for averaging each symbol in the receiver and better the signal to
noise ratio at detector.
Q.81. If two orthogonal random processes are added then what should be the power of resultant sum?
Answer: Since random processes are orthogonal so the resultant power will be the sum of their individual powers.
Q.82. What are the type of Quantizer?
Answer: Basically the quantizers are of four types as under-
Uniform quantization.
 Non-uniform quantization.
Adaptive quantization.
Vector quantization.
Q.83. What do you mean by FDD systems?
Answer: In FDD systems, the uplink and downlink use different carrier frequencies, which lead to different Doppler
shifts and different channel fading conditions. However, the effect of the carrier frequency difference on the long term
fading due to shadowing and distance dependent path loss is not as significant as that on the short term multipath fading.
Q.84. Define effective aperture.
Answer: A term that has a special significant for a receiving antenna is defined as the ration of the power available at
the antenna terminal to the power per unit area of the appropriately polarized incident electromagnetic wave.
Q.85. What is Geostationary orbit?
Answer: A geostationary orbit is one in which a satellite moves in the orbit at exactly the same speed as the earth turns
and, at the same latitude specifically zero, the latitude of the equator.
Q.86. What is telemetry system?
Answer: Telemetry system collects the data from many sensors and sends this data to the controlling earth station. The
sensors are mounted on the satellite and they monitor
The pressure in fuel tank.
Voltage and currents in the power conditioning unit.
Current drawn by each sub-system.
Critical voltage and currents in the communication electronics.
Temperature of other subsystems.
Position of switches and attitude.
Q.87. What is Ionospheric scintillation?
Answer: Ionospheric scintillations are variations in the amplitude, phase, polarization or angle of arrival of radio waves.
They are caused by irregularities in the upper part of the ionosphere. The main effect of scintillation is fading of the
signal.
Q.88. What is ensemble?
Answer: To determine the statistics of the noise, we might take repeated measurements of the noise voltage output of a
single noise source, or we might, at least conceptually, make simultaneous measurements of the output of a very large
collection of statistically identical noise sources. Such a collection of sources is called as ensemble, and the individual
noise waveforms are called sample functions.
Q.89. What do you mean by stationary function and ergodic function?
Answer: Stationary function- When the statistical characteristics of the sample functions do not change with time, the
random process is described as being stationary.
Ergodic function- When the nature of a random process is such that ensemble and time averages are identical, the
process is referred to as ergodic. An ergodic process is stationary, but of course, a stationary process is not necessary
ergodic.
Q.90. What do you mean by Gibbs phenomenon?
Answer: Gibbs phenomenon says that whenever there is abrupt discontinuity in the signal which is being sampled, the
reconstructed signal will always have high frequency oscillations and as the number of samples increases the oscillations
compress towards discontinuity but there maximum value remains the same.
Q.91. Give one example in digital communication where Gibbs phenomenon is used?
Answer: QPSK, since in QPSK there is abrupt phase change due to which difference between main lobe and side lobe is
very small that’s why SNR is poor in QPSK.
Q.92. Which method is more advantageous: producing FM from PM or direct FM?
Answer: FM signals produced by the direct method have a tendency to undergo a shift in centre frequency during the
modulation process which may cause distortion whereas centre frequency is extremely stable in the FM signals produced
from PM.
Q.93. Give an example of a signal which is neither energy nor power signal?
Answer: Ramp is neither energy nor power signal.
Q.94. For which type of signals, Fourier series and Fourier transform is used?
Answer: Fourier series is used for periodic signals and Fourier transform is used for aperiodic signals.
Q.95. What is the difference between dB and dBm?
Answer: dB is the ratio of powers and is unit less whereas dBm is absolute power and is used specially for low powers.
Q.96. What is the range of voice frequency (VF)?
Answer: The range of voice frequency (VF) is 300 Hz to 3000 Hz.
Q.97. What is the difference between correlation and auto-correlation?
Answer: Correlation is a tool in communication to check the similarity between two signals whereas the auto-
correlation function is used to check the similarity between the original signal and its time delayed version.
Q.98. What is Flicker noise and how it depends on frequency?
Answer: Flicker noise is due to imperfect surface behavior of semiconductor devices and due to imperfection in cathode
surface of electron tubes. The power spectral density of flicker noise is inversely proportional to frequency. This noise is
significant at very low frequencies, generally below a few KHz.
Q.99. What is white noise?
Answer: As white light contains all colors. In the same way, white noise too contains all frequencies in equal amount.
The power spectral density of a white noise is independent of frequency, which means it contains all the frequency
components in equal amount.
Q.100. Give one advantage and disadvantage of non-orthogonal transmission?
Answer: Low transmission bandwidth so high data rates are possible but low signal to noise ratio.
 EMFT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q.1. Define Electromagnetics?
Answer: Electromagnetics is a branch of physics or electrical engineering which is used to study the electric and
magnetic phenomenon. The electric and magnetic fields are closely related to each other.
Q.2. What is the difference between the scalar and vector?
Answer: A scalar is a quantity which is wholly characterized by its magnitude. The various example of scalar quantity
are temperature, mass, volume, density, speed, electric charge etc.
A vector is a quantity which is characterized by both magnitude and direction. The various examples of vector quantity
are force, velocity, displacement, electric field intensity, magnetic field intensity, acceleration etc.
Q.3. Define scalar or dot product of vector.
Answer: The scalar or dot product of two vectors A and B is denoted as A.B and defined as the product of the
magnitude of A, the magnitude of B and the cosine of the smaller angle between them.
Q.4. Define vector or cross product of vectors.
Answer: The vector or cross product of two vectors A and B is denoted as AXB and defined as the product of the
magnitude of A and B and the sine of the smaller angle between A and B.
Q.5. How two vectors behave if their dot product is zero?
Answer: If dot product of the two vectors is zero, the two vectors are perpendicular to each other.
Q.6. How two vectors behave if their cross product is zero?
Answer: If cross product of the two vectors is zero, the two vectors are parallel to each other.
Q.7. State Divergence theorem.
