EC, GATE-2016, SET-I

GENERAL APTITUDE
Q. No. 1 – 5 Carry One Mark Each

1. Which of the following is CORRECT with respect to grammar and usage?

Mount Everest is __________.
(A) The highest peak in the world (B) highest peak in the world
(C) one of highest peak in the world (D) one of the highest peak in the world
Answer: (A)

2. The policeman asked the victim of a theft, “What did you _________?”
(A) loose (B) lose (C) loss (D) louse
Answer: (B)

3. Despite the new medicine’s_________ in treating diabetes, it is not __________ widely.

(A) effectiveness --- prescribed (B) availability --- used
(C) prescription--- available (D) acceptance --- proscribed
Answer: (A)

4. In a huge pile of apples and oranges, both ripe and unripe mixed together, 15% are unripe fruits. Of
the unripe fruits, 45% are apples. Of the ripe ones, 66% are oranges. If the pile contains a total
of5692000 fruits, how many of them are apples?
(A) 2029198 (B) 2467482 (C) 2789080 (D) 3577422
Answer: (A)

5. Michael lives 10 km away from where I live. Ahmed lives 5 km away and Susan lives 7 km away
from where I live. Arun is farther away than Ahmed but closer than Susan from where I live. From the
information provided here, what is one possible distance (in km) at which I live from Arun’s place?
(A) 3.00 (B) 4.99 (C) 6.02 (D) 7.01
Answer: (C)
 Q. No. 6 – 10 Carry Two Marks Each

6. A person moving through a tuberculosis prone zone has a 50% probability of becoming infected.
However, only 30% of infected people develop the disease. What percentage of people moving
through a tuberculosis prone zone remains infected but does not show symptoms of disease?
(A) 15 (B) 33 (C) 35 (D) 37
Answer: (C)

7. In a world filled with uncertainty, he was glad to have many good friends. He had always assisted
them in times of need and was confident that they would reciprocate. However, the events of the last
week proved him wrong.
Which of the following inference(s) is/are logically valid and can be inferred from the above passage?
(i) His friends were always asking him to help them.
(ii) He felt that when in need of help, his friends would let him down.
(iii) He was sure that his friends would help him when in need.

(iv) His friends did not help him last week.

(A) (i) and (ii) (B) (iii) and (iv) (C) (iii) only (D) (iv) only
Answer: (B)

8. Leela is older than her cousin Pavithra. Pavithra’s brother Shiva is older than Leela. WhenPavithra and
Shiva are visiting Leela, all three like to play chess. Pavithra wins more often than Leela does.
Which one of the following statements must be TRUE based on the above?
(A) When Shiva plays chess with Leela and Pavithra, he often loses.
(B) Leela is the oldest of the three.

(C) Shiva is a better chess player than Pavithra.

(D) Pavithra is the youngest of the three.
Answer: (D)

1 1 1
9. If q − a = and r − b = andS− c = , the value of abc is ____________.
r s q

( rqs )
−1
(A) (B) 0 (C) 1 (D) r+q+s

Answer: (C)
10. P, Q, R and S are working on a project. Q can finish the task in 25 days, working alone for 12 hours a
day. R can finish the task in 50 days, working alone for 12 hours per day. Q worked 12 hours a day but
took sick leave in the beginning for two days. R worked 18 hours a day on all days. What is the ratio
of work done by Q and R after 7 days from the start of the project?
(A) 10:11 (B) 11:10 (C) 20:21 (D) 21:20
Answer: (C)

ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

Q. No. 1 – 25 Carry One Mark Each

1. Let M4 = I, (where I denotes the identity matrix) and M  I, M 2  I and M3  I. Then, for any natural
number k, M−1 equals:
(A)M4k + 1 (B) M4k + 2 (C) M4k + 3 (D) M4k
Answer: (C)

2. The second moment of a Poisson-distributed random variable is 2. The mean of the random variable is
_________.
Answer: (1)

3. Given the following statements about a function f : R → R, select the right option:

P: If f(x) is continuous at x = x 0 , then it is also differentiable at x = x 0 .

Q: If f(x) is continuous at x = x 0 , then it may not be differentiable at x = x 0 .

R: If f(x) is differentiable at x = x 0 , then it is also continuous at x = x 0 .

