LESSON 38

MINIATURIZATION [2]

Task 1. Read and translate the text:

Задание 1. Прочитайте и переведите текст:

There are several advantages in making computers as small as one сan. Sometimes weight is particularly important. А modern aircraft, for example, carries quite, а load of electronic apparatus. If it is possible to make any of these smaller, and therefore lighter, the aircraft can carry а bigger load. This kind of consideration applies to space satellites and to all kinds of computers that have to be carried about.

But weight is not the only factor. The smaller the computer the faster it can work. The signals go to and from at а very high but almost constant speed. So if one can scale down all dimensions to, let us say, one tenth, the average lengths of the current - paths will be reduced to one tenth. So, very roughly speaking, scaling down of all linear dimensions in the ratio of one to ten also gives а valuable advantage, the speed of operation is scaled up 10 times. Other techniques allow even further speed increases.

The increase of operation is а real advantage. There are some applications in which computers could be used which require very fast response times. Many of these are military, of course; but most military applications also have applications in engineering sooner or later. For example, automatic blind handing of aircraft requires continuous computer calculations which result in control of the aircraft flight. The more immediate the responses are, the more stable that control сan be.

Another advantage is that less power is required to run the computer. In space vehicles and satellites this is an important matter; but even in а trial application we need not waste power. Sometimes а computer takes so much power that cooling systems which require still more power has to be installed to keep the computer from getting too hot, which would increase the risk of faults developing. So а computer which does not need to be cooled saves power on two counts.

Another advantage is reliability. Mini-computers have been made possible by the development of integrated circuits. Instead of soldering bits of wire to join separate components such as resistors and capacitors sometimesin the mostintricate networks, designers сan now produce many connected circuits in one unitwhich involves no soldering and therefore no risk of broken joints at all. And now that transistors and other solid-state devices are used instead of valves, printed circuits with their solid-state components have а very long life indeed. А computer can be built up of large numbers of similar units of this kind.

Repair of the old kind (with soldering iron and so on) is no longer needed. If one of the component circuits develops а fault, all that is needed is to locate the faulty unit, throw it away and plug in new one.

All these devices, small as they may be to the eve when hundreds of circuits can be packed on to one square inch, асе still much larger than they need be to do the jobs they have to do. So the problem is one of finding ways of makingthese complicated patterns automatically very precisely and yet smaller and smaller. The limit is а long way off yet. Human brains have morethan 100 millioncells per cubic centimeterbut there is no reason to think that we cannot pack solid-state devices more densely than this.

Computers could then easily be built up fromthese microminiaturized components to have data stores or memoriesas large as are needed for any job one could imagine. The mainproblemof very large stores is finding one's way about them, but i they are large in information capacity, but small in physical dimensions, with present-day techniques much time and cost сan be saved.

Task 2. Answer the following questions:

Задание 2. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. Are there any advantages in making computers as small as one can?

2. Is it possible to make themsmaller and lighter?

3. What is the speed of the computer?

4. The increase of operation is а real advantage, isn't it?

5. What are the advantages to run the computer?

6. What is the main problem in information capacity.

Task 3. Find the Russian equivalents for the words and word-combinations given below in the text:

Задание 3. Найдите русские эквиваленты следующим словам и выражениям:

information capacity, aircraft flight, militaryapplication, cooling system, further speed increases, fast response time,solid- state devices, continuous computer calculation.

Task 4. Make the sentences interrogative:

Задание 4. Поставьте следующие предложения в вопросительную форму:

1. There are several advantages in making computers as small as one сan.

2. Human brains have morethan 100 millioncells per cubic centimeter.

3. Mini-computers have been made possible by the development of integrated circuits.

4. The increase of operation is а real advantage.

5. Other techniques allow even further speed increases.