Answer: The integral of the normal component of any vector field over a closed surface is equal to the integral of the
divergence of this vector field throughout the volume enclosed by the closed surface.
Q.8. Define Curl of a vector.
Answer: Curl is simply defined as circulation per unit area where the closed path is vanishingly small. That is curl is
defined at a point.
Q.9. State Stokes theorem.
Answer: It states that the circulation of a vector field A around a closed path C is equal to the surface integral of the curl
of A over the open surface ‘S’ bounded by ‘C’ provided that A and curl of A are continuous on ‘S’.
Q.10. What is the use of divergence and curl operations?
Answer: Divergence and curl are the operations used to check the nature of field whether it is solenoidal or irrotational.
A vector is said to be solenoidal when divergence of a vector is zero whereas a vector is said to be irrotational when curl
of a vector is zero.
Q.11. State coulomb’s law.
Answer: Coulomb stated that the force between two very small charges separated in a vacuum or free space by a
distance r (which is large compared to the size of the charge) is proportional to the multiplication of charges and
inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
Q.12. What do you mean by harmonic field?
Answer: A scalar field is said to be harmonic in a given region, if its laplacian vanishes in that region.
Q.13. State Gauss’s law for electric field.
Answer: It states that the electric flux passing through any closed surface is equal to the total charge enclosed by that
surface.
Q.14. In case of co-axial cable, what is the value of the electric field at the core of the cable and outside the
conductor?
Answer: Both at the core of the cable and outside the conductor, the electric field is zero.
Q.15. What is an electric dipole?
Answer: An electric dipole is the arrangement of two point charges of equal magnitude and opposite sign, separated by
a distance which is small compared to the distance of point ‘P’ at which we desire the electric field and potential. It is
also called as doublet.
Q.16. What is drift velocity and how it relates to the electric field intensity?
Answer: In free space the electrons would accelerate and their velocity continuously increases in the material. The
progress of the electron is hindered by regular collisions with the thermally excited crystalline lattice structure and a
constant average velocity is soon attained. This velocity is known as drift velocity and it is directly proportional to
electric field intensity in the given material.
Q.17. What do you mean by homogeneous medium?
Answer: A medium is homogeneous, if its physical characteristics (mass, density, molecular structure etc) do not vary
from point to point. If the medium is not homogeneous, it is aid to be non-homogeneous or inhomogeneous or
heterogeneous.
Q.18. What is isotropic material?
Answer: An isotropic material is one whose properties are independent of direction. The materials whose molecular
structure is randomly oriented will be isotropic. However, crystalline media or certain plasma has directional
characteristics. Such materials are said to be non-isotropic and anistropic.
Q.19. What do you mean by polarization?
Answer: Polarization is the creation of net charge in presence of electric field. Polarization ‘P’ is defined as total dipole
moment per unit volume.
Q.20. What will be the work done in moving the charge around any closed loop?
Answer: The work done in moving the charge around any closed loop is zero.
Q.21. What do you mean by equipotential surfaces?
Answer: All the point in space at which the potential has the same value lie on a surface is called as equipotential
surface or simply equipotential.
Q.22. How we can obtain quadrupole with the help of dipoles?
Answer: Placing two dipoles adjacent but with one inverted, we obtain a quadrupole and placing two quadrupoles side
by side but with one inverted, we obtain an octopole.
Q.23. How potential and field of a quadrupole and octopole varies with respect to ‘r’?
Answer: The potential and field of a quadrupole vary as 1/r3 and 1/r4 respectively and for an octopole as 1/r4 and 1/r5.
Q.24. What are linear materials?
Answer: If the parameters of the material do not depend on the magnitude of the field quantities then the material is
linear. A ferroelectric or ferromagnetic material is non linear because its electrical or magnetic properties depend on the
strength of the applied field.
Q.25. What do you mean by convection current and conduction current?
Answer: Convection current-
It does not involve conductors.
So does not satisfy ohm’s law.
This current flow through an insulating medium such as liquid, rarefied gas or a vacuum.
Well known example is a vacuum tube in which electrons emitted by cathode flows to anode in a vacuum.
Conduction current-
It requires conductor.
It satisfies ohm’s law.
Current through any conductor is of this type.
Q.26. Explain relaxation time with an example?
Answer: Imagine that you have a solid metal ball or sphere and you place a charge inside of it. This charge will arrive at
the surface as a surface charge. How fast this charge arrives at the surface can be calculated using the term relaxation
time.
Q.27. What are the properties of perfect conductor?
Answer: The properties of perfect conductor are –
Within a conductor, charge or charge density is zero and a surface charge density is present on the outer surface
of the conductor.
The electric field intensity within the conductor is zero.
The tangential component of external electric field intensity as well as electric flux density is zero.
The conductor surface is an equipotential surface.
The normal component of electric flux density is equal to surface charge density on the conductor surface.
Q.28. What do you mean by boundary conditions?
Answer: The conditions existing at the boundary of the two media when field passes from one medium to other are
called boundary conditions. Depending upon the nature of the media, there are two situations of the boundary
conditions.
Boundary between conductor and free space or boundary between conductor and dielectric.
Boundary between two dielectrics with different properties.
Q.29. Who discovered the relation between electric and magnetic fields?
Answer: The scientist oersted has discovered the relation between electric and magnetic fields in 1820.
Q.30. What do you mean by magnetostatics?
Answer: The study of steady magnetic field, existing in a given space, produced due to the flow of direct current
through a conductor is called magnetostatics.
Q.31. Which thumb rule is used to determine the direction of magnetic field around a conductor carrying a direct
current?
Answer: Right hand thumb rule. It states that, hold the current carrying conductor in the right hand such that thumb
pointing in the direction of current and parallel to the conductor, then curled fingers point in the direction of the
magnetic lines of flux around it.
Q.32. State Biot-Savart law?
Answer: It states that, the magnetic field intensity dH produced at a point ‘P’ due to a differential current element IdL is,
Proportional to the product of the current I and differential length dL.
