Free Topic-Wise General Studies MCQs
This quiz explores complex topics including the AUM indigenous processor architecture, Direct Contact Liquid Cooling, and the strategic role of C‑DAC in the PARAM series. Aspirants will analyze the transition from Petaflops to Exascale computing and the application of HPC in drug discovery, weather modeling, and AI training.
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Explanation: PARAM Shivay was the first supercomputer designed and assembled indigenously under the NSM, installed at IIT BHU.
Explanation: BARC's Anupam series is tailored for internal strategic research, primarily running highly classified simulations relating to nuclear physics and reactor dynamics.
Explanation: The Flosolver was built by the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) specifically to handle the complex aerodynamic simulations required for India's aviation sector.
Explanation: GARUDA is India's first national grid computing initiative, connecting supercomputing centers to provide seamless high-performance computing access to researchers nationwide.
Explanation: Supercomputing speeds are measured in FLOPS (Floating-Point Operations Per Second), with modern top-tier Indian systems operating in the Petaflops range.
Explanation: In late 2024, PM Modi inaugurated the PARAM Rudra supercomputers, heavily utilizing indigenous server technology, across multiple research institutions.
Explanation: PARAM Sanganak, boasting a capacity of 1.3 Petaflops, was installed at IIT Kanpur under the National Supercomputing Mission.
Explanation: The Vega microprocessors are a series of indigenous, open-source chips built by C-DAC utilizing the RISC-V instruction set architecture.
Explanation: PARAM Ganga, boasting a capacity of 1.66 Petaflops, was deployed at IIT Roorkee to enhance high-performance computing capabilities.
Explanation: PARAM Pravega is a supercomputer deployed at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, serving as one of the largest systems in an Indian academic institution.
Explanation: Phase 1 of the NSM focused on basic assembly using imported components, while subsequent phases shifted heavily towards indigenous design and manufacturing like the Rudra server.
Explanation: Shakti is India's first indigenously designed RISC-V based microprocessor, developed by the researchers at IIT Madras.
Explanation: AIRAWAT is specifically architected as an AI supercomputer, heavily utilizing tensor cores to accelerate deep learning, machine learning, and big data models.
Explanation: The National Knowledge Network (NKN) is a multi-gigabit pan-India network utilized by the NSM to link supercomputers with research labs and universities.
Explanation: The NSM is jointly implemented and steered by DST and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
Explanation: The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) funds and operates Pratyush and Mihir to improve India's monsoon prediction and climate modeling capabilities.
Explanation: C-DAC is developing the AUM processor to power future supercomputing nodes, aiming to eliminate reliance on foreign chips for high-performance computing.
Explanation: AIRAWAT, installed at C-DAC Pune, is an AI supercomputer that ranked 75th in the Top 500 global supercomputing list in 2023.
Explanation: The NSM is jointly implemented by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore.
Explanation: Trinetra is a custom-designed, high-performance interconnect network switch developed by C-DAC to connect computing nodes within the PARAM series.
Explanation: Mihir is located at the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) in Noida, working in tandem with Pratyush.
Explanation: PACE (Processor for Aerodynamic Computation and Evaluation) was developed by DRDO to simulate airflow and aerodynamics for defense projects like the LCA Tejas.
Explanation: SAGA-220 (Supercomputer for Aerospace with GPU Architecture) was developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.
Explanation: SahasraT acts as a premier academic research cluster, supporting hundreds of simultaneous projects across biology, materials science, and physics at IISc.
Explanation: PARAM Siddhi-AI relies heavily on Nvidia A100 Tensor Core GPUs, establishing it as a highly capable architecture for deep learning and AI modeling.
Explanation: While Phase I focused on assembling imported parts, Phase II of the NSM shifted toward indigenous motherboard assembly and manufacturing.
Explanation: PARAM Yukti was installed at JNCASR in Bengaluru under the National Supercomputing Mission to support advanced scientific computations.
Explanation: Param Kamrupa was installed at IIT Guwahati, making it a critical high-performance computing hub for the northeastern region of India.
Explanation: The AUM processor is being built using the highly efficient ARM architecture to deliver high-performance computing capabilities.
Explanation: Aditya is housed at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune, heavily used for monsoon research and climate modeling.
Explanation: BARC developed the Anupam series of supercomputers independently for internal research in nuclear physics and fluid dynamics.
Explanation: The National Knowledge Network (NKN) is a high-speed, pan-India optical grid utilized to seamlessly interconnect supercomputers with academic and research labs.
Explanation: PARAM Bio-Blaze was designed by C-DAC to tackle the unique, memory-intensive computational challenges presented by genomics and bioinformatics research.
Explanation: In the 1980s, the US denied India the Cray X-MP due to nuclear proliferation concerns, prompting India to launch its own indigenous supercomputing program via C-DAC.
Explanation: PARAM Shakti was established at IIT Kharagpur under the National Supercomputing Mission to accelerate research in various engineering domains.
Explanation: PARAM Kanchenjunga was jointly established by C-DAC and NIT Sikkim, making it the fastest supercomputer in the northeastern states at the time.
Explanation: PARAM Utkarsh was established at C-DAC Bengaluru to serve high-end computational needs for academia and various government research initiatives.
Explanation: PARAM Ishan was one of the fastest supercomputers in the northeastern, eastern, and southern regions when it was installed at IIT Guwahati in 2016.
Explanation: PARAM Smriti is an 838 Teraflop system inaugurated at NABI in Mohali to dramatically accelerate computational biology and agricultural research.
Explanation: Atos, a French multinational, partnered with C-DAC to build and assemble several supercomputers in India under the National Supercomputing Mission.
Explanation: PARAM Yuva II serves as the backbone of the National Param Supercomputing Facility, providing vital computational time to scientific communities nationwide.
Explanation: HPDA stands for High Performance Data Analytics, representing the convergence of traditional supercomputing with modern big data and AI workloads.
Explanation: The SahasraT cluster relies heavily on American hardware; the specific Kabini nodes were built and supplied by the supercomputing giant Cray Inc.
Explanation: Rudra is the first indigenous secure server designed and manufactured in India by C-DAC, marking a major step toward self-reliance in supercomputing hardware.
Explanation: Trinetra is a custom high-speed interconnect network designed by C-DAC, capable of delivering a bandwidth of 200 Gbps per port for rapid node communication.
Explanation: PARAM Brahma is a supercomputing facility established at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Pune.
Explanation: PARAM Porul is a state-of-the-art supercomputer installed at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Tiruchirappalli under the NSM.
Explanation: PARAM Ananta is an 838 Teraflops supercomputing facility commissioned at IIT Gandhinagar to support multidisciplinary research.
Explanation: Combined, Pratyush (4.0 Petaflops) and Mihir (2.8 Petaflops) provide the Ministry of Earth Sciences with a peak capacity of 6.8 Petaflops.
Explanation: Pratyush is installed at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune to improve weather forecasting models.
Explanation: The AUM processor, an ARM-based indigenous chip developed by C-DAC, is slated to be the foundational computational engine for India's future Exascale systems.
Explanation: Built by the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) in 1986, the Flosolver was India's first parallel processing system, specifically designed to compute fluid dynamics.
Explanation: Phase III of the NSM scales up operations with a target to achieve around 45 Petaflops of cumulative computing capacity across various nodes.
Explanation: In 1998, PARAM 10000 became the first Indian supercomputer to feature in the prestigious Top 500 list of the world's fastest computing systems.
Explanation: PARAM Padma, developed by C-DAC, was the first Indian supercomputer to exceed a peak performance of 1 Teraflop, placing India in an elite global computing club.
Explanation: PARAM Shavak is a supercomputer in a box, serving as a powerful desktop-level HPC system to bring supercomputing to smaller engineering colleges and labs.
Explanation: PARAM 8000, India's first supercomputer, utilized a parallel processing architecture based on Inmos T800 transputers.
Explanation: PARAM Yuva II achieved a massive jump in compute power for its time, peaking at 524 Teraflops to support complex bioinformatics and weather research.
Explanation: C-DAC established the HPC Academy to train a massive workforce of researchers and engineers in high-performance computing, addressing the sector's skill gap.
Explanation: It uses Direct Contact Liquid Cooling technology, allowing for massive compute density without thermal throttling by circulating coolant directly over hot components.