(A) P is true, Q is false, R is false

(B) P is false, Q is true, R is true
(C) P is false, Q is true, R is false
(D) P is true, Q is false, R is true
Answer: (B)
4. Which one of the following is a property of the solutions to the Laplace equation:  2 f = 0 ?

(A) The solutions have neither maxima nor minima anywhere except at the boundaries.
(B) The solutions are not separable in the coordinates.
(C) The solutions are not continuous.
(D) The solutions are not dependent on the boundary conditions
Answer: (A)

5. Consider the plot of f(x) versus x as shown below.

f (x)

+2
−5
x
0 +5
−2

x
Suppose F ( x ) =  f ( y ) dy. Which one of the following is a graph of F(x)?
−5

(A) (B)
F( x )
F( x )

−5
−5 x
x 0 +5
0 +5

(C) (D)
F( x ) F( x )

−5 −5 +5
x x
0 +5 0

Answer: (C)
6. Which one of the following is an eigen function of the class of all continuous-time, linear, time-
invariant systems [u(t) denotes the unit-step function]?

(A) e j0 t u ( t ) (B) cos ( 0 t ) (C) e j0t (D) sin ( 0 t )

Answer: (C)

7. A continuous-time function x(t) is periodic with period T. The function is sampled uniformly with a
sampling period TS. In which one of the following cases is the sampled signal periodic?

(A) T = 2Ts (B) T = 1.2Ts

(C) Always (D) Never

Answer: (B)

8. Consider the sequence x  n  = a n u  n  + bn u  n , where u[n] denotes the unit-step sequence and
0  a  b  1. The region of convergence (ROC) of the z-transform of x[n] is

(A) za (B) zb

(C) za (D) a zb

Answer: (B)

A B
9. Consider a two-port network with the transmission matrix: T =   . If the network is reciprocal,
 C D
then

(A) T −1 = T (B) T2 = T

(C) Determinant (T) = 0 (D) Determinant (T) = 1

Answer: (D)

10. A continuous time sinusoid of frequency 33 Hz is multiplied with a periodic Dirac impulse train of
frequency 46Hz. The resulting signal is passed through an ideal analog low-pass filter with a cutoff
frequency of 23Hz. The fundamental frequency (in Hz) of the output is _________.
Answer: (13)
11. A small percentage of impurity is added to an intrinsic semiconductor at 300 K.

Conduction Band
EC
New EnergyLevel 0.01eV

EV
ValenceBand

Which one of the following statements is true for the energy band diagram shown in the following
figure?
(A) Intrinsic semiconductor doped with penta-valent atoms to form n-type semiconductor
(B) Intrinsic semiconductor doped with trivalent atoms to form n-type semiconductor
(C) Intrinsic semiconductor doped with penta-valent atoms to form p-type semiconductor
(D) Intrinsic semiconductor doped with trivalent atoms to form p-type semiconductor
Answer: (A)

12. Consider the following statements for a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor
(MOSFET):
P: As channel length reduces, OFF-state current increases.
Q: As channel length reduces, output resistance increases.
R: As channel length reduces, threshold voltage remains constant.
S: As channel length reduces, ON current increases.
Which of the above statements are INCORRECT?
(A) P and Q (B) P and S

(C) Q and R (D) R and S

Answer: (C)
13. Consider the constant current source shown in the figure above. Let  represent the current gain of the
transistor.
The load current I0 through RL is + VCC

  + 1  Vref
(A) I0 =   R
   R

   Vref Vref
(B) I0 =  
−
  +1 R +
R2
  + 1  Vref
(C) I0 =   R1 RL
   2R

   Vref
(D) I0 =  
  + 1  2R
Answer: (B)

14. The following signal Vi of peak voltage 8V is applied to the non-inverting terminal of an ideal op-
amp. The transistor has VBE = 0.7V,  = 100; VLED = 1.5V, VCC − 10V and − VCC = −10V.

10V 10V
6V
100 4V
8k 2V
t
+ VCC
LED − 2V
−
− 4V
2k +
15k − 6V
Vi
−VCC

The number of times the LED glows is _____.

Answer: (3)
15. Consider the oscillator circuit shown in the figure. The function of the network (shown in dotted lines)
consisting of the 100k resistor in series with the two diodes connected back-to-back is to

1nF 158k

1nF 158k + VCC

−
+
−VCC 22.1 k

D1

100 k
D2

10 k

(A) Introduce amplitude stabilization by preventing the op amp from saturating and thus producing
sinusoidal oscillations of fixed amplitude.
(B) Introduce amplitude stabilization by forcing the op-amp to swing between positive and negative
saturation and thus producing square wave oscillations of fixed amplitude.
(C) Introduce frequency stabilization by forcing the circuit to oscillate at a single frequency.

(D) Enable the loop gain to take on a value that produces square wave oscillations.
Answer: (A)
16. The block diagram of a frequency synthesizer consisting of a Phase Locked Loop (PLL) and a divide-by-
𝑁 counter (comprising 2,  4,  8, 16 outputs) is sketched below. The synthesizer is excited with a 5
kHz signal (Input 1). The free-running frequency of the PLL is set to 20 kHz. Assume that the
commutator switch makes contacts repeatedly in the order 1-2-3-4.

+ VCC

Input 1 Phase Low pass

Detector Filter
Amplifier

Counter VCO
1 − +2
2 − +4 C −VCC
3 − +8 R
4 − +16

Synthesizer
output

The corresponding frequencies synthesized are:

(A) 10 kHz, 20 kHz, 40 kHz, 80 kHz
(B) 20 kHz, 40 kHz, 80 kHz, 160 kHz
(C) 80 kHz, 40 kHz, 20 kHz, 10 kHz
(D) 160 kHz, 80 kHz, 40 kHz, 20 kHz
Answer: (A)

17. The output of the combinational circuit given below is

B C Y

(A) A+B+C (B) A(B+C) (C) B(C+A) (D) C(A+B)

Answer: (C)
18. What is the voltage Vout in the following circuit?

VDD

10k

Vout

(A) 0V (B) (VT of PMOS + VT of NMOS) 2

(C) Switching threshold of inverter (D) VDD

Answer: (C)

19. Match the inferences X, Y, and Z, about a system, to the corresponding properties of the elements of
first column in Routh’s Table of the system characteristic equation.

X: The system is stable P: when all elements are positive

Y: The system is unstable Q: when any one element is zero

R: when there is a change in sign of

Z: The test breaks down
coefficients

(A) X→P, Y→Q, Z→R

(B) X→Q, Y→P, Z→R

(C) X→R, Y→Q, Z→P

(D) X→P, Y→R, Z→Q
Answer: (D)
20. A closed-loop control system is stable if the Nyquist plot of the corresponding open-loop transfer
function
(A) encircles the s-plane point (−1 + j0) in the counterclockwise direction as many times as the
number of right-half s-plane poles.
(B) encircles the s-plane point (0 − j1) in the clockwise direction as many times as the number of
right-half s-plane poles.
(C) encircles the s-plane point (−1 + j0) in the counterclockwise direction as many times as the
number of left-half s-plane poles.

(D) encircles the s-plane point (−1 + j0) in the counterclockwise direction as many times as the
number of right-half s-plane zeros.
Answer: (A)

21. Consider binary data transmission at a rate of 56 kbps using baseband binary pulse amplitude
modulation (PAM) that is designed to have a raised-cosine spectrum. The transmission bandwidth (in
kHz) required for a roll-off factor of 0.25 is __________.
Answer: (35)

22. A super heterodyne receiver operates in the frequency range of 58MHz – 68MHz. The intermediate
frequency f1F and local oscillator frequency fL0 are chosen such that f IF  f L0 . It is required that the

image frequencies fall outside the 58MHz – 68MHz band. The minimum required f IF ( in MHz ) is

_________.
Answer: (5)

23. The amplitude of a sinusoidal carrier is modulated by a single sinusoid to obtain the amplitude
modulated signal s ( t ) = 5cos1600t + 20cos1800t + 5cos 2000t.

The value of the modulation index is _________.

Answer: (0.5)
24. Concentric spherical shells of radii 2 m, 4 m, and 8 m carry uniform surface charge densities of 20
nC/m2, −4 nC/m2 and ρs,respectively. The value of ρs (nC/m2) required to ensure that the electric flux
density D = 0 at radius 10 m is _________.

