Microprocessor is a relatively new invention. As the name implies, the processor is made of micro-components integrated into one unit. Prior to this, each of the component is made separated and later integrated in a printed circuit board.
The first microprocessor was C4004 built in 1969 for the Nippon Calculating Machine. Intel was engaged for the the project. The creator of 4004 later left Intel and started another company known as AMD. The 8-bit processor was later developed and enhance. The well known version was the 8088, which was used in the early IBM PCs.
AMD started as the contracted producer of Intel microprocessors. That time the microprocessors were relatively slow, the speed was about 5-10 mhz and the components count was about 29,000.
16 bit processor - was introduced in 1982 as the 80186 processor. The speed was between 3-20 Mhz and able to process about 2.5 million processes per second. Then the 80286 was released. AMD continued to produce a clone of Intel.
32 bit processor was introduced in 1989 as i860. i960 was later introduced in the same year. The speed had reach 100Mhz and processing ability was about 5 MIPS. The x86 version was the first to reach 1million components per processor. Pentium was introduced in 1993.
The latest Intel Processor in 2012, the i7, is operating at 3.5GHz, with 8MB cache.
Having the basic understanding of a microprocessor and the its various elements is necessary. It is not only for your EASA licensing examination, but for your later working knowledge as aircraft nowadays are fitted with modern black boxes containing the microprocessors.
No comments:
Post a Comment