Exponent Rule

EEL
3801

Video Logging on iPhone Prototype

Given: As an intern at Apple, youre tasked to determine how many hours of video that a
prototype iPhone can store on its 32 GB flash memory. The prototype records 32 frames
per second. Youve taken some measurements and estimate that each compressed
frame occupies 128 KB on average.
Sought: If all overheads are ignored, what is the longest video that this prototype iPhone could store?
Solution: First, determine the number of bytes per second the iPhone records at:

bytes/second = 32 x 128 KB/sec

= 2 5 2 7 (210 Bytes/sec)
= 2 5+7+10 Bytes/sec = 2 22 Bytes/sec
Next, divide this data rate into the flash memory capacity as follows:

recording time = [32GB] / [2 22 Bytes/sec] = [2 5 2 30 Bytes] / [2 22 Bytes/sec]

= [2 (5+30) Bytes] / [2 22 Bytes/sec] = [2 35 Bytes] / [2 22 Bytes/sec]
= 2(35-22) sec = 213 sec = 2 3 x 210 = 8x1024 = 8192 sec
= [8192 sec] / [3600 sec/hour] = 2.276 hours

or

Note: Exponent Rule applies only to powers-of-2 such as memory capacities (KB, MB, GB, )
but does not apply to processor clock rates (KHz, MHz, GHz, ) which reflect powers of ten.

Study Set 01

slide 1

Units, Prefixes, and Memory Capacities

Smart Grid Data Rate

EEL
3801

You are tasked to specify the flash storage device in General Electrics Data Logger Unit (DLU) used
in the smart power grid. The DLU records data from 8 processors. Each processor has 4 sensors,
and each sensor generates 32 KB of data per second. Which of the choices below provide sufficient
capacity for the DLU to record 1 days worth of data?
a) 32,000 Bytes
b) 32 KB
c) 32,000 KB
d) 32 MB
e) 32,000 MB
f) 32 GB
g) 64 GB
h) 128 GB
i) none of the choices listed have sufficient capacity
Solution:
The DLU records: (8 processors)*(4 sensors/processor)*([32KB/sec]/sensor) = 23*22*[25*210 Byte/sec] = 220
Byte/sec = 1MB/sec.
There are (3600 sec/hour)(24hour/day)=86400 sec/day.
Thus, (86400 sec/day)* (1MB/sec) = 86400 MB/day.
So for one day, 86400MB capacity is needed. 1 GB is 1024 MB so (86400MB)(1GB/1024MB) = 84.375GB
capacity is required. Of the choices listed, only choice h) is >= 84.375GB.
Study Set 01

slide 2

Exponent Rule and Memory Capacities

Data Warehouse Capacity

EEL
3801

Given: You work at Amazon and manage the datacenter backup capacity.
Your biggest customer, Google, has 2 data warehouses each with 512 servers
containing 128 nodes per server. Each node provides 8TB of disk storage.
Every 3 months, Google requires a full uncompressed backup of their data. How much
storage is required to handle backing up Googles data every year?
Sought: 1) How many bits per year are transferred from Google to Amazon? Simplify your final answer.
2) How many 1 TB drives would be required to store all of the data exchanged?
a) under 1,000 b) 1,001 to 10,000 c) 10,001 to 100,000 d) 100,001 to 1,000,000
e) 1,000,000 to 4,000,000 f) 4,000,001 to 8,000,000 g) more than 8,000,0000
Solution: 1) Since all quantities are powers of two, Exponent Rule yields the result immediately:

Annual Transfer = 21 2 9 2 7 (2 3 2 40 Bytes) (2 2 transfers/year) (2 3 bits/Byte)

= 21+9+7+3+ 40 + 2+3 bits/year
= 2 65 bits/year

= 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 bits annually

2) 265 bits/year = 262 Bytes/year so 262 Bytes/240 Bytes = 222 = 4 x 220 which exceeds
4 million disk drives as that is (4*1024*1024). So that would be a huge data center
without use of compression, incremental backup, and data de-duplication.

Tip: powers-of-2 exponents can be written directly

for many processor design problems!

Study Set 01

slide 3

Computer Abstractions
Units and Exponent Rule

EEL
3801

Problems:

Solutions:

Study Set 01

slide 4