Answer: (–0.25)

25. The propagation constant of a lossy transmission line is (2 + 𝑗5) m−1 and its characteristic impedance is

(50 + j0)  at  = 10 6
rad s −1 . The values of the line constants L, C, R, G are, respectively,

(A) L = 200 H m, C = 0.1 H m, R = 50  m, G = 0.02 S/m

(B) L = 250 H m, C = 0.1 H m, R = 100  m, G = 0.04 S/m

(C) L = 200 H m, C = 0.2 H m, R = 100  m, G = 0.02 S/m

(D) L = 250 H m, C = 0.2 H m, R = 50  m, G = 0.04 S/m

Answer: (B)

Q. No. 26 – 55 carry Two Marks Each

1
26. The integral   ( x + y + 10 ) dx dy, where D denotes the disc: x 2 + y 2  4, evaluates to ________.
2 D

Answer: (20)

27. A sequence x n  is specified as

 x  n   1 1 1
n

  =    , for n  2.
 x  n − 1 1 0 0

The initial conditions are x 0 = 1, x 1 =1, and x n  = 0 for n  0.

The value of x[12] is ________.

Answer: (233)
28. In the following integral, the contour C encloses the points 2πj and −2πj

1 sin z
− 
2 C ( z − 2j)3
dz

The value of the integral is __________

Answer: (–133.87)

29. The region specified by

( ,  z ) : 3    5,

8


   ,3  z  4.5 in cylindrical coordinates has volume of ______.
4

Answer: (4.71)

30. The Laplace transform of the causal periodic square wave of period T shown in the figure below is

f (t)

t
0 T 2 T 3T 2 2T

1 1
(A) F(s) = (B) F(s) =
1 + e−sT 2 s (1 + e−sT 2 )

1 1
(C) F(s) = (D) F(s) =
s (1 − e−sT ) 1 − e−sT
Answer: (B)

31. A network consisting of a finite number of linear resistor (R), inductor (L), and capacitor (C) elements,
connected all in series or all in parallel, is excited with a source of the form
3

a
k =1
k cos ( k0 t ), where a k  0, 0  0.
 The source has nonzero impedance. Which one of the following is a possible form of the output
measured across a resistor in the network?
3
(A) b
k =1
k cos ( k0 t + k ) , where bk  a k , k

4
(B) b
k =1
k cos ( k0 t + k ) , where bk  a k , k

3
(C) a
k =1
k cos ( k0 t + k )

2
(D) a
k =1
k cos ( k0 t + k )

Answer: (A)

32. A first-order low-pass filter of time constant T is excited with different input signals (with zero initial
conditions up to t = 0). Match the excitation signals X, Y, Z with the corresponding time responses for
t ≥ 0:

X: Impulse P: 1 − e− t T

 −t

Y: Unit step Q: t − T 1 − e T 
 

Z: Ramp R: e− t T

(A) X→R, Y→Q, Z→P

(B) X→Q, Y→P, Z→R
(C) X→R, Y→P, Z→Q
(D) X→P, Y→R, Z→Q
Answer: (C)

33. An AC voltage source V = 10 sin(t) volts is applied to the following network. Assume that
R1 = 3k,R 2 = 6k and R 3 = 9k, and that the diode is ideal.
 RMS current Irms (in mA) through the diode is _________.
Answer: (1mA)

34. In the circuit shown in the figure,

the maximum power (in watt) delivered to the resistor R is _________.

Answer: (0.8)

35. Consider the signal

x n  = 6n + 2 + 3n + 1 + 8n  + 7n − 1 + 4n − 2 . If X ( e j ) is the discrete-time Fourier

X ( e j ) sin 2 ( 2) d is equal to _________.

1 
 −
transform of x[n],Then

Answer: (8)
36. Consider a silicon p-n junction with a uniform acceptor doping concentration of 1017 cm−3 on the p-
side and a uniform donor doping concentration of 1016 cm−3on the n-side. No external voltage is
applied to the diode.

Given: kT q = 26mV,
n i = 1.5  1010 cm −3 ,
Si = 120 ,
0 = 8.85  10−14 F m,
and q = 1.6  10−19 C.

