Technology Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The key gives INSAT 3D. Of the four satellites printed, it is the only Indian one: LANDSAT 8 is an American earth-observation satellite, and IKONOS 1 and QuickBird are American commercial imaging satellites. INSAT 3D is an Indian meteorological satellite placed in geostationary orbit in 2013.

Strictly, India's earliest geostationary satellites were APPLE (1981) and INSAT-1A (1982), so the question is loosely worded. The answer is chosen by elimination among the options given and follows the commission's key.

Answer: D

Wikipedia was founded by Jimmy Wales.

Jimmy Wales launched Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, with Larry Sanger on 15 January 2001. Wales later set up the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, which runs it.

Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft, whose own encyclopedia, Encarta, was eventually overtaken by Wikipedia. 'Harry Karlton' and 'John Bossan' are not connected with Wikipedia's founding.

Answer: A

The first artificial satellite was Sputnik 1.

The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 on 4 October 1957. It orbited Earth for about three months and began the space age.

Explorer 1 (January 1958) was the first American satellite, Vanguard 1 (March 1958) the second American one, and Discoverer 1 (1959) was an early US reconnaissance programme satellite. All came after Sputnik.

Sputnik 1 was a polished metal sphere about 58 cm across with four radio antennas, and its radio beeps could be picked up by amateur operators around the world.

Answer: B

Immersive digital environments are created with Virtual Reality (VR).

Virtual reality uses a headset to replace the user's view of the real world with a computer-generated three-dimensional environment, which the user can look around and interact with.

Augmented reality overlays digital content on the real world rather than replacing it, IoT connects physical devices to the internet, and blockchain is a distributed ledger.

Answer: B

The technology is LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging).

LiDAR sends out laser pulses and times their reflections to build a detailed three-dimensional map of the surroundings, letting an autonomous vehicle detect and avoid obstacles, alongside cameras and radar.

Artificial intelligence interprets the sensor data, but it is not the sensing technology the question asks for. Quantum computing and augmented reality are not used for obstacle detection.

Answer: A

5G provides Lower latency and higher speeds.

5G offers peak data rates up to gigabits per second, latency as low as a few milliseconds, and the ability to connect many more devices than 4G.

It does not reduce encryption or slow data transfer. Its high-frequency bands have a shorter range per cell, but networks add cells, so reduced coverage is not something it provides over 4G.

Answer: A

The technology for automating manufacturing tasks is Robotics.

Industrial robots carry out welding, painting, assembly and material handling on production lines with speed and precision, and are the core of factory automation.

Blockchain is a ledger technology, drones are used mainly for aerial surveys and delivery, and virtual reality is used for design and training rather than for automating production tasks.

Answer: A

A feature of quantum computing is the ability to solve complex problems at unprecedented speeds.

Quantum computers use qubits, which can be in superpositions of 0 and 1 and can be entangled. For certain problems, such as factoring large numbers or simulating molecules, quantum algorithms promise speed-ups no classical computer can match.

The traditional binary model is classical computing, the opposite of the quantum model, and increased human labour has nothing to do with it.

Answer: B

The technology is the Internet of Things (IoT).

IoT embeds sensors, processors and network connections in everyday objects such as thermostats, meters, appliances and wearables, so they collect data and can be monitored and controlled over the internet.

AR overlays digital content on the real world, blockchain is a distributed ledger, and quantum computing is a computing paradigm; none of them is about connecting objects.

Answer: A

Edge computing aims to improve the speed and efficiency of processing data closer to the source.

Instead of sending all data to a distant cloud data centre, edge computing processes it on or near the devices that produce it, cutting latency and bandwidth use, which matters for self-driving cars and industrial sensors.

Centralising processing in large data centres is the cloud model edge computing complements. It is not an encryption technique, and it does not aim to remove internet access.