DRDO RAC Exam Pattern: Be familiar with the course material and key points

Paper

Duration

Marks

Descriptive Type Paper 1

3 hours

300 Marks

Descriptive Type Paper 2

3 hours

300 Marks

Total

6 Hours

600 Marks

Topic

Descriptive Syllabus

Power Plant Engineering

Rankine & Brayton cycles with regeneration & reheat, Fuels & their properties, Flue gas analysis, Boilers, steam turbines, & other power plant components like condensers, air ejectors, electrostatic precipitators, & cooling towers, their theory & design, types, & applications.

Turbo Machinery

Reciprocating & Rotary pumps, Pelton wheel, Kaplan & Francis Turbines, velocity diagrams, Impulse & Reaction principles, Steam & Gas Turbines, Theory of Jet Propulsion, Pulse-jet & Ram Jet Engines, Reciprocating & Rotary Compressors, Theory & Applications

Renewable Sources of Energy

Solar radiation, solar thermal energy storage, flat plate and focusing collectors' construction and functionality. Solar Photovoltaic Conversion, Wind Energy, Biomass & Tidal Energy Harnessing, Methods & Applications, Fuel Cell Operating Principles, Solar Thermal Energy Storage, Applications, Heating, Cooling & Power Generation.

Fluid Mechanics

Basic Concepts & Properties of Fluids, Manometry, Fluid Statics, Buoyancy, Equations of Motion, Bernoulli’s equation & applications, Viscous flow of incompressible fluids, Laminar & Turbulent flows, Flow through pipes & head losses in pipes.

IC Engines, Refrigeration & Air conditioning

Basic Concepts & Properties of Fluids, Manometry, Fluid Statics, Buoyancy, Equations of Motion, Bernoulli’s equation & applications, Viscous flow of incompressible fluids, Laminar & Turbulent flows, Flow through pipes & head losses in pipes.

Thermodynamics & Heat transfer

Entropy, irreversibility, and availability; Thermodynamic Systems and Processes; Pure Substance Properties; The Zeroth, First, and Second Laws of Thermodynamics; Thermodynamic cycle study in relation to energy conversion Ideal and real gases, dual cycles, Rankine, Otto, and compressibility factors; gas blends. Heat transfer mechanisms, including constant and erratic heat conduction, resistance to heat, Free and forced convection fins Convective heat transfer correlations, Boiling and condensation, radiation heat transfer, radiation heat transfer co-efficient, and heat exchanger performance evaluation

Topic

Descriptive Syllabus

Engineering Materials

Basic Crystallography, Alloys and Phase diagrams, Heat Treatment, Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Metals, Nonmetallic materials, Basics of Nano-materials, Mechanical Properties and Testing, Corrosion prevention and control

Manufacturing, Industrial & Maintenance Engineering

Metal casting-Metal forming, Metal Joining, Machining, and machine tool operations, Limits, fits and tolerances, Metrology and inspection, computer Integrated manufacturing, FMS, Production planning and Control, Inventory control, and operations research - CPM-PERT. Failure concepts and characteristics-Reliability, Failure analysis, Machine Vibration, Data acquisition, Fault Detection, Vibration Monitoring, Field Balancing of Rotors, Noise Monitoring, Wear and Debris Analysis, Signature Analysis, NDT Techniques in Condition Monitoring.

Engineering Mechanics

Analysis of System of Forces, Friction, Centroid and Centre of Gravity, Dynamics; Stresses and Strains-Compound Stresses and Strains, Bending Moment and Shear Force Diagrams, Theory of Bending Stresses- Slope and deflection-Torsion, Thin and thick, Cylinders, Spheres.

Mechanisms & Machines

Different Kinematics Pair, Mobility, Inversions, Kinematic Analysis, Planar Mechanism Velocity and Acceleration Analysis, CAMs with uniform acceleration and retardation, cycloidal motion, and oscillating followers; Transmissibility Ratio, Vibration Isolation, Critical Speed of Shafts, Free and Forced Vibration of Undamped and Damped SDOF Systems. Gears - Law of gearing, Involute profile, Interference, Helical, Spiral, and Worm Gears, Simple, complex, and epicyclic gear trains; balance of rotating and reciprocating weights, turning moment computations, and dynamic analysis of slider crank mechanisms Effect of a gyroscopic couple on vehicles, ships, aeroplanes, and governors

Topic

Descriptive Syllabus

Discrete Mathematics

Propositional and first-order logic. Sets, relations, functions, partial orders and lattices, groups.

