DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING

NOORUL ISLAM COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, KUMARACOIL.

2004 – 2005 EVEN SEMESTER

EE 340 MICROPROCESSOR AND ITS APPLICATIONS

2 Marks QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

1.Define microcomputer.
A system designed using microprocessor as its CPU is called a microcomputer.

2. What is the function of microprocessor in a system?

The microprocessor is the master in the system, which controls all the activity of
the system. It issues address and control signals and fe3tches the instruction and data
from memory.then it executes the instruction to take appropriate action.

3.List the applications of microcomputer.

Personal computing, calculators, small business system,control applications and
instrumentation systems.

4.What do you meant by 8-bit and 16-bit processor. Mention some systems in each type.
The processors are classified into 8-bit and 16-bit depending on the basic data size
handled by the ALU of the processor.
8-bit microprocessors: 8085,Z80, Motorola 6800
16-bitmicroprocessors: 8086,Z8000, MC68000

5.What is ALE?
The ALE (address latch enable) is a signal used to demultiplex the address and
data lines, using an external latch. It is used to enable the external latch.

6.Explain the function of IO/M in 8085?

The IO/M is used to differentiate memory access and I/O access.For IN and OUT
instruction it is high.For memory reference instructions it is low.

7.What is a flag?
Flag is a flip-flop used to store the information about the status of the processor
and the status of the instruction executed most recently. There are five flags in 8085.They
are sign flag, zero flag, auxiliary carry flag, parity flag and carry flag.

8. What are the hardware interrupts of 8085?give its priority.

The hardware interrupts in 8-85 are TRAP, RST 7.5,RST 6.5 and RST 5.5.The
TRAP has the highest priority, followed by RST 7.5,RST 6.5, RST 5.5 and INTR.
9.What is assembly language?
The language in which the mnemonics are used to write a program is called
assembly language.the mnemonics are short hand form of the instructions and which is
given by the manufacturers of microprocessor.

10.What is processor cycle(Machine cycle)

The processor cycle is the basic operation performed by the processor. To
execute an instruction, the processor will run one or more machine cycles in a particular
order.

11. What is instruction cycle?

The sequence of operations that a processor has to carry out while executing the
instruction is called instruction cycle. Each instruction cycle of a processor inturn
consists of a number of machine cycles.

12.What is the need for timing diagram?

The timing diagram provides information regarding the status of various signals,
when a machine cycle is executed. The knowledge of timing diagram is essential for
system designer to select matched peripheral devices like memories, latches, ports etc.

13.What is interrupt acknowledge cycle?

The interrupt acknowledge cycle is a machine cycle executed by 8085 processor
to get the address of the interrupt service routine inorder to service the interrupted device.

14.How many instructions are available in 8085 instruction set?

The 8085 instruction set consists of 74 basic instructions and 246 total
instructions.

15.what is addressing?
The method of specifying the data to be operated by the instruction is called
addressing.

16.differentiate immediate addressing and implied addressing.

Immediate addressing Implied addressing

The data is specified in the The instruction operates on a data
instruction itself.the data will be a available in a pred4efined register.
part of the program instruction. Eg. CMA –complement the content of
Eg. MVI B, 05 accumulator.

17. What is the function performed by SIM instruction?

The SIM (set interrupt mask0 instruction is used to mask the hardware interrupts
RST 7.5,RST 6.5 and RST 5.5.The execution of SIM instruction outputs the content of
the accumulator to define interrupt mask bits and also used to output serial data on the
SOD line.

18.What is the function performed by RIM instruction?

The RIM (Read Interrupt mask) instruction is used to check whether an interrupt
is masked or not. It is also used to read data from SID line.

19.What is the function of HLT and NOP instruction?

HLT- used to suspend program execution.
NOP-used for producing software delay and reserve memory spaces for future
software modifications.

20.what is the need for port?

