1) Introduction:

The focus of the unit is about the architecture of the system including the structure, its
components, and principle of design. It defines system architecture as “It is the abstract model
that defines the structure, actions, and more views of a system”. It can also be defined as
fundamental organization of a system, personified in its apparatuses, their associations to each
other and to the environment, and the principle upon which their design is based upon and
evolution of the system.

My chosen profession is software engineer and the knowledge of system architecture

can help me in the development and implementation strategy of the computer system along
with the network. Whenever developing any software, we must understand how the computer
for which we are developing our software will work and must develop the optimal software for
that system. For example: let’s assume we are developing self-driving software for electric car
then we must know how the car will work and how the components inside it are configured and
how the sensors and actuators are configured and inter-related with in it.

2) Body:
a) Reflection of week 1:
In 1st week we discussed about the architecture of the system and different types of
computer systems and types of computing, components of computers such as CPU, ALU,
Primary and secondary storage, I/O devices, System bus, etc. In first week the most fascinating
theory for me was about the quantum computers and how the quantum particles can exist in
multiple states at the same time(qubit). I was really fascinated by the idea of qubits and its
ability to be in superposition which can be used to solve problems such as integer factorization
really faster than any classical computer. I felt really amazed when my concept of how computer
functions was challenged by knowing that there exist multiple states at the same time not only 0
& 1. Then I searched about the quantum computers in YouTube where I found an interesting
Ted talk by Shohini Ghose, a quantum physicist and computer of physics about the introduction
and uses of quantum computing. In her talk she highlights an important use of quantum
computer which is safe encryption which can be possible due to uncertainty and superposition
present in qubits.
From the experience of learning about quantum computers, I have gained knowledge about
how quantum computers are not just more powerful super computers but the structure and
design principle of it makes it really unique which can be used for benefits of humans. I still have
questions about the working conditions and field it can be used in future. It can be a real
workable computer in future which a software engineer must develop a software and the
knowledge about it may help me get more information and make it easier to work on.

b) Reflection of week 2:

In second week, we discussed about data representation and how data is represented
indifferent forms such as numbers in binary form, hexa-decimal form, and octal form and how
signed and unsigned binary number are represented. We also discussed about how ASCII and
UNICODE are used to represent characters in computer and how Unicode is developed to
include all characters from all around the world. The most interesting thing that I learned this
 week was how we need to apply different techniques to represent negative binary number but
can represent positive binary numbers easily. We learned techniques like Excess notation, and
Twos complement notation to represent signed binary number. Another fascinating thing was
how computer uses binary for processing, hexa-decimal for memory representation and decimal
for showing output to the user. I was really excited to know that we can represent negative
binary digits also and was curious about the techniques used to solve arithmetic problem
containing signed binary digits. Then I researched about signed binary numbers and found a pdf
about it on CPP.edu and learned to calculate 2’s complement and arithmetic calculation. I still
need to learn complex calculation and representation of signed binary numbers.

c) Reflection of week 3:

In third week, we discussed about Processor Technology and Architecture which

includes CPU Components & Functions, Instruction and Execution Cycles, RISC versus CISC
architecture used to design microprocessor, Performance Enhancement Techniques such as
Pipelining, multithreading, and multiprocessing, the physical CPU architecture including
Processor Fabrication, Moore’s law and Rock’s law. The interesting thing that was discussed in
this week was Moore’s law and how it states that “transistor count on a chip doubles every 18-
24 months at no cost increase” which implies that every two year the processor will be
theoretically double powerful than its predecessor. And then I researched about it and found
that current high-end Ryzen 9 5900x processor contains 4.15 billion transistors, in order to
achieve that mile-stone we must decrease the process node and currently we are in 5nm
process in mobile ARM processor and 7nm in X86-based architecture which is really hard to
achieve on its own and which can be done using deep-ultraviolet lithography and we may be
reaching physical limit. I feel really worried about the slow improvement that will occur in near
future if we don’t find new technology as we are reaching the physical limit of shrinking a
transistor.

d) Reflection of week 4:

In fourth week, we discussed about Data Storage Technology which includes Storage
Device Components, Storage Device Characteristics, Speed and Access Time of a storage device,
Data Transfer Rate, Data access methods, Primary and Secondary Storage and their types,
Average and Sequential Access Time, and fragmentation. The most fascinating thing was that
how the speed or data transfer rate of RAM, Optical Disc, and Magnetic disc differ so much.
Even though RAM has lowest data transfer unit size of 64 bits it has very low Avg. Access time of
4 nanoseconds which makes it really faster than optical disc and magnetic disk with substantially
higher data transfer sizes of 512 bytes but high Avg. Access time. Then I read a pdf document on
primary and secondary storage device from hzu.edu.in which stated that even though secondary
devices have higher data transfer size, the average access time is also relatively high which
makes them far slower than RAM. We can notice that same phenomenon with our own
computer as RAM tends to be faster and hard disk and optical disk being slowest and SSD keep
increasing their data transfer rate day by day. I still need to learn more about how SSD and HDD
work and use that in or advantage while writing a program. We can use this knowledge to write
our program accordingly in process of making them faster to access and read and writing of
data.
e) Reflection of week 5:

In fifth week, we discussed about System Integration and Performance which includes
System Bus, System Bus Subsets i.e., Address bus, Data bus, Control bus, and Power bus, Bus
Protocol, Clock Rate, Data Transfer Rate, and Memory Access, I/O and Motherboard and Device
Connectors, interrupts and interrupts handling, Buffering and caching, Compression (lossy &
lossless), etc. The most interesting thing was that how we can compress files by removing bytes
which are considered as not-noticeable with lossy compression but lossless compression keeps
those bytes even though they are unnoticeable but removes the repeated bytes and same
repeating bytes. I researched and found that we can use algorithms like Transform coding,
Discrete Cosine Transform, Discrete Wavelet transform, fractal compression etc. for lossy
compression of audio, videos etc. and algorithms like Run length encoding, Lempel-Ziv-Welch,
Huffman Coding, Arithmetic encoding etc. for lossless compression of text images and sound
which can be decompressed later to its original form. We can use this knowledge while writing
program and use effective compression techniques to compress file within or used in our
program and achieve faster speed and low storage need. I still need to learn to write code to
compress file and decompress it in order to make it implementable.

f) Reflection of week 6:
In sixth week, we discussed about Input/Output Technology including Basic Print and
Display Concepts, Fonts, Color, Numeric Pixel Content, Image Description Languages (IDL), Video
Display with video controller and Video Monitors (LCDs, Plasma displays, LED displays), Printers
(Impact, Inkjet, Laser), Printer Communication, Optical Scanners, Digital Cameras, Speech
Recognition, etc. The interesting concept about that week was how digital cameras use a 2D
photosensor array placed behind lenses to capture reflected and focused ambient light and
store then in bits either in compressed form or uncompressed form which can be decompressed
to form a picture again. In my research on paper from bt.barnard.edu, I found that the digital
camera has various components like (lens, shutter, The Aperture, etc.) which work together to
make a great picture. This concept will help whenever we are developing software for any
products with camera and censor and help to understand 2D world of cameras. I still need to
learn how to map the 3D world in codes which will help in developing Games working
mechanism and 3D mapping in the game.
g) Reflection of week 7:

In seventh week, we discussed about Computer Networks including Network Topology,

Addressing and Forwarding, Routing, Media Access Control, Network (Inter)Connection Devices
(Network interface card, Hub, Switch, Router, Wireless access point), Networking Layers, Core
Internet Protocols (IP, TCP, UDP), Address Resolution Protocol, VoIP, and IEEE Wireless
Standards. The interesting things about this week was knowledge about different network layers
and how they work. The I did my research and found that OSI layer help to Understand and
communicate the process followed by component and helps to determine required hardware
and software to develop a network. It can help while developing a network for a software on
which it will operate. It can also help Perform troubleshooting, by identifying which network
layer is causing an issue and focusing efforts on that layer. I still need to learn how to identify
which layer is causing the problem and methods to fix that problem.
 Fig: OSI model