Graphs: connectivity, matching, coloring.

Combinatorics: counting, recurrence relations, generating functions

Programming & Data Structures Programming in C

Functions, structures, memory management, recursion, arrays, stacks, queues, linked lists, trees, binary search trees, binary heaps, graphs. Object-oriented programming basics.

Computer Organization & Architecture

Machine instructions and addressing modes. Assembly language. ALU, data path, and control unit.

Instruction pipelining. Memory hierarchy: cache, main memory, and secondary storage. I/O interface (interrupt and DMA modes). RISC, CISC, parallel architectures

Algorithms

Searching, sorting, hashing. Asymptotic worst case, time and space complexity. Algorithm design techniques: greedy, dynamic programming, and divide‐and‐conquer. Graph search, minimum spanning trees, shortest paths.

Engineering Mathematics

 Linear Algebra: Matrices, Determinants, a system of linear equations, eigenvalues and eigenvectors, LU decomposition, orthonormal bases, Transforms – Fourier, DCT, wavelets.

Calculus: Limits, continuity, differentiability, maxima and minima, mean value theorem, integration. Vector calculus – gradient, divergence, curl, integral theorems.

 Probability: Random variables, probability distributions – uniform, normal, exponential, Poisson, binomial. Mean, median, mode, standard deviation. Conditional probability and Bayes theorem. Information theory: Shannon entropy, information, conditional information

Linear Algebra

Calculus

Probability

Digital Logic

Boolean algebra. Combinational and sequential circuits. Minimization.

Number representation and computer arithmetic (fixed and floating-point)

Topic 

Descriptive Syllabus

Databases ER‐model

ER‐model. Relational model: relational algebra, tuple calculus, SQL. Integrity constraints. Normal forms. File organization, indexing (eg, B and B+ trees). Transactions and concurrency controls.

AI & Machine Learning

Classification and clustering techniques, dimensionality reduction: PCA, SVD. Correlation and regression analysis. Training and test data: overfitting, underfitting. Search. Ontology. Decision trees. Artificial Neural networks: activation function, multi‐layer perceptron, deep learning.

Application of artificial neural networks

Security of Cyber-Systems

Cybersecurity principles, Kerberos, RADIUS, secure protocols (IPSec, SSH, SSL), basics of public key and private key cryptography, hash functions, blockchains, digital signatures, certificates.

Firewalls, intrusion detection systems, basics of IoT security, and Cloud security.

Threats, vulnerabilities, malicious software. Attacks: buffer overflow, DoS, DDoS, SQL injection, web application attacks

Compiler design

Lexical analysis, parsing, syntax‐directed translation.

Runtime environments, intermediate code generation.

Theory of Computation

Regular expressions and finite automata. Context‐free grammars and push‐down automata. Regular and context‐free languages, pumping lemma. Turing machines and undecidability.

Operating System

Processes, threads, inter‐process communication, concurrency and synchronization, deadlocks.

CPU scheduling. Memory management and virtual memory. File systems. Virtual machines and hypervisors. Secure operating systems.

Computer Networks

Concept of layering, OSI model. LAN technologies (Ethernet). Flow and error control techniques, switching. IPv4 / IPv6, routers, and routing algorithms (distance vector, link state). TCP/UDP and sockets, congestion control. Application layer protocols (DNS, SMTP, POP, FTP, HTTP). Basics of WiFi.

Topic

Descriptive Syllabus

Basic Electronics Engineering

Basics of semiconductors; Diode/Transistor basics and characteristics; Diodes for different uses; Junction & Field Effect Transistors (BJTs, JFETs, MOSFETs); Transistor amplifiers of different types, oscillators, and other circuits; Basics of Integrated Circuits (ICs); Bipolar, MOS and CMOS ICs; Basics of linear ICs, operational amplifiers and their applications-linear/non-linear; Optical sources/detectors; Basics of Optoelectronics and its applications.

Materials Science

Electrical Engineering materials; Crystal structure & defects; Ceramic materials-structures, composites, processing and uses; Insulating laminates for electronics, structures, properties and uses; Magnetic materials, basics, classification, ferrites, Ferro/para-magnetic materials and components; Nano materials-basics, preparation, purification, sintering, nanoparticles and uses; Nano-optical/magnetic/electronic materials and uses; Superconductivity, uses.