The I/O devices are generally slow devices and their timing characteristics do not
match with processor timings.hence the I/O devices are connected to system bus through
the ports.The port is nothing but a buffered IC which is used to hold the data transmitted
from the microprocessor to I/O device or vice-versa.

21. What is an interrupt?

Interrupt is a signal send by an external device to the processor so as to request
the processor to perform a particular task or work.

22.Differentiate software interrupt and hardware interrupt.

Software interrupt Hardware interrupt
These are program instuctions.These It is initiated in a processor by an
instructions are inserted at desired appropriate signal at the interrupt
location in a program pin.
It is initiated by the main program It is initiated by an external device
The software interrupts cannot be Hardware interrupts except TRAP
disabled or masked can be disabled or masked.

23.What is vectored and Non-vectored interrupt?

When an interrupt is accepted, if the processor control branches to a specific
address defined by the manufacturer then the interrupt is called vectored interrupt.
In non-vectored interrupt there is no specific address for storing the interrupt
service routine. Hence the interrupter device should give the address of the interrupt
service routine.

24.What is polling?
Polling is a scheme or algorithm to identify the devices interrupting the
processor.polling is employed when multiple devices interrupt the processor through one
interrupt pin of the processor.

25.What are the different types of polling?

 The polling can be classified into software and hardware polling. In software
polling the entire polling process is govern by a program. In hardware polling, the
hardware takes care of checking the status of interrupting devices and allows one by one
to the processor.

26.How clock signal is generated in 8086?what is the maximum internal clock frequency
of 8086?
The 8086 do not have on-chip clock generation circuit. Hence the clock
generation chip,8284 is connected to CLK pin of 8086.the clock signal supplied by 8284
is divided by three for internal use. the maximum internal clock frequency is 5MHz.

27.What is pipelined architecture?

In pipelined architecture the processor will have number of functional units and
the execution time of functional units are overlapped. Each functional unit works
independently most of the time.

28.What is the difference between segment register and general-purpose register?

The segment registers are used to store 16-bit segment base address of the four
memory segments. The general-purpose registers are used s the source or destination
register during data transfer and computations, as pointers to memory and as counters.

29.What are the control bits used in IC 8086?

The flags TF,IF and DF of 8086 are used to control the processor operation and
so they are called control bits.

30.What are the minimum mode signals used in 8086?

The minimum mode signals used in 8086 are DT/R, DEN,ALE
,M/IO,WR,INTA,HOLD and HLDA.

31.What is queue? How queue is implemented in 8086?

A data structure, which can be accessed on the basis of first in first out, is called
queue. The 8086 have six numbers of 8-bit FIFO registers, which is used for instruction
queue.

32.Give any two difference between 8085 and 8086 processor.

8085 8086
It is a 8 bit processor It is a 16 bit processor
It contains 16 address lines It contains 20 address lines

33.Give any two processors that supports pipelining?

Intel 8085 and Motorola 68000.

34.What is the use of W bit in instruction format of 8086?

 This bit specifies whether the operation is carried out in 8 or 16 bit data.
W=0,8bit operation
W=1,16 bit operation

35.What are the 2 different operating modes of 68000?

The two different modes are user mode and supervisor mode.

36.What are the various status bits used in 68000 when it is operated in user mode?
The various status s bits are carry, overflow, zero, negative and extend bits.

37.What are the signals used to interface 68000 with 6800?

The various signals used are clock signal (E), valid peripheral address (VPA) and
valid memory address (VMA).

38.What are the different addressing modes used in 68000?

Direct register addressing, direct memory addressing, indirect memory
addressing, implied register addressing, program counter relative addressing and
immediate data addressing are the different addressing modes used in 68000.

39.What is privileged instructions?

The instruction executes only when 68000 is in the supervisor mode is called as
privileged instructions.

40.What is the need of DBCC instruction?

