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01 - Serial and parallel transmission

 1. In _____ transmission, the binary signals representing the data are transmitted one after the other.

  linear

  current

  parallel

  serial

 2. In ______ tranmission, more than one series of data bits can be transmitted at the same time.

  current

  serial

  linear

  parallel

 3. Which of the following diagrams illustrate a serial half duplex connection?
serial_methods_1.png

  1

  3

  None of the diagrams illustrate this

  2

 4. Parallel transmission can be achieved by __________________________________________________________________

  using several cables instead of just one single cable

  using a single parallel cable (called a SP cable)

  using a single cable instead of several cables

  using just two cables that are embedded inside each other to make one large cable

 5. Parallel tranmission is considered _________________ since there is a central clock that controls the timing of data sent on different wires.

  modal

  synchronous

  serial

  asynchronous

 6. The three classes of serial transmission are:

  linear, binary and parallel

  simplex, half duplex and duplex

  real, biased and solo-serial

  concurrent, current and parallel

 7. Half duplex allows communication in only one direction. It requires only one channel.

  TRUE

  FALSE

 8. Duplex method allows communication in__________________________________________________________________

  both directions, at the same time, using two channels permanently available

  one direction, at one time, but using two channels

  both directions, but not at the same time, using a single channel

  a single direction, using a single channel

 9. In Half duplex there are two channels and the direction is switched after the completion of transmission in the other direction.

  FALSE

  TRUE

 10. Serial tranmission can operate either in synchronous mode with a mutual clock or asynchronous mode (no mutual clock)

  TRUE

  FALSE

 11. What are common examples of serial communication standards?

  Ethernet, WI-FI, Skype

  Alpha, Beta, Theta cables

  USB, SATA, RS232

  None of the answers listed are valid

 12. Modern serial connection standards such as ______________ are used to connect hard drives to motherboards and are very fast.

  SATA

  ETHERNET

  ADDRESS BUS

  USB

 13. USB stands for:

  universal sata bus

  universal state bit

  universal serial bus

  united stereotyped bungle

 14. Parallel communication is only suitable or practical over ______ distances due to increased cable cost.
Note: As the distance is increased, the voltages on each of the lines move slightly out of sync and this can hugely reduce reliability

  long

  short

  wide geographical

  extremely large

 15. In parallel tranmission, as the wires get longer, parallel transmission can suffer from what is known as:

  skew

  bew

  dew

  mew

 16. A common use of parallel communication used to be to:
Note: Due to the cost, serial communication links are replacing many of the parallel communication options

  connect two users across the globe via an application like skype

  connect devices wirelessly, e.g. a wireless mouse to a PC

  connect peripherals, such as printers, to a PC

  connect two devices across a WAN (via a router)

 17. A current and common use of parallel communication can be found on a PC motherboard. The _________ is a parallel system.

  skype socket

  SATA cable

  PCI bus

  port cables

 18. Which of the following diagrams illustrates a serial duplex connection?
serial_methods_1.png

  3

  None of the diagrams illustrate this

  1

  2

 19. Which of the following diagrams illustrates a parallel half duplex connnection?
serial_methods_1.png

  2

  3

  None of the diagrams illustrate this

  1

 20. Parallel transmission sends ________________________ while serial transmission only sends one bit at a time.

  many bits at the same time

  a single bit at a very high frequency

  None of these options are correct

  several bits but only as a one off

 21. Reasons why serial transmission may be preferred to parallel transmission include:
1. Parallel communication requires more wires and hardware
2. Parallel has a higher cost than serial
3. Parallel is more difficult to manage when setting up
4. Parallel is more difficult to repeat or switch
5. Parallel communication needs data to be synchronised across wires (risk of skew)
6. Greater change of errors in Parallel
7. Parallel has limiting factors - e.g. increased errors or reduced speed with cable length
8. Parallel communication carries the risk of cross-talk between wires
9. Parallel communication has a greater chance of errors as it uses fewer wires (less cross talk chance)

  1,2,3, and 6

  All of the items on the list are valid, as they demonstrate that serial would have greater advantages over parallel

  3,4,6,8,9

  1,2,3,7 and 9

 22. If data is sent over a long distance, serial communication may be better because:

  data skew may occur if parallel communication is used

  it eliminates the risk of desynchronisation (between data signals)

  All of the listed options are valid answers

  bits transmitted simultaneously/together may arrive at different times

 23. Generally speaking, serial communication requires more cables or wires

  TRUE

  FALSE

 24. Parallel communication is typically best used only over short distanes (else data skew might occur)

  FALSE

  TRUE

 25. Hardware for serial communication is generally speaking, considered much more expensive to manufacture than parallel communication hardware.

  TRUE

  FALSE