IoT Testing Approach: Challenges and Tools

What are the basic requirements of living? Food shelter clothing used to be the answer until the last decade. Human being has evolved to make their living easier, simpler, and smarter. This handful of extra necessities have developed along with the technological development.

Some of the results of this new inclusion are they have stopped using switches to control lights, air conditioner; they have been monitoring their health, have stopped paying toll charges at the tolls, checking traffic status, getting important news updates from all over the world and the list is endless.

How did we manage to do so? Why the change is important and appreciated?

Before getting into the testing details, let’s see some exciting real-life examples of IoT.

1. In wearables

The best example of IoT is smartwatches like Fitbit and Apple watches, which can be synchronized with mobile phones and other smart devices. You don’t have to look at your smartphone to get basic information. You will get all the important notifications in your smartwatch. It can display your heart rate, number of steps taken by the user, calorie intake, etc.

2. Healthcare

There are so many monitoring devices to check the health condition of patients. It can also provide notification regarding medicine intake, which can be monitored on the basis of benchmarked data. Fluid levels in the patient’s body can be monitored with the help of applications like UroSense; it can initiate fluid intakes if required. The data obtained through the devices can be transferred to any other smart device if it is connected with a strong internet.

3. Infrastructure and Development

With different application weather reports can be obtained on the basis of which street light can be controlled, notifications and awareness can be sent to a group of people like fishermen, mineworkers, etc. Traffic lights can also be controlled with this smart application. A sophisticated city plan can be done easily.

Most used technology in IoT

Some of the most used IoT technology are:

1. Near Field Communication [NFC] – is used for both way communication of electronic devices. It is mainly for smart phone users, also used for payment transactions without contact information.
2. Radio Frequency Code [RFC]
3. Electronic Product Code [EPC]
4. Bluetooth – used for short-range communication using data exchange. This technology mainly used in wearable and mobile devices.
5. Wi-Fi – most frequently used IoT technology, when connected with a LAN it can help in transferring heavy files, pictures, information, messages, etc.

IoT Testing Approaches

In order to test an IoT architecture, there are multiple testing approaches like:

1. In terms of utility:

• The usability of every device must be checked
• The medical healthcare tracking device must be portable so that it can be used flawlessly in different sectors of the medical.
• The equipment must be smart enough to detect any errors apart from pushing notifications.
• The system must keep enough transparency with the end-users. In case of inability it must push valuable notifications to a storing database.
• The application must display the notifications on the screen of the user devices (computer/mobile/laptop).
• All the usable devices must be tested in terms of displaying data, pushing notifications, tracking vehicular movement, controlling traffic light, etc.

2. In terms of security

• Security challenges: as IoT is data-oriented, all the usable devices that are connected operate on the basis of the available data.
• The data can be read while transferring from one end top other, which is a serious threat to information security.
• Before sending, every data should be checked from a testing standpoint. They must be encrypted or protected so that there will be no chance of data loss or misinterpretation.
• Password protection must be there in case of UI

3. In terms of connectivity

• Connectivity plays a vital role in every sector, from healthcare to monitoring.
• The system must be connected to a strong internet connection 24/7 to avoid any data loss or delay.
• Connection loss can be a serious challenge for data transfer and communication.
• Without connection, the whole system can go offline, which means it will no longer be able to communicate.

4. In terms of performance

• The system must e scalable enough for the operating sector.
• If the testing is conducted in a health centre (hospital), not more than 10 patients should be involved, and 10-20 devices can be involved.
• The monitoring utility of the display system also is checked thoroughly before allowing it to perform.

Some other means of testing is-

• Compatibility testing
• Pilot testing
• Upgrade testing

IoT Testing Tools  

Some of the common tools that are used to test IoT systems are:

• Software – Wireshark, Tcpdump, etc.
• Hardware – JTAG dongle, Digital Storage Oscilloscope, Software Defined Radio, etc.

Few words before wrapping up

There are different IoT approach based on the particular ac=architecture or system involved. As a tester, more emphasis should be given on Test-As-A-User [TAAS]. Integration testing is another crucial; the success of IoT depends on an accurate integration plan. IoT jobs are challenging and exciting at the same point in time. The team must be capable of troubleshooting common and complicated problems.