Getronics Editorial Team
In this article:
As technology advances, the number of devices connected to IoT (Internet of Things) increases exponentially.
Not surprisingly, according to a survey conducted by Statista, it is estimated that by 2030 more than 25.44 billion devices will be connected to IoT, still, a very conservative forecast.
From automobiles to refrigerators, intelligent homes and even solutions for different industries, IoT technology is now part of every aspect of our life.
Therefore, the more devices are connected to the Internet of the Things. More important, though, will be to focus on safety and efficiency.
At this point, the traditional methods that guarantee quality assurance of these solutions cease to be efficient, opening the doors to a very innovative technological concept: IoT Testing.
What is IoT Testing?
IoT Testing is a process that includes everything from functional to nonfunctional tests, which find out when a solution or device is ready to be deployed in real life.
As in any software test, the goal is to find and fix vulnerabilities so that the released solution works as expected and can be successfully deployed in the real world.
There are more than 40 types of IoT testing, and they all include a series of analysis commonly known in the world of technology. These are the main ones:
- Functional testing;
- Integration testing
- Distributed test architectures;
- Performance testing;
- Security testing;
- Tests of performance;
- Compatibility testing;
- Functional testing
- Regulatory testing;
- Scalability testing;
- Regression testing;
- Privacy testing;
- Usability testing;
- Among others.
Approaches to IoT Testing
Ensuring the high quality of IoT products and services is all about an innovative and well-calculated approach to conducting testing. Because of this, it’s essential to develop a careful strategy and choose the right tools to guarantee that the tests aren’t just efficient, but offer real results.
In general terms, a good infrastructure of IoT systems consists of four layers:
- IoT Device Layer: sensors, controllers and other connected devices that collect data.
- IoT Gateway Layer: Gateways, communication units that ensure connectivity and data transmission.
- IoT Platform Layer: physical local data centres, in the cloud (or back-end), that provide storage, aggregation, and data analytics.
- IoT Application Layer: User interaction software (or front-end) that provides reports and control.
Based on the complexity of IoT solutions, one of the best practices to ensure efficiency is to create an IoT testing framework. This will help to visualise specific cases, and organise the process as a whole.
In this context, the best approach is based on:
- Validation of all layers separately.
- Validation of multi-layer interoperability.
- Validation of the operation.
IoT Testing Challenges
Conducting IoT testing can be challenging. Some aspects related to the connectivity, the compatibility, and the security of devices usually are a quite common concern. As well as a reason why errors and problems can appear during this phase.
Here are some of the main ones:
Privacy
Ensuring customer privacy at all times is another major challenge organisations face during IoT testing. You have to ensure that customers are not required to share personal data, such as their location or health status, with other parties. That is, unless it is necessary to provide emergency services or medical assistance.
Lack of standards
Since there are no common standards for IoT devices, IoT testing involves an extensive analