Embedded (Hardware/Software) Candidate Questions – Initial Assessment

Version 3 – 2/1/2017

Instructions

 Review the questions, and choose one out of the two questions to answer. Questions you choose should be
picked to highlight your design expertise and capabilities.
 We are as interested in your thought process as we are in the answers; please show your work whenever
possible. This might include high-level approach and rationale, assumptions made, solution detail, or verification
steps.
 Please send your answer in any convenient form (scanned pages, code snippets, etc.) at least one day before
your scheduled videoconference interview. We’ll likely discuss your answer as part of our conversation.

Thanks for your excitement and continued interest. Good luck!

Software #1 Question

A typical bicycle drivetrain has a number of cogs on front crank (where the rider pedals) and a number of cogs on the
rear cassette (on the wheel). The output ratio from the pedals to the rear wheel is:

tooth count on selected front cog / tooth count on selected rear cog

All cogs have an integer number of teeth and only a single cog on the front and single cog on the rear can be selected at
one time.

For a given set of front and rear cogs:

a) write a program that determines the gear combination providing the closest ratio rounding down.
For example, input:
f_cogs = [38, 30]
r_cogs = [28, 23, 19, 16]
ratio = 1.6

yields output:
Front: 30, Rear: 19, Ratio 1.579

Please review program at following link:

https://ide.geeksforgeeks.org/o3WXHcbeGC

b) write a program that determines a shift sequence to traverse from an initial gear combination to a gear
combination with the closest ratio. Each shift can only change one gear on either the front or rear.

For example, input

f_cogs = [38, 30]
r_cogs = [28, 23, 19, 16]
ratio = 1.6
initial combination = (F:38 R:28)

output:
1 - F:38 R:28 Ratio 1.357
2 - F:30 R:28 Ratio 1.071
3 - F:30 R:23 Ratio 1.304
4 - F:30 R:19 Ratio 1.579

Please review program at following link:

https://ide.geeksforgeeks.org/ZBEi7OgYED
Software #2 Question

Given the circuit below, write a python script which takes three arguments, vin, R and C and generates a nice plot of
vout vs time. vin has a perfect step response. Initial conditions: vout = 0V