The sine of the angle between the element and the line joining point ‘P’ to the element.
And inversely proportional to the square of the distance R between point P and the element.
Q.33.State Ampere’s Circuital law.
Answer: It states that, the line integral of magnetic field intensity ‘H’ around a closed path is exactly equal to the direct
current enclosed by that path.
Q.34. How we can say whether the field is rotational or irrotational?
Answer: If curl of a vector field exists then the field is called rotational. For irrotational vector field, the curl vanishes
i.e. curl is zero.
Q.35. What is the value of the divergence of the magnetic flux density?
Answer: The divergence of magnetic flux density is always zero. This is called Gauss’s law in differential form for
magnetic fields.
Q.36. What do you mean by the magnetic dipole moment of a current loop?
Answer: The magnetic dipole moment of a current loop is defined as the product of current through the loop and the
area of the loop, directed normal to the current loop. From the definition it is clear that, the magnetic dipole moment is a
vector quantity.
Q.37. What are the different classification of magnetic materials?
Answer: On the basis of the magnetic behavior, the magnetic materials are classified as diamagnetic, paramagnetic,
ferromagnetic, antiferomagnetic, ferimagnetic and supermagnetic
Q.38. What are diamagnetic materials?
Answer: The magnetic materials in which the orbital magnetic moment and electron spin magnetic moment cancel each
other making net permanent magnetic moment of each atom zero are called diamagnetic materials.
Q.39. What are paramagnetic materials?
Answer: The magnetic materials in which the orbital and spin magnetic moments do not cancel each other resulting in a
net magnetic moment of an atom are called as paramagnetic materials.
Q.40. What are ferromagnetic materials?
Answer: The materials in which the atoms have large dipole moment due to electron spin magnetic moments are called
ferromagnetic materials.
Q.41. What are anti ferromagnetic materials?
Answer: The materials in which the dipole moments of adjacent atoms line up in antiparallel fashion are called anti
ferromagnetic materials.
Q.42. What are ferimagnetic materials?
Answer: The materials in which the magnetic dipole moments are lined up in antiparallel fashion, but the net magnetic
moment is non-zero are called ferimagnetic materials.
Q.43. What are supermagnetic materials?
Answer: In supermagnetic materials, the ferromagnetic materials are suspended in the dielectric matrix. The important
property of the supermagnetic material is that even though each particle of it contains large magnetic domains but cannot
penetrate adjacent particles.
Q.44. What do you mean by domains?
Answer: The region in which large number of magnetic moments lined in parallel are called domains.
Q.45. What is Kirchhoff’s flux law?
Answer: Kirchhoff’s flux law states that the total magnetic flux arriving at any junction in a magnetic circuit is equal to
the total magnetic flux leaving that junction.
Q.46. Which current (conduction current or displacement current) is larger in conductor and in dielectric
medium?
Answer: In conductor, the conduction current is very large as compared to the displacement current whereas in
dielectric medium, the displacement current is greater as compared to the conduction current.
Q.47. Define uniform plane wave.
Answer: A plane electromagnetic wave is defined as a wave in which both the electric (E) and magnetic (H) vectors are
at right angles to the direction of propagation. At any instant of time, both vectors have the same magnitude and
direction at all points in the transverse plane which contains them.
Q.48. What is skin depth or depth of penetration?
Answer: The distance through which the amplitude of the travelling wave decreases to 37% of the original amplitude is
called skin depth or depth of penetration.
Q.49. When the polarization is said to be linear?
Answer: When EX and EY components are in phase with either equal or unequal amplitudes, for a uniform plane wave
travelling in Z-direction, the polarization is linear.
Q.50. When the polarization is said to be elliptical?
Answer: When the components EX and EY of unequal amplitudes have a constant, non-zero phase difference between
two, for a uniform plane wave travelling in Z-direction, the polarization is elliptical.
Q.51. When the polarization is said to be circular?
Answer: When the components EX and EYof equal amplitudes have a constant, non-zero phase difference of
90 ∘ between them, for a uniform plane wave, the polarization is circular.
Q.52. What do you mean by dispersive medium?
Answer: The medium in which the parameters of the medium affecting wave propagation through it vary with
frequency is called dispersive medium.
Q.53. What is intrinsic impedance?
Answer: The ratio of amplitudes of electric field intensity to the magnetic field intensity has the dimensions of
impedance (ohms). This ratio is known as intrinsic impedance of the medium in which the wave is travelling.
Q.54. What do you mean by Poynting vector?
Answer: It states that the vector product of electric field intensity vector E and magnetic field intensity vector H at any
point is a measure of the rate of energy flow per unit area at that point. The direction of power flow is perpendicular to
both E and H.
Q.55. What do you mean by standing wave?
Answer: When waves travelling in a perfect dielectric incident normally on the interface with a perfect conductor, then
reflected wave in combination with the incident wave produces a standing wave.
Q.56. What is transmission line and its use?
Answer: The electrical lines which are used to transmit the electrical waves along them are called transmission lines.
Transmission lines are employed, not only to transmit energy, but also as circuit elements like inductors, capacitors,
resonant circuits, filters, transformers and even insulators at very high frequencies. They are also used as measuring
devices and as an aid to obtain impedance matching etc.
Q.57. What are the types of transmission lines?
Answer: Basically there are four types of transmission lines-
Parallel wire type.
Co-axial type.
Wave guides.
Optical fibres.
Q.58. What is waveguide?
Answer: A transmission line consisting of a suitable shaped hollow conductor, which may be filled with a dielectric
material and is used to guide electromagnetic waves of UHF propagated along its length, is called a waveguide.
Waveguides are widely used in communication network for the transmission of electromagnetic waves. Power handling
capacity of waveguides is higher than the co-axial cable.
Q.59. What are the advantages of using optical fibres?
Answer: The advantages of using optical fibres are as follows-
Superior transmission quality.
Higher information carrying capacity.
Light weight and smaller size.
Reduced cost and higher security.
Immune to electromagnetic interference and radio frequency interference.
It has larger bandwidth.
