UNIVERSITY

OF GHANA
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B.A/BSc. COMPUTER SCIENCE, SECOND SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS 2019/2020
DCIT 102: INTRODUCTION TO HARDWARE AND CIRCUIT (3 CREDITS)

INSTRUCTIONS:
This paper contains two Parts ( PART I and PART II)
Answer all Questions from both PARTS

TIME ALLOWED: 48 HOURS
PART I [ 30 MARKS]
ANSWER ALL QUESTION IN THIS PART

Q1.

Given the function F(w,x,y,z)=Σ(1,3,7,11,15)+dc(0,2,5,8)

i. Write the function in conjunctive normal form [3 Marks]

ii. Minimize the function (DNF) using Karnaugh Map [7 Marks]
iii. Construct the logic circuit diagram for the minimized function. [4 Marks]

Q2.
a) Compute -ABE16-DF416 using 15’s complement [4 marks]
b) Compute the 3658-3458 in 2’s complement signed magnitude form.
[3 Marks]

c) Simplify the expression f (a, b, c) = a. b + a.(b + c) + (a. b. (c + b. d) + a. b). c. d

using rules of Boolean algebra. [4 marks]
d) Compute the value of 3AB16-43510-6178 using 1’s complement arithmetic
leaving your final answer in Octal. [5 Marks]

Examiner: Dwumfour Abdullai Abdul-Aziz Page 1 of 3

 PART II [60 MARKS]
ATTEMPT ALL QUESTIONS FROM THIS PART
CASE I
AziTech is one of the leading Manufacturers of modern computing systems and
equipment designed for smart homes in IoT based environment. In their recent design of
SmartController for state of the art smart homes, they are considering a novel CPU with
4-bit data bus, memory module and I/O interface . The novel CPU is required to have all
the functional units of a conventional microprocessor. However, the design of the
Arithmetic Unit of the ALU requires a special 4-bit computation unit called AUDiff, which
would be used to practically process all Subtraction operation using simple addition [ E.g
2-1 -> 2 + (-1)].
The Logic Unit of the ALU is required to operate using 2-bit data bus which evaluates
logical less than, greater than and equality operations on data received from the memory.
A high speed memory data bus is required for data transmission between the memory
and CPU & I/O. The memory bus is required to transmit data, addresses and control
signal between the CPU, memory and I/O with relatively low frequency with close
proximity. The memory is required to operate synchronously with the CPU clock cycle.
Since the SmartController would be used in smart homes to connect and control several
devices through some network, a high data processing from the various devices with
some sort of memory errors are anticipated.
Due the speed of the CPU, a relatively high speed memory with low cost design , capable
of handling errors is expected with optimal data transfer rate.
i) You are required to design a logical circuit that would accomplish the task
of AUDiff. Indicate all components of logic circuit design necessary for this
implementation. Show appropriate truth tables, logic equations and circuit
diagrams. [20 Marks]
ii) Design a logic circuit that would implement the task of the logical unit of
the ALU. Show all appropriate truth tables , logic equations and circuit
diagrams. [15 Marks]
iii) Justify and describe the mode of data transmission required to achieve high
speed data transfer between the memory and the CPU. [4 Marks]
iv) Justify and describe the kind of memory required to provide such an
optimal performance in the SmartController. [6 Marks]

Examiner: Dwumfour Abdullai Abdul-Aziz Page 2 of 3

CASE II
AziTech is considering the design of a new CPU for its new model of computer systems for
2021. It is considering choosing between two (2) CPU (CPUA and CPUB) implementations
based on their performance. Both CPU are expected to have the same instruction set
architecture. CPUA has a clock cycle time of 60 ns and CPUB has a clock cycle time of 75
ns. The same number of a particular instruction type is expected to be executed on both CPUs
in order to determine which CPU would executes more instructions. CPUA is able to execute
2MB of instructions in 5*106 clock cycles. CPUB executes the same number of instructions in
3*106 clock cycles.
a) Using the MIPS performance metric, which of the two (2) CPU should be selected to
be implemented in the new computer system. Justify your choice. [9 Marks]
b) Compute the execution time for both CPUs. Which CPU is faster? [6 Marks]

Examiner: Dwumfour Abdullai Abdul-Aziz Page 3 of 3