This is a useful instruction for implementing looping conditions. It first tests the
condition to see if the termination condition is met.If counter is not equal to –1 ,it will
execute the instruction indicated by the PC plus the sign extended 16-bit displacement.

41.state some signals used to change the state of the processor from supervisor mode to
user mode?
• RTE
• ANI to SR
• MOVE to SR
• EOR to SR

42.State the addressing modes used in the instruction MOV BH,VALUE[DI].

Source- register indirect with displacement
Destination- register mode

43.What is the difference between base addressing and indexed addressing?

In both modes the effective address is calculated using the formula
Effective address = Reference address + Modifier

Base addressing Indexed addressing

Reference address in held in BX or BP Reference address is given as the part of
instruction
Modifier is a unsigned 16 bit or signed 8 It is held in a register DI or SI
bit displacement
Useful in accessing segmented memory Used to access array

44.What is the difference between direct port mode and indirect port mode?
Direct port mode Indirect port mode
The port number is an 8 bit immediate The port number is taken from DX
operand
256 ports can be accessed We can access any number of ports
Eg. IN FF, OUT 05. Eg . IN AL,DX

45.What are the types of segments used in 8086?

The various types of segments used are continuos, partially overlapped, fully
overlapped or disjoint segments.

46.What is microcontroller?
Microcontroller is a microprocessor with limited number of RAM,ROM,I/O ports
and timer on a single chip.Ie all the required hardware for a system is combined
together on a single chip.

47.Mention any two real time microcontrollers.

• Micro oven
• Washing machine

48.Give any two differences between microprocessor and microcontroller.

Microprocessor Micro controller
Register-oriented architecture Memory-oriented architecture
It do not have internal ROM,RAM and I/O It contains RAM,ROM and I/O in a single
port chip

49.What are the bits used in the program status word of 8031 microcontroller?
The various status bits used are the carry bit, auxiliary carry bit, overflow bit,
parity bit, general purpose flag bit and register select bank control bits.

50.What is the use of PSEN signal used in IC 8031?

It is the control signal that enables the external program memory. When the
device executes the program from external program memory PSEN is activated.
During the execution of internal program memory PSEN is not activated.

51.What are the registers used for timer operations?

The registers used for timer operation are TH0,TH1,TL0,TL1,TMOD,TCON and
IE.

52.What is the difference between mode 0 and mode 1 timer operation of IC8031?
In mode 0 13 bits register is used whereas in mode1 16 bits register is used.
53.What is meant by transition activated interrupts?
In transition activated interrupts, the timer control register bits are set when the
transition at the INT input.(changes from logic 1 to 0 or vice versa).

54.What are the use of MOVC and MOVX instruction?

MOVC-used to move the data from code(program) memory to accumulator.
MOVX-used to move the data from external memory to the accumulator.

55. Give any two difference between LCALL and ACALL instruction.
Long call(LCALL) Absolute call(ACALL)
3 byte instruction 2byte instruction
Issues 11 bit absolute addressing It addresses full 64 Kbytes

56.List some assembler directives used by the compiler of 8031.

• ORG
• EQU
• DFB

57.What is meant by power down mode?

In 8096 microcontroller the upper 16 bytes of RAM is called power down RAM
because these locations receive their power from the Vpd pin in the power down mode.
Hence in the power down only these locations are alive.

58.Specify the functions of various ports in 8096.

Port 0 –input port, used for A to D convertor inputs.
Port 1-bidirectional port
Port 2-input, output as well as bi-directional pins
Port 3,4-bidirectional ports used to expand the memory.

59.Why the ALU used in 8096 is called as RALU?

Here the ALU can access all the registers in the RAM memory and no need for
accumulator. Hence this memory is termed as RALU.

60.Give any four features of 8096.

• contains full duplex serial port
• watch dog timer to recover from errors
• programmable 8 source priority interrupt system.
• Hardware multiply and divide instruction

61.Draw the IE register format.