A material used in fibres is silica glass or silicon oxide which is one of the most abundant materials on earth.
Q.60. What do you mean by standing wave ratio?
Answer: The ratio of the maximum to the minimum magnitude of current or voltage on a line having standing waves is
called the standing wave ratio and is normally abbreviated as SWR and denoted by ‘S’.
Q.61. What is stub matching?
Answer: It is possible to connect sections of open or short circuited line called stub in shunt with the main line at some
point or points to affect impedance matching. This is called stub matching.
Q.62. Define guide wavelength?
Answer: It is defined as the distance travelled by the wave in order to undergo a phase shift of 2π radians.
Q.63. What are degenerative modes?
Answer: The modes having same cut-off wavelength, but different field pattern are called degenerative modes.
Q.64. What is dominant mode?
Answer: The dominant mode is characterized by the wave having highest cut-off wavelength.
Q.65. What is cavity resonator?
Answer: When one end of the waveguide is terminated in shorting plates there will be reflection and standing waves.
When another shorting plate is kept at a distance of a multiple of λg/2 then the hollow space so formed can support a
signal which bounces back and forth between the two shorting plates. This results in resonance and hence the hollow
space is called cavity and the resonator as a cavity resonator.
Q.66. What are the applications of cavity resonator?
Answer: The applications of cavity resonator are-
They can be used as tuned circuits.
In UHF tubes, klystron amplifier/oscillators, cavity magnetron.
In duplexers of radars.
Cavity wave meters in measurement of frequency etc.
Q.67. Resonant cavity is equivalent to which type of filter?
Answer: It is equivalent to band pass filter.
Q.68. What do you mean by transverse nature of electromagnetic waves?
Answer: For a electromagnetic waves E and H are perpendicular to each other and both are perpendicular to the
direction of propagation. That’s why electromagnetic waves are known as transverse electromagnetic (TEM) waves.
Q.69. What is the value of standing wave ratio?
Answer: The value of standing wave ratio lies between 1 and infinity.
Q.70. Why quarter wave line is considered as an impedance inverter?
Answer: A quarter wave line can transform low impedance into a high impedance and vice-versa, so it can be
considered as an impedance inverter.
Q.71. What are the two most important theorems in Electromagnetics?
Answer: Reciprocity and uniqueness theorems.
Q.72. What is microwave T-junctions?
Answer: A T-junction is an intersection of three waveguides in the form of English alphabet T.
Q.73. How do you place a ring antenna over a ground plane if you want to use it as the reflector?
Answer: Vertically, half wavelength above ground. Since the equivalent magnetic dipole and its image will be in phase
and radiate maximum along the direction normal to the ground.
Q.74. What are the applications of magic tee?
Answer: The applications of magic tee are-
Measurement of impedance.
Magic tee as a duplexer.
Magic tee as a mixer.
Q.75. What is the mode of propagation of microstrip line and co-axial cable?
Answer: Mode of propagation of microstrip line and co-axial cable is quasi TEM and TEM respectively.
Q.76. What do you mean by loaded lines?
Answer: Increasing inductance by inserting inductor in series with the line is termed as loading and such lines are called
as loaded lines. Loading eliminates distortion in transmission lines.
Q.77. What are the factors for insertion loss in a line between source and load?
Answer: Insertion loss in a line between source and load is due to losses in the line, reflection losses at source and load
and mismatching between source and load.
Q.78. Why coherent transmission is used instead of non-coherent transmission?
Answer: In coherent transmission the spectrum is discrete so energy transmitted is maximum which increases range
detection without decreasing range resolution.
Q.79. What is IP3 of an amplifier?
Answer: IP3 is a measure of third order intermodulation distortion. It is the interception point on the output power
versus input power diagram where the third order intermodulation product gain curve meets the signal gain curve.
Q.80. Why open circuit stub is not preferred as compared to short circuit stub?
Answer: Chances of radiation is more in open circuit stub as compared to short circuit stub. Hence it is not preferred.
Q.81. What happen when electromagnetic waves are incident on a perfect dielectric?
Answer: When electromagnetic waves are incident on a perfect dielectric then waves are partially transmitted and
partially reflected.
Q.82. Where standing waves is possible?
Answer: Standing waves is possible only when there is free space and lossless dielectric.
Q.83. What is the relation between area of cross section of circular waveguide and rectangular waveguide for
dominant mode?
Answer: Area of cross section of circular waveguide for dominant mode is 2.17 times more than rectangular waveguide.
Q.84. How electric field and magnetic field is aligned inside a waveguide?
Answer: Inside a waveguide, electric field is always perpendicular to the surface of conductor whereas magnetic field is
always parallel to the surface of the conductor.
Q.85. Why circular polarization is becoming popular these days?
Answer: Circular polarization minimizes the clutter echo’s received from raindrops, transmission and reception between
artificial satellite and earth etc, so circular polarization is becoming popular these days.
Q.86. What is the condition when ideal standing waves are observed?
Answer: Ideal standing waves are observed when medium 1 is perfect dielectric and medium 2 is perfect conductor.
Q.87. How lengths are related for a standard rectangular waveguide?
Answer: For a standard rectangular waveguide, the lengths are related as, a=2b.
Q.88. What is Doppler effect?
Answer: When there is a relative movement between target and radar then there will be difference between the
transmitted pulse frequency and received echos frequency. The difference frequency is Doppler frequency and effect is
known as Doppler effect.
Q.89. Can paper effect magnetic flux?
Answer: Paper cannot effect magnetic flux because it is not a magnetic material.
Q.90. Why frequency diversity is used in radars?
Answer: To get around the problem of target fading we should switch periodically from one to another of several
different radio frequencies thereby providing what is called frequency diversity.
Q.91. What is the difference between scanning and tracking?
Answer: Scanning refers to the way in which the antenna keeps moving in azimuth and elevation for covering an area
which has the desired target whereas tracking means tracking the path of the target by means of the radar.
Q.92. What do you mean by blind speed?