The charge per unit junction area (nC cm−2) in the depletion region on the p-side is _________.
Answer: (–48.37)

37. Consider an n-channel metal oxide semi-conductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) with a gate-to
W
source voltage of 1.8 V. Assume that = 4, n Cox = 70 10−6 AV −2 the threshold voltage is 0.3V, and
L
the channel length modulation parameter is 0.09 V−1. In the saturation region, the drain conductance
(in micro Siemens) is ________.
Answer: (28.47)

38. The figure below shows the doping distribution in a p-type semiconductor in log scale.

NA ( cm−3 ) 1016
1014
1 2
Position ( m)

The magnitude of the electric field in the semiconductor due to non-uniform doping is_________
kV/cm
Answer: (1.198)
39. Consider a silicon sample at T=300K, with a uniform donor density N d = 5  1016 cm −3 illuminated
uniformly such that the optical generation rate is G opt = 1.5 1020 cm−3s−1 throughout the sample. The

incident radiation is turned off at 𝑡 = 0. Assume low-level injection to be valid and ignore surface
effects. The carrier lifetimes are p0 = 0.1s and n0 = 0.5s.

n-typeSi

The hole concentration at t = 0 and the hole concentration at t = 0.3s, respectively, are

(A) 1.5  1013 cm −3 and 7.47  1011 cm −3

(B) 1.5  1013 cm −3 and8.23  1011 cm −3

(C) 7.5  1013 cm −3 and 3.73  1011 cm −3

(D) 7.5  1013 cm −3 and 4.12  1011 cm −3

Answer: (A)

40. An ideal op-amp has voltage sources V1, V3, V5,…, VN-1 connected to the non-inverting input and
V2,V4, V6,…………, VN connected to the inverting input as shown in the figure below
(+VCC= 15 volt,−VCC= −15 volt).
10k
V2
10k
V4
10k
+ VCC
VN −
10k V0
+
−VCC
1k
V1
1k
V3
1k 1k
VN −1

The voltages V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, V6,… are 1, − 1/2, 1/3, −1/4, 1/5, −1/6,… volt, respectively. As N
approaches infinity, the output voltage (in volt) is ________.
Answer: (15)
41. A p-i-n photodiode of responsively 0.8A/W is connected to the inverting input of an ideal op-amp as
shown in the figure, +VCC = 15V,
1 M

+ VCC

− Vo
+
1 M
−VCC 10 k

−VCC = −15V, Load resistor R L = 10k. If 10 W of power is incident on the photodiode, then the
value of the photocurrent (in A ) through the load is _________.

Answer: (800)

42. Identify the circuit below.

(A) Binary to Gray code converter (B) Binary to XS3 converter

(C) Gray to Binary converter (D) XS3 to Binary converter
Answer: (*)
43. The functionality implemented by the circuit below is

(A) 2-to-1 multiplexer (B) 4-to-1 multiplexer

(C) 7-to-1 multiplexer (D) 6-to-1 multiplexer
Answer: (B)

44. In an 8085 system, a PUSH operation requires more clock cycles than a POP operation. Which one of
the following options is the correct reason for this?
(A) For POP, the data transceivers remain in the same direction as for instruction fetch (memory to
processor), whereas for PUSH their direction has to be reversed.
(B) Memory write operations are slower than memory read operations in an 8085 based system.
(C) The stack pointer needs to be pre-decremented before writing registers in a PUSH, whereas a
POP operation uses the address already in the stack pointer.
(D) Order of registers has to be interchanged for a PUSH operation, whereas POP uses their natural
order.
Answer: (C)

45. The open-loop transfer function of a unity-feedback control system is

k
G (s ) = .
s 2 + 5s + 5

The value of k at the breakaway point of the feedback control system’s root-locus plot is ________.
Answer: (1.25)
 k
46. The open-loop transfer function of a unity-feedback control system is given by G ( s ) = . For
s ( s + 2)

the peak overshoot of the closed-loop system to a unit step input to be 10%, the value of k is ______.
Answer: (2.87)

47. The transfer function of a linear time invariant system is given by H (s) = 2s4 − 5s3 + 5s − 2

The number of zeros in the right half of the s-plane is __________.

