Each bulb "checks in" to the Internet every hour each day with its status and energy usage (one data point): There are 24 hours in a day.
5 bulbs×1datapointhour×24hoursday×8bytesdatapoint=960bytesday
The user remotely controls their lights once a day on average (one data point for all bulbs, not one for each): 1datapointday×8bytesdatapoint=8bytesday
The user checks the status once a day (one data point): 1datapointday×8bytesdatapoint=8bytesday
Total: 960+8+8=976bytesday
How much data is transferred each week?
There are 7 days in a week.
Total: 976bytesday ×7daysweek=6832bytesweek
How much data is transferred each year?
There are 365 days in a year.
Total: 976bytesday ×365daysyear=356240bytesyear
What if 30 million homes had this same setup – how much data would be transferred each year altogether?
Simply multiply the annual value by 30 million.
Total: 356240bytesyear×30×106=1.06872 ×1013bytesyear≈10.7Terabytesyear
The values of the transferred data dramatically increased as the span of time increases from day to year. Moreover, the inclusion of 30 million homes in the calculation showed a very huge number of transferred data, already in the range of terabytes. This value is still relatively manageable because it is spread through a span of 1 whole year. However, this can still be reduced to become more data efficient. These values can be reduced when the data is organized such that only the needed amount of bits are assigned for each information needed to be transferred. For example, the information about the bulb status and energy usage can be stored in a single byte instead of 8 bytes or 1 data point. This can be done by dedicating 1 bit for the status (‘0’ for OFF and ‘1’ for ON), and the remaining 7 bits (or less) for the energy usage. This will significantly decrease the number of bytes transferred by approximately 8 times. Effectively, 1 data point will be equivalent to 8 bits or 1 byte of information. In this way, the amount of data transferred becomes much more organized.