Answer: If the target has uniform velocity, the successive sweeps will have Doppler phase shifts of exactly 2π and the
target appears stationary and gives wrong radar indication. The speed corresponding to this condition is called blind
speed.
Q.93. What do you mean by Rayleigh scattering?
Answer: The glass which is used in the fabrication of fibres has many microscopic inhomogeneities and material density
fluctuations of the silica material components. As a result, a portion of light passing through the glass fibres gets
scattered. This is known as Rayleigh scattering.
Q.94. What are the various types of fading encountered in the radio wave propagation?
Answer: The various types of fading encountered in the radio wave propagation are-
Selective fading.
Interference fading.
Absorption fading.
Polarization fading.
Skip fading.
Q.95. What is the difference between Monostatic and Bistatic radar systems?
Answer: In Monostatic radar system single antenna is used for both transmission as well as reception while in Bistatic
radar system separate antennas are used for transmit and receive functions.
Q.96. What are the uses of Helical antenna?
Answer: The uses of helical antenna are as follows-
Single or an array of helical antenna is used to transmit or receive the VHF signal through ionosphere. Its main
applications are in space communication, telemetry link with ballistic missiles, satellites etc.
The wide bandwidth, simplicity, highest directivity and circular polarization of the helical beam antenna have
made it indispensible for space communication applications.
Because of circular polarization, helical antenna is capable of receiving signals of arbitrary polarization.
Q.97. Why zigzag kind of feed is used in log periodic antennas?
Answer: To minimize the backward radiation (towards the layer elements). The feeding voltage for each element is
reversed so that the current flowing in alternative direction in each element, which forms an array factor having
minimum in backward direction and maximum in forward direction.
Q.98. For which antenna directivity gain and directivity is same?
Answer: For a lossless isotropic antenna, directivity gain and directivity is same.
Q.99. What do you mean by Apogee and Perigee?
Answer: Apogee is the highest point attained by the satellite while moving round the earth whereas perigee is the lowest
point of the satellite on its path round the earth.
Q.100. How range ambiguity can be resolved?
Answer: Range ambiguity can be resolved by changing pulse repetition frequency (PRF).
 NETWORKS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q.1. What do you mean by electric network and electric circuit?
Answer: An electric network is any possible interconnection of electric circuit elements (e.g. R, L, C) or branches. An
electric circuit is a closed energized network. A network is not necessarily a circuit example T network.
Q.2. Define current, voltage and power.
Answer: The time rate of flow of electric charge across a cross-sectional boundary is termed as current.
Voltage is defined as work done in moving a unit positive charge once around the closed path.
The instantaneous power delivered to circuit elements is the product of the instantaneous value of voltage and current of
the element. In terms of energy, power is defined as “The time rate of change of energy is called power”.
Q.3. What is self-inductance (L)?
Answer: The property of coil due to which it opposes any increase or decrease of current or flux through it is called self-
inductance.
Q.4. What is mutual-inductance (M)?
Answer: Mutual-inductance is the property of two coil because of which each opposes any change in the current
flowing through the other by developing an induced emf.
Q.5. What are lumped network?
Answer: A network in which physically separate resistors, capacitors and inductors can be represented.
Q.6. What are distributed network?
Answer: A network in which resistors, capacitors and inductors cannot be electrically separable and isolated as
individual elements. A transmission line has distributed resistor, inductor and capacitor which are not isolated from the
network.
Q.7. What is the difference between the unilateral and bilateral network?
Answer: A unilateral network is one whose elements follow different laws relating to voltage and current for different
direction of voltage and current polarities. For example, vacuum tubes, crystal and metal rectifiers are unilateral
elements.
A bilateral network is defined as those whose elements can transmit well in either direction. For example, elements
made of high conductivity material like iron core conductor is bilateral elements.
Q.8. What are linear networks?
Answer: A linear network is one for which the principle of superposition holds. A circuit element is linear if the relation
between voltage and current involves a constant coefficient.
Therefore, it is concluded that a linear network must be bilateral but a bilateral network is not necessarily linear. For
example, an iron core conductor is bilateral but it is non linear.
Q.9. What is a current source?
Answer: A generator which maintains its output current independent of the voltage across its terminals. It is indicated
by a circle enclosing an arrow for reference current direction. An ideal current source has infinite internal resistance.
Q.10. What is a voltage source?
Answer: A generator which maintains its value of potential independent of the output current. An AC source is
indicated by a circle enclosing a wavy line. An ideal voltage source has zero internal resistance.
Q.11. What should be the internal resistance of an ideal voltmeter and ammeter?
Answer: Ideally the internal resistance of a voltmeter should be infinite and ideally the internal resistance of an ammeter
should be zero.
Q.12. State Kirchhoff’s current law (KCL).
Answer: It is based on conservation of charge. It states that, “The algebraic sum of currents at any node of a circuit is
zero”.
Q.13. State Kirchhoff’s voltage law (KVL).
Answer: It is based on conservation of energy. It states that, “The algebraic sum of voltages in any closed path of
network that is traversed in any single direction is zero”.
Q.14. Explain the switching action of an inductor?
Answer: The current through an inductor cannot change instantaneously. If an energy source is suddenly connected to
an inductor then it will not cause current to flow initially. Thus inductor acts as open circuit for the new applied source at
the instant of switching.
If a current of vale IO flows in the inductor at the instant switching takes place, that current will continue to flow. For the
initial instant, the inductor may be considered as a current source of current IO.

Q.15. Explain the switching action of a capacitor?

Answer: The voltage across a capacitor cannot change instantaneously. Since, we have V=q/c, hence zero charge
corresponds to zero voltage. Thus for a suddenly applied energy source, voltage across capacitor is initially zero i.e.
equivalent to a short circuit.
Hence on connecting an uncharged capacitor to an energy source, a current flows instantaneously. But with an initial
charge in the system, the capacitor is equivalent to a voltage source of vale VO= qo/c, where qo the initial charge.

Q.16. State clearly the Thevenin’s theorem.