D7 D6 D5 D4 D3 D2 D1 D0
EA -- ET2 ES ET1 EX1 ET0 EX0
62.What is the basic difference between counter and time?
In the case of timer operation counter is connected to the internal clock where as
in counter operation it is connected to the external clock having different baud rates.

63.What is use of DPTR in 8031 microcontroller?

It consists of a high byte and low byte data of a 16-bit external data RAM address.
It is accessed as a 16 bit register or 2,8 bit registers.

64.What was the first developed microprocessor?

The first developed Intel microprocessor was 4-bit 4004 processor.

65.Mention any few 8-bit and 16-bit micro controllers.

8 bit microcontrollers-Intel 8051,PIC 16C56,motorolo 6805,TMS 7500.
16 bit microcontrollers- H81532,Intel 8096,MCS-96 family.

66.What are the input units used ti generate digital data inputs?
DIP switches and thumb switches are the 2 different input units used to give
digital input to the processor.

67.What are the three different types of DIP switches?

• piano DIP switches
• slide DIP switches
• tristate DIP switches

68.What is meant by thumb switches?

These are rotary mechanical devices which convert the displayed decimal
numbers to binary mechanical positions and are read electronically by an elecrronic
counter or a microprocessor.

69.What are the basic digital output units used in microcomputer?

A simple system uses 7-segment LED displaysfor numbers and hexadecimal
letters,18-segment LED display or 5 x 7 matrix LED displays for displaying numbers
and letters of an alphabet.

70.Why the seven segment LED display is referred as static display?

In this circuit the current is passed through the display at all times,and hence it is
referred as static display.

71.Give any two difference between memory mapped and peripheral mapped I/O
interfacing.
Memory mapped I/O interfacing Pheripheral mapped I/O interfacing
Pheripheral is identified by 16-bit memory Peripheral is identified with an 8-bit
address address
Data transfer is implemented by using Data transfer is implemented by IN and
memory related instructions such as OUT instructions.
STA,LDA,MOV M,R and MOV R,M.
72.What are the interface devices used to connect output port and high power devices?
Integrated circuit buffers and transisytor buffers are used as interface devices
between the output port pins and high power devices.

73.What is the use of sample and HOLD IC?

Sample and hold circuit samples an input signal and hold s on to its last sampled
value until the input is sampled again.

74.What is aperture time?

It is the delay required between HOLD command and an input analog
transition,so that the transmission does not affect the held output.

75.State some applications of sample and HOLD circuit.

• Automatic test systems
• Industrial process controls
• Arbitary function generators
• Avionics equipment

76.What is the disadvantage in keyboard interfacing using ports?

The disadvantage in keyboard interfacing using ports is that most of the processor
time is utilized in keyboard scanning and debouncing.As a result the computational speed
of the processor will be reduced.

77.What is the advantage in using INTEL 8279 for keyboard and display interfacing?
When 8279 is used for keyboard and display interfacing, it takes care of all the
task involved in keyboard scanning and display refreshing. Hence the processor is
relieved from the task of keyboard scanning, debouncing, keyboard generation and
display refreshing and the processor time can be more effectively used fro computing.

78.What is a programmable peripheral device?

If the functions performed by a peripheral device can be altered or changed by a
program instruction then the peripheral device can be altered or changed by a program
instruction then the peripheral device is called programmable device.

79.What is synchronous data transfer scheme?

In synchronous data transfer scheme, the processor does not check the readiness
of the device after a command have been issued for read/write operation in this scheme
the processor will request the device to get ready and then read/write to the device
immediately after the request.

80.What is asynchronous data transfer scheme?