Answer: (3)

48. Consider a discrete memoryless source with alphabet S = s0 ,s1 ,s2 ,s3 ,s4 ,... and respective
1 1 1 1 1 
probabilities of occurrence P =  , , , , ,..... The entropy of the source (in bits) is
 2 4 8 16 32 
___________.
Answer: (2)

49. A digital communication system uses a repetition code for channel encoding/decoding. During
transmission, each bit is repeated three times (0 is transmitted as 000, and 1 is transmitted as 111). It is
assumed that the source puts out symbols independently and with equal probability. The decoder operates
as follows: In a block of three received bits, if the number of zeros exceeds the number of ones, the decoder
decides in favor of a 0, and if the number of one’s exceeds the number of zeros, the decoder decides in
favor of a 1. Assuming a binary symmetric channel with crossover probability p = 0.1, the average
probability of error is ________.
Answer: (0.028)

50. An analog pulse s(t) is transmitted over an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. The
received signal is r(t) = s(t) + n(t), where n(t) is additive white Gaussian noise with power spectral
N0
density . The received signal is passed through a filter with impulse response h(t). Let Es and Eh
2
denote the energies of the pulse s(t) and the filter h(t), respectively. When the signal-to-noise ratio
(SNR) is maximized at the output of the filter (SNRmax), which of the following holds?
 2ES ES
(A) ES = E h ;SNR max = (B) ES = E h ;SNR max =
N0 2N 0

2ES 2E h
(C) ES  E h ;SNR max  (D) ES  E h ;SNR max =
N0 N0

Answer: (A)

51. The current density in a medium is given by

400sin 
J= a r Am −2
2 ( r 2 + 4 )

The total current and the average current density flowing through the portion of a spherical surface r =
 
0.8 m,    , 0    2 are given, respectively, by
12 4

(A) 15.09 A, 12.86 Am-2 (B) 18.73 A, 13.65 Am-2

(C) 12.86 A, 9.23 Am-2 (D) 10.28 A, 7.56 Am-2

Answer: (*)

52. An antenna pointing in a certain direction has a noise temperature of 50K. The ambient temperature is
290 K. The antenna is connected to a pre-amplifier that has a noise figure of 2 dB and an available
gain of 40 dB over an effective bandwidth of 12 MHz. The effective input noise temperature Te for the
amplifier and the noise power Paoat the output of the preamplifier, respectively, are

(A) Te = 169.36 K and Pa 0 = 3.73  10−10 W

(B) Te = 1.36 K and Pa 0 = 3.73  10−10 W

(C) Te = 182.5K and Pa 0 = 3.85  10−10 W

(D) Te = 160.62 K and Pa 0 = 4.6  10 −10 W

Answer: (A)

53. Two lossless X-band horn antennas are separated by a distance of 200λ. The amplitude reflection
coefficients at the terminals of the transmitting and receiving antennas are 0.15 and 0.18, respectively.
The maximum directivities of the transmitting and receiving antennas (over the isotropic antenna) are
 18 dB and 22 dB, respectively. Assuming that the input power in the lossless transmission line
connected to the antenna is 2W and that the antennas are perfectly aligned and polarization matched,
the power (in mW) delivered to the load at the receiver is _______.
Answer: (3)

54. The electric field of a uniform plane wave travelling along the negative z direction is given by the
following equation:
i
( )
Ew = a x + ja y E0e jkz

This wave is incident upon a receiving antenna placed at the origin and whose radiated electric field
towards the incident wave is given by the following equation:

( ) 1
E a = a x + 2a y E I e− jkr
r

The polarization of the incident wave, the polarization of the antenna and losses due to the polarization
mismatch are, respectively,
(A) Linear, Circular (clockwise), −5dB (B) Circular (clockwise), Linear, −5dB
(C) Circular (clockwise), Linear, −3dB (D) Circular (anti clockwise), Linear, −3dB
Answer: (C, D)

55. The far-zone power density radiated by a helical antenna is approximated as:

1
W rad = W average  a r C0 2
cos 4 
r

The radiated power density is symmetrical with respect to  and exists only in the upper


hemisphere: 0    ;0    2; C0 is a constant. The power radiated by the antenna (in watts) and
2
the maximum directivity of the antenna, respectively, are
(A) 1.5C0, 10dB (B) 1.256C0, 10Db
(C) 1.256C0, 12dB (D) 1.5C0, 12dB
Answer: (B)