Answer: This theorem states that a linear, bilateral network consisting of active and passive elements can be replaced by
a voltage source connected in series with impedance. The value of voltage source is equal to the open circuited voltage
seen across the terminals and the impedance is equal to the impedance seen across the open circuited terminals with all
sources replaced by their internal impedances.
Q.17. Explain the usefulness of Thevenin’s theorem in linear network?
Answer: Thevenin’s theorem is very useful in linear network analysis because using Thevenin’s theorem a large part of
network, often a complicated and uninteresting part, can be replaced by a very simple equivalent which enables us to
make rapid calculations.
It is very useful when it is desired to determine the current through or voltage across any one element in a network
instead of going through the lengthy method of soling the network.
Q.18. State clearly the superposition theorem?
Answer: This theorem states that the voltage across or current through any element due to multiple sources present in a
linear network is equal to the algebraic sum of voltage across or current through that element due to individual source
with all other sources replaced by their internal impedances.
Q.19. Explain the usefulness of superposition theorem in linear network?
Answer: Superposition theorem is very useful in linear network analysis because a complex network can be solved
easily by breaking it in simpler networks and using superposition theorem.
This theorem is very useful to calculate the voltage and current when more than one active source is present in the
network.
Q.20. State Tellegen’s theorem and its application.
Answer: It states that for any given time, the sum and power delivered to each branch of any electric network is zero. In
other words, the summation of instantaneous power or summation of complex power of sinusoidal sources in a electrical
network is zero.
Tellegen’s theorem is applicable for any lumped network having elements which are linear or non-linear, active or
passive, time-varying or time-invariant.
Q.21. What is Reciprocity theorem?
Answer: This theorem states that the current in branch X due to voltage source in branch Y of a linear bilateral network
is same as the current in branch Y when the same voltage source is connected in branch X of the network.
Only one source should be present in the network.
Initial condition must be zero.
Network must be time invariant.
Dependent source are not permitted.
Q.22. State Norton’s Theorem.
Answer: It states that, any two terminals of a network containing linear passive and active elements may be replaced by
an equivalent current source IN in parallel with a resistance RN where IN is the current flowing through a short circuit
placed across the terminals and RN is the equivalent resistance of the network as seen from the two terminals with all the
independent sources suppressed.
Q.23. State Millman’s Theorem.
Answer: This theorem states that, any number of current sources in parallel may be replaced by a single current source,
whose current is the algebraic sum of individual source currents and source resistance is the parallel combination of
individual source resistance.
Q.24. What is the condition for maximum power transfer to take place?
Answer: For maximum power transfer to take place the resistance of the load should be equal to the source resistance
and the reactance of the load should be equal to that of source in magnitude but opposite in sign. It means, if load is
capacitive then source is inductive and vice-versa.
Q.25. Where the study of resonance is very useful?
Answer: The study of resonance is very useful in the area of communication particularly. For example, the ability of a
radio receiver to select a certain frequency transmitted by a station and to eliminate frequencies from other stations is
based on the principle of resonance.
Q.26. What is passive network?
Answer: A network containing circuit elements without any energy source is called as passive network.
Q.27. What is active network?
Answer: A network containing energy source together with other circuit elements is called active network.
Q.28. What is the use of superposition theorem?
Answer: This theorem is used in order to check whether a given element is linear or non-linear.
Q.29. For which network, the superposition theorem is not applicable?
Answer: Superposition theorem is not applicable to the network containing unilateral elements and non linear elements.
Q.30. On which law Tellegan’s theorem is based?
Answer: Tellegan’s theorem works based on the principle of law of conservation of energy.
Q.31. What is transient response?
Answer: Transients are present in circuit, when circuit is subjected to any changes either by changing source magnitude
or by changing any circuit elements provided circuit should consists of any energy storage elements.
Transient response depends only on circuit components and their layout that is on system not on input and output.
Q.32. Is it possible to obtain transient free response in RLC circuit?
Answer: In RLC circuit it is not possible to obtain transient free response, since circuit is having two independent
energy storage elements Land C.
Q.33. What is Resonance?
Answer: Resonance is the condition when the voltage across a circuit becomes in phase with the current supplied to the
circuit. At resonance, the circuit behaves like a resistive circuit.
Q.34. What is power factor?
Answer: It is the cosine of the angle between the voltage and current in any AC circuit. For a resistive circuit power
factor is unity. For a capacitive circuit power factor is leading (i.e. current leads the voltage) and for an inductive circuit
power factor is lagging (i.e. current lags the voltage).
Q.35. What will be the power factor of the circuit at resonance?
Answer: At resonance, the circuit behaves like a resistive circuit, so the power factor of the circuit at resonance is unity.
Q.36. What is the Q factor or quality factor?
Answer: The ratio of resonant frequency to the bandwidth is an indication of the degree of selectivity of the circuit. This
is known as quality factor (Q).
Q.37. What will be the effect of Quality factor on bandwidth?
Answer: A higher value of Quality factor results in a smaller bandwidth and a lower value of Quality factor cause a
larger bandwidth.
Q.38. What is the difference between Apparent power and Reactive power?
Answer: Apparent Power- The product VI is called the apparent power and it is usually indicated by the symbol ‘S’. It
is expressed in VA.
Reactive Power- The product of rms value of current and voltage and sine of the angle between them is called reactive
power. It is denoted by ‘Q’ and is expressed in VAR.
Q.39. What is Power Triangle?
Answer: The equations associated with the average, apparent and reactive power can be developed geometrically on a
right triangle called the power triangle.
Q.40. What is the use of Hybrid (h) parameter?
Answer: Hybrid parameters are used in constructing models for transistors.
Q.41. What is image impedance of the network?
Answer: If two impedance Zi1 and Zi2 are such that Zi1 is driving point impedance at port 1 with Zi2 connected to port 2
and Zi2 is driving point impedance at port 2 with Zi1 connected to port 1 then Zi1 and Zi2 are called image impedance of
the network.
Q.42. What is magnetic coupling?
Answer: When a portion of magnetic flux established by one circuit interlinks with the second circuit, the two circuits
are said to be coupled magnetically and energy may be transferred from one circuit to other through the medium of
magnetic flux which is common to both.