In asynchronous data transfer scheme, first the processor sends a request to the
device for read/write operation. Then the processor keeps on polling the status of the
device. Once the device is ready, the processor execute a data transfer instruction to
complete the process.
81.What are the operating modes of 8255?
The port of 8255 can be programmed to work in any one of the following
operating modes as input or output port.
Mode-0 : simple I/O port
Mode-1 :handshake I/O port.
Mode-2 : bi-directional I/O port

82.What are the functions performed by port-C of 8255

• the port-C pins are used for handshake signals.
• Port-C can be used as an 8-bit parallel I/O port in mode-0
• It can be used as two numbers of 4-bit parallel port in mode-0
• The individual pins of port-C can be set or reset for various control
applications.

83.What is USART?
The device which can be programmed to perform synchronous or asynchronous
serial communication is called USART(Universal Synchronous Asynchronous Receiver
Transmitter).The INTEL 8251 is an example of USART.

84.What are the functions performed by INTEL 8251?

The INTEL 8251 is used for converting parallel data to serial or viceversa.the data
transmission or reception can be either asynchronous or synchronous. The 8251 can be
used to interface MODEM and or synchronously. The 8251 can be used to interface
MODEM and establish serial communication through MODEM over telephone lines.

85.What are the control words of 8251 and what are its functions?
The control words of 8251 are mode word and command word. The mode word
informs 8251 about the baud rate, character length, parity and stop bits .The command
word can be send to enable the data transmission and reception.

86.What are the information that can be obtained from the status word of 8251?
The CPU to check the readiness of the transmitter or receiver and to check the
character synchronization in synchronous reception can read the status word. It also
provides information regarding various errors in the data received .The various error
conditions that can be checked from the status word are the parity error, overrun error and
framing error.

87.What is baud rate?

The baud rate at which the serial data are transmitted. Baud rate is defined as 1/
(the time for a bit cell).In some systems one bit cell has one data bit, then the baud rate
and bits/sec are same.

88.What are the different types of data transfer scheme?

The different types of data transfer transfer scheme are
• Synchronous u data transfer scheme.
 • Asynchronous data transfer scheme
• Interrupt driven data transfer scheme.

89.What are the different types of DMA data transfer scheme?

The different types of DMA data transfer scheme are
• Cycle stealing DMA
• Block or burst mode DMA
• Demand transfer mode DMA

90. What is the need for interrupt controller?

The interrupt controller is employed to expand the interrupt inputs. It can handle
the interrupt request from various devices and allow one by one to the processor.

91.List some of the features of INTEL 8259?

• It manage eight interrupt request
• The interrupt vector addresses are programmable
• The priorities of interrupts are programmable.
• The interrupt can be masked or unmasked individually.

92.Write the various functional blocks of INTEL 8259?

The various functional blocks of 8259 are control logic, read/write logic, data bus
buffer, interrupt request register, in service register, interrupt mask register, priority
resolver and cascade buffer.

93.How 8259 is programmed?

The 8259 is programmed by sending initialization command words(ICW’s) and
operational command words(OCW’s).

94.What are the features of 8259 that can be programmed using OCW’s?
the OCW’s are used to program the following features of 8259
• masking of individual interrupts
• specific on nonspecific end of interrupt
• priority modes

95.what are the different scan modes of 8279?

The different scan modes of 8279 are decoded scan and encoded scan and
encoded scan. In decoded scan, the output of scan lines will be similar to a 2-to-4
decoder. In encoded scan mode, the output of scan lines will be binary count, and so an
external decoder should be used to convert the binary count to decoded output.

96.What are the classification of computers according to the size?

• Micro computers
• Mini computers
• Mainframe computers
• Super computers
97.What are the different programmed data transfer schemes used in microprocessor?
The various data tranfer schemes are
• Synchronous data transfer
• Asynchronous data transfer(hand shaking)
• Interrupt driven data transfer

98.State any four special purpose peripherals.

• Programmable CRT controller
• Programmable Floppy disc controller
• Programmable Keyboard and display interface

99.What are the two various modes of DMA transfer?

• Burst mode
• Cycle stealing

100.What is meant by control word?

The content of control register is called as control word or command word. It
specifies the various mode of operations ,I/O functions of the port etc.