IoT evolved in 2010 when dedicated servers and applications featuring IoT emerged to link daily-life devices with the internet for smart controlling.
Wait! What is IoT?
IoT is, basically, the exchange of data between devices that employ microchips to transfer data between several servers. It may be your smartwatch, counting the number of steps you have taken since morning or your cell phone, recommending you a healthy diet monitoring your daily routine. Or even your smartphone app, alarming you regarding a door lock you left open in your office.
Have you ever parked your car in a smart parking system that continuously monitors the vehicles entering and leaving and indicates you via application if a slot is available? Exactly! It employs IoT.
Other than personalised applications, IoT has embedded its roots in the workplace too. Doctors are updated regarding a patient’s health through numerous sensors that keep him updated regarding his body condition. In a nutshell, every device that links to the internet and provides you with some specific information is an IoT device.
IoT software testing – things to test
While IoT is taking this world like a storm, there is a need for proper testing of IoT software. IoT development companies, such as Itransition, put much effort into IoT software testing to ensure that the app installed on a connected device works seamlessly and provides users with the best experience possible.
Below, we provide a short guide on how to conduct testing of IoT software.
Before you start
Before you start testing, make sure you have taken care of following things:
- Don’t forget to turn on your IoT device
- Make sure your IoT Hub or server is responding
- Don’t trust a weak channel, whether it is Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or NFC.
1. Connectivity
This is usually the first test that reveals if the device and server has linkage issues. Even loss of a millisecond can propagate invalid data.
Make sure that the device should send ping commands regularly so that contact remains intact even if the server is down. Also, if the connection is lost, your device should be smart enough to store data in a database that should synchronise with the hub as soon the connection is restored. Sending user a notification, while operating in offline mode, makes your service reliable.
2. Performance
Obviously, no one compromises over performance. Your server should be able to handle loads of data and extra data should be diverted after affirmation from the server. When several devices are connected to a single server, a lot of data is transmitted that may juggle the hub. Some testers ignore this point by testing with just a small set of data. Moreover, some servers receive garbage data when the device turns to low-power mode. You need to get rid of it too.
3. Compatibility
You should mind your software compatibility preferences. The software should support numerous devices and should know which nodes should be preferred while developing connections. If a user needs to make a payment using IoT software, it should be capable of a transaction through numerous banks.
Also, it should notify the user if a massive amount is transacted through the application to nullify fraudulent payments. And if the device or wearable is lost, the software should lock the device in order to protect user’s personal data.
Data display, processing, and notifications should be thoroughly tested and errors and alarms should also be reported to the server besides users’ data.
4. Data security
Well, this is the most challenging job of an IoT system. Data protection is the most crucial job and it can damage your reliability if users get a slight glimpse of data insecurity.
There is a chance of data hacking when it is transferred between two points. Make sure that the transmitted data is always in encrypted form. User Interface of the software should feature a password to keep it secure from unauthentic logins.
Furthermore, only authenticated devices should be paired with the server. Data should only be transmitted after registration is successful. Set a limit for a specific number of connected devices and server visibility should turn off when all the authentic devices are linked to the server.
5. Pilot testing
When you are done with all the elementary tests, pilot test your system rather than experimenting it with dummy data. Implement a live version of your software in real time and allow several users to connect and utilize your software and give a feedback.
This will yield the flaws in your software in a practical environment and will provide you with a chance to get rid of bugs when you launch a fully-functional version of your IoT system.
Tools for IoT software testing
There are several tools available for assessing the performance of your IoT software. Some of them are open source and provide a variety of features to examine several aspects of your software.
Shodan is a connectivity testing tool that verifies the devices connected to the hub. It shows the connected devices, their location, and information of its user. It keeps a record of all the computers connected to the network that are either directly or indirectly connected to the internet.
Wireshark is a network protocol analyzer that lets you monitor your website’s insights. It observes the traffic, web host addresses, protocols, etc.
It is a command-line packet analyzer that also monitors the traffic on your website and tests different aspects of your software.
MQTT Spy is a useful tool if your device supports MQTT protocol. It is one of the most efficient open source packages available for IoT Testing and is specifically helpful for people with day-to-day data usage.
Smart Bear provides a variety of software testing solutions, and its IoT testing is its strongest suit.
What’s next?
After successful testing of your IoT system, deploy it in a real-time environment and keep monitoring your software for different bugs. And don’t forget to upgrade your system if you want to survive this race of technology.