Q.43. Define bandwidth of series RLC circuit.
Answer: The bandwidth of a series RLC circuit is defined as the range of frequency for which the power delivered to
the resistance is greater than or equal to half the power delivered at resonance.
Q.44. What are the methods of realization of reactance functions?
Answer: Any reactance function can be realized in two forms-
Cauer form or ladder form.
Foster form.
Q.45. Define “Tree” of a connected graph?
Answer: A tree is a connected sub-graph of a connected graph containing all the nodes of the graph but containing no
loops.
A “Tree” is a very important concept in linear graph theory which is a set of branches with every node connected to
every other node (directly or in directly) such that removal of any single branch destroys this property.
Q.46.How does “tree” aid in network analysis?
Answer: The tree is helpful in finding the fundamental cut set matrix which gives the branch voltage and branch current
of each branch on solving. The tree is also helpful in finding the rank of a graph.
Q.47. What are the properties of a tree?
Answer: The properties of a tree are as follows-
There should be only one single path between the two nodes of the tree.
There should not be any closed path.
Tree contains all the nodes of the graph.
The number of branches in the tree = (n-1)
Rank of the tree = (n-1) = rank of the graph.
Q.48. What is twig?
Answer: Branches of the tree are called twig, it is also called edge.
Q.49. What is co-tree and links?
Answer: Remaining part of a graph after removal of twigs is called co-tree. It is collection of rings. Links are branches
removed from the graph to make a tree.
Q.50. What is fundamental cut set matrix?
Answer: Fundamental cut set matrix is a group of branch containing only one twig and the minimum number of links.
Fundamental cut set matrix can be used to write KCL equations for the given network.
Q.51. What do you mean by dual network?
Answer: Duality is a transformation in which currents and voltages are interchanged. The two electrical networks that
are governed by the same type of equations are called dual network.
Q.52. For which network the Thevenin and Norton theorem is applicable?
Answer: Thevenin and Norton theorem is applicable only when the network is linear.
Q.53. When it is convenient to use ABCD, Z and Y parameters?
Answer: When two networks are connected in cascade then it is convenient to use ABCD parameters.
When two networks are connected in series then it is convenient to use z parameters.
When two networks are connected in parallel then it is convenient to use Y parameters.
Q.54. Why DC current cannot be transmitted over long distances like AC current?
Answer: Basically DC has too many losses while voltage drop and power transformation are primary reasons.
Electrolysis is another problem with DC.
Q.55. What do you mean by graph of the network?
Answer: When all the elements (resistors, inductors, capacitors etc) in a network are replaced by lines with dots at both
ends, the configuration is then called the graph of the network.
Q.56. What is the difference between the planer circuit and non-planer circuit?
Answer: A circuit which may be drawn on a plane surface such that no two branches cross each other is called as planer
circuit whereas any circuit in which two branches cross each other is called as non-planer circuit.
Q.57. What are the advantages of Laplace transformation for network analysis?
Answer: The advantages of Laplace transformation for network analysis are as follows-
The solution of differential equation is systematic and routine.
The method gives the total solution – the particular integral and the complementary function in one operation.
Initial conditions are automatically specified in the transformed equation.
It also provides direct solution of non-homogeneous differential equations.
Q.58. What is the limitation of substitution theorem?
Answer: The limitation of this theorem is that the theorem cannot be used to solve the network containing two or more
sources that are not in series or in parallel.
Q.59. What should be the condition between applied signal frequency and resonant frequency for overall
reactance to be inductive and capacitive?
Answer: When applied frequency is less than resonant frequency than the overall reactance will be capacitive.
When applied frequency is greater than resonant frequency than the overall reactance will be inductive.
Q.60. What is the difference between balanced network and unbalanced network?
Answer: If the impedance at one input terminal to ground is same as the impedance at corresponding output terminal
and ground, it is a balanced network. If the condition is not satisfied, it is called unbalanced network.
Q.61. How we can determine that which waveform is leading or lagging?
Answer: By comparing phase angles of two waves we can determine which waveform is leading or lagging provided
that both have positive magnitude and same frequency.
Q.62. When the circuit is said to be in resonance?
Answer: The circuit is said to be in resonance, when applied voltage and the resulting current are in phase.
Q.63. Which resonance (series or parallel) has unity power factor?
Answer: Both series and parallel resonance have unity power factor.
Q.64. Which resonance has maximum impedance at resonant frequency?
Answer: Parallel resonance has maximum impedance whereas series resonance has minimum impedance at resonant
frequency.
Q.65. Which resonance has maximum current at resonant frequency?
Answer: Series resonance has maximum current whereas parallel resonance has minimum current at resonant frequency.
Q.66. A network contains only independent current sources and resistors. If the values of all resistors are doubled
then what will be the value of the node voltages?
Answer: Since the network contains only independent current sources, so changing all resistors in the same proportion
the current through each branch will remain same but node voltages will change in the same proportion. Hence, doubling
all resistors, node voltages will be doubled.
Q.67. What is the value of internal admittance of an ideal current source?
Answer: The internal impedance of an ideal current source is infinite. In other words, the internal admittance of an ideal
current source is zero.
Q.68. What are the properties of RL driving point impedance?
Answer: The properties of RL driving point impedance are as follows-
Poles and zeros lie on the negative real axis.
Poles and zeros are alternate on negative real axis.
The entity nearest to origin is a zero and that nearest to infinity is a pole.
Residues must be positive.
The slope of the curve is positive at all points.
Q.69. What are the properties of LC functions?
Answer: The properties of LC functions are as follows-
Poles and zeros of the LC functions always lie on jw axis.
Poles and zeros are alternate on jw axis.
There is either a pole or a zero at origin and infinity.
The highest and lower powers of s in numerator and denominator can differ at the most by 1.
Q.70. What are the features of RC impedance functions?
Answer: The features of RC impedance functions are-
The poles and zeros lie on the negative real axis and they alternate.