h) Reflection of week 8:
In Eighth week, we discussed about Operating Systems including Operating System
Functions, layers of OS (Command layer, Service Layer, and Kernel), Device Drivers, Resource
Allocation, Real and Virtual Resources, Hypervisor Types and Applications, Process
Management, Process Groups and Architecture, Threads and Parallelism, Scheduling, Memory
Allocation, Virtual Memory Management, etc. the most interesting concept about that week
was while multitasking how we think computer is doing all the task at the same time but it gives
the appearance of many things happening at once whereas in actuality it is switching back and
forth among them. In my research I found that the operating system sets up something called a
real time clock, which is like an alarm clock. The OS tells the clock to send a signal called an
“interrupt” in, perhaps, 1/10 of a second. Then it starts one of the programs, say X. After 1/10
second the interrupt stops X and returns control to the operating system, which resets the clock
and starts Y. After another 1/10 second it is interrupted again and it starts program Z, while X
and Y are idle. It continues doing this, giving each program 1/10 second of processor time
followed by 4/10 second of idle time while one of the others is running. All this process makes
the multi-tasking look seamless and as running at the same time but actually its switching
between processes.
All this knowledge about how computer does multi-tasking can be helpful while
designing software which can take advantage of the interrupt patterns by the OS. I still need to
learn about how to take advantage of multi-tasking and interrupt while writing a computer
program.
i) Reflection of week 9:
In Nineth week, we discussed about Secondary Storage Management including File
Content and Type, Organization, and Association, Folder Content and Structure, Storage
Allocation, Storage Allocation Tables, Blocking and Buffering, File open, close, delete and
undelete operations, Access controls, Version Control, File Recovery, Fault Prevention and
Mitigation, RAID-0, RAID-1, RAID-5, and Storage Area Network. The interesting thing about this
week was how we can configure our storage device in order to make them fault tolerant we can
arrange them in RAID-0 to increase speed and no-fault tolerance, Raid-1 with duplicate volume
on a different disk which provide a level of fault tolerance, and with every increasing number
more level of fault tolerance. I felt confused at first regarding how to setup my drives but was
relieved when I did my research and found that We can use RAID-0 for gaming PC which was the
primary focus for me at that time. I must learn to setup drive in different RAID forms and it can
be useful when setting up any computer and any NAS.

j) Reflection of week 10:

In Tenth week, we discussed about Virtualization and Cloud Computing Fundamentals

including Hosted Virtualization, Using VirtualBox and VMware Workstation Player, Bare-Metal
Virtualization, Cloud Computing, Software as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Infrastructure
as a Service. The most interesting thing about week 10 was how companies have transferred
their business model from selling software to software as a service which have made them able
to generate more revenue every month and also made possible to use the software by user with
low budget which also push companies to update their applications constantly and also helps to
prevent piracy. In my research I also found that companies IBM and Microsoft are also providing
platforms and infrastructure as a service with introduction to the Windows 365, Azure cloud
service, etc. I still need to learn how to setup a virtual machine in a cloud service and how to use
it effectively. It my help in my future profession by helping us implement critical programs in
virtual machine without need to buy expensive hardware and without any setup cost.

k) Reflection of week 11:

In Eleventh week, we discussed about System Administration including Strategic

Planning, Hardware and Software as Infrastructure, Determining and Stating Requirements,
Request for Proposals (RFP), Benchmarks, Measuring Resource Demand and Utilization, Security,
Password Controls and Security, Auditing, Virus Protection, Software Updates, Firewalls, Physical
Environment (Electrical power, Heat dissipation, Moisture, Cable routing, Fire protection), and
Disaster Planning and Recovery. The interesting concept we learned in this week was there are
various types of firewalls such as Packet-filtering firewall, Application firewall, and Stateful
firewalls. After I did my research, I found that Packet filtering firewall is the simple and one of
the most effective type of firewall as it examines each and every packet and matches header
content to a list of allowed or denied packet types. We can use firewall in order to secure our
servers and use it to prevent from unwanted attacks. I still need to learn how to setup different
kind of firewall and how to implement them in my system properly.
3) Conclusion:
In this way we can conclude that system architecture and knowledge about how the system is
configured and how to operate can help us to develop understanding about the problems that
can occur in the system and prevent them and help in solving those problems even if they occur
unwantedly. We can also gain knowledge about various aspects of working of computer or
system and learn to use it efficiently and upgrade it time to time to increase security and
reliability. We can also learn various tools and techniques like virtual machines and
infrastructure as a service which can help in cost saving and portability of the system.

REFERENCE:

https://www.hzu.edu.in/csit/Secondary%20Storage%20%20computer%20fundamentals.pdf

https://bt.barnard.edu/nycgildedages/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Lab-handout-How-your-digital-
camera-works.pdf