Basic Electrical Engineering

DC circuits ohm’s & Kirchoff’s laws, mesh and nodal analysis, circuit theorems; Electromagnetism, Faraday’s & Lenz’s laws, induced EMF and its uses; Single-phase AC circuits; Transformers, efficiency; Basics-DC machines, induction machines, and synchronous machines; Electrical power sources- basics: hydroelectric, thermal, nuclear, wind, solar; Basics of batteries and their uses.

Network Theory

Network graphs & matrices; Wye-Delta transformation; Linear constant coefficient differential equations- time-domain analysis of RLC circuits; Solution of network equations using Laplace transforms- frequency domain analysis of RLC circuits; 2-port network parameters-driving point & transfer functions; State equations for networks; Steady state sinusoidal analysis.

Electronic Measurements & Instrumentation

Principles of measurement, accuracy, precision, and standards; Analog and Digital systems for measurement, measuring instruments for different applications; Static/dynamic characteristics of measurement systems, errors, statistical analysis, and curve fitting; Measurement systems for non-electrical quantities; Basics of telemetry; Different types of transducers and displays; Data acquisition system basics.

Analog & Digital Circuits

Small signal equivalent circuits of diodes, BJTS, and FETs; Diode circuits for different uses; Biasing & stability of BJT & JFET amplifier circuits; Analysis/design of amplifier- single/multi-stage; Feedback& uses; Active filters, timers, multipliers, waveshaping, A/D-D/A converters; Boolean Algebra& uses; Logic gates, Digital IC families, Combinatorial/sequential circuits; Basics of multiplexers, counters/registers/ memories /microprocessors, design& applications.

Topic

Descriptive Syllabus

Advanced Electronics Topics

VLSI technology: Processing, lithography, interconnects, packaging, testing; VLSI design: Principles, MUX/ROM/PLA-based design, Moore & Mealy circuit design; Pipeline concepts & functions; Design for testability, examples; DSP: Discrete-time signals/systems, uses; Digital filters: FIR/IIR types, design, speech/audio/radar signal processing uses; Microprocessors & microcontrollers, basics, interrupts, DMA, instruction sets, interfacing; Controllers & uses; Embedded systems.

Electro Magnetics

Elements of vector calculus, Maxwell’s equations-basic concepts; Gauss’, Stokes’ theorems; Wave propagation through different media; Transmission Lines-different types, basics, Smith’s chart, impedance matching/transformation, S-parameters, pulse excitation, uses; Waveguides-basics, rectangular types, modes, cut-off frequency, dispersion, dielectric types; Antennas-radiation pattern, monopoles/dipoles, gain, arrays-active/passive, theory, uses.

Advanced Communication Topics

Communication networks: Principles/ practices/ technologies/ uses/ OSI model/ security; Basic packet multiplexed streams/ scheduling; Cellular networks, types, analysis, protocols (TCP/TCPIP); Microwave & satellite communication: Terrestrial/ space type LOS systems, block schematics link calculations, system design; Communication satellites, orbits, characteristics, systems, uses; Fibreoptic communication systems, block schematics, link calculations, system design

Analog & Digital Communication Systems

Random signals, noise, probability theory, information theory; Analog versus digital communication & applications: Systems- AM, FM, transmitters/receivers, theory/practice/ standards, SNR comparison; Digital communication basics: Sampling, quantizing, coding, PCM, DPCM, multiplexing-audio/video; Digital modulation: ASK, FSK, PSK; Multiple access: TDMA, FDMA, CDMA; Optical communication: fiber optics, theory, practice/standards.

Computer Organization & Architecture

The basic architecture, CPU, I/O organization, memory organization, peripheral devices, trends; Hardware /software issues; Data representation& Programming; Operating systems-basics, processes, characteristics, applications; Memory management, virtual memory, file systems, protection & security; Databases, different types, characteristics, and design; Transactions and concurrency control; Elements of programming languages, typical examples.

Control Systems

Classification of signals and systems; Application of signal and system theory; System realization; Transforms& their applications; Signal flow graphs, Routh-Hurwitz criteria, root loci, Nyquist/Bode plots; Feedback systems-open &close loop types, stability analysis, steady-state, transient, and frequency response analysis; Design of control systems, compensators, elements of lead/lag compensation, PID and industrial controllers.