The singularity nearest or at the origin must be a pole whereas the singularity nearest to or at infinity must be a
zero.
Q.71. Why the power factor of an inductor is zero?
Answer: Power factor in any circuit is given by cosφ where φ is the angle between voltage and current in that circuit.
The voltage across and current through an inductor are in quadrature i.e. φ = 90 ∘ . Hence, power factor = cos90 ∘ = 0.
Q.72. A DC voltage source is connected across a series RLC circuit. Under steady state conditions, across which
element the applied DC voltage drops entirely?
Answer: For DC supply, inductors behave as short circuit and capacitor behave as open circuit. So under steady state
conditions, the applied DC voltage drops entirely across the capacitor only.
Q.73. Two two-port networks are connected in parallel. The combination is to be represented as a single two-port
network. How parameters of this network can be obtained?
Answer: The parameters of this network are obtained by addition of the individual Y-parameters.
Q.74. Two two-port networks are connected in cascade. The combination is to be represented as a single two-port
network. How parameters of this network can be obtained?
Answer: The parameters of this network are obtained by multiplying the individual ABCD parameter matrices.
Q.75. What is the necessary and sufficient condition for a rational function of s, T(s) to be a driving point
impedance of an RC network?
Answer: The necessary and sufficient condition is that all poles and zeros should be simple and lie on the negative real
axis of the s-plane. The poles and zeros of the ZRC(s) should be simple and alternates on the negative real axis of the s-
plane.
Q.76. At which frequency, the current peaks in a series RLC high Q circuit?
Answer: In a series RLC high Q circuit, the current peaks at a frequency equal to the resonant frequency.
At resonance frequency,
Zmin = R, Imax = V/Zmin.

Q.77. Consider a DC voltage source connected to a series RC circuit. When the steady state reaches, what will be
the ratio of the energy stored in the capacitor to the total energy supplied by the voltage source?
Answer: Ws = CVs2 and Wc = ½ CVs2

Therefore, Wc/Ws = 0.5.

Q.78. If an impedance ZL is connected across a voltage source V with source impedance ZS, then what will be the
value of load impedance for maximum power transfer?
Answer: Load impedance must be equal to complex conjugate of ZS because according to maximum power transfer
theorem, ZL = ZS*.

Q.79. Norton’s theorem states that a complex network connected to a load can be replaced with an equivalent
impedance ____________________.
Answer: In parallel with a current source.
Q.80. A 10 ohm resistor, a 1H inductor and 1 micro farad capacitor are connected in parallel. The combination is
driven by a unit step current. Under the steady state condition, the source current flow through which element?
Answer: At steady state inductor behaves as short circuit. So, under steady state condition the source current flows
through the inductor.
Q.81. How inductor and capacitor behaves at steady state condition?
Answer: At steady state, inductor behaves as short circuit whereas capacitor behaves as open circuit.
Q.82. What does the condition AD – BC = 1 for a two port network implies?
Answer: The condition AD – BC = 1 for a two port network implies that the network is a Reciprocal network.
Q.83. What will be the number of independent loops for a network with ‘n’ nodes and ‘b’ branches?
Answer: The number of independent loops for a network with ‘n’ nodes and ‘b’ branches is b- (n-1) = b-n+1.
Q.84. What must be the first and the last critical frequency of an RC driving point impedance function?
Answer: For stability poles and zeros interlace on real axis. Since its RC, so first critical frequency is due to pole and
last critical frequency is due to zero.
Q.85. What is the derivative of a step function?
Answer: The derivative of a step function is an impulse function.
Q.86. If a capacitor is charged by a square wave current source, than what will be the voltage across the
capacitor?
Answer: Triangular wave.
Q.87. In a series resonant circuit, which parameter will increase on increasing the inductance to four times its
value and reducing the capacitance to one fourth of its value?
Answer: Selectivity of the circuit.
Q.88. At what frequencies, a series RLC circuit draws current at leading power factor?
Answer: At frequencies less than the resonant frequencies.
Q.89. What type of magnitude response is of normalized Butterworth low pass filter?
Answer: The magnitude response of a normalized Butterworth low pass filter is non-linear up to the cut-off frequency
and linear thereafter.
Q.90. The poles and zeros of a driving point function of a network are simple and interlace on the negative real
axis with a pole closest to the origin. How it can be realized?
Answer: It can be realized as an RC driving point impedance.
Q.91. What type of filter it is, if the numerator of a second order transfer function F(S) is a constant?
Answer: Low pass filter.
Q.92. What will be the dual of a parallel RC circuit?
Answer: The dual of a parallel RC circuit is a series RL circuit.
Q.93. A 3-phase balanced supply system is connected to a 3-phase unbalanced load. How many wattmeters can be
used to measure power supplied to this load?
Answer: Two wattmeters or three wattmeter’s can be used to measure power supplied to this load.
Q.94. What will be the effect of using capacitor for power factor correction in a single phase circuit?
Answer: A capacitor used for power factor correction in single-phase circuit decreases the line current and increases
power factor.
Q.95. Comment upon the pole and zero of voltage transfer function of a simple RC integrator?
Answer: Voltage transfer function of a simple RC integrator has a zero at infinity and a finite pole.
Q.96. If two identical first order low pass filter are cascaded non-interactively, then what will be the unit step
response of the composite filter?
Answer: The unit step response of the composite filter will be critically damped.
Q.97. Why inductances are avoided in active filter circuits?
Answer: In active filter circuits, inductances are avoided mainly because they are bulky and unsuitable for
miniaturization.
Q.98. What will be the resultant of the sum and difference of two positive real functions?
Answer: The sum of two positive real functions is also positive real. But difference of two positive real functions may
or may not be positive real.
Q.99. Why Foster and Cauer realization are known as canonical realization?
Answer: The Foster and Cauer realization use the minimum number of elements for realization of circuit therefore these
are called canonical realization.
Q.100. How RL and RC functions can be distinguished?
Answer: RL and RC functions can be distinguished by-
By location of poles and zeros.
By observing the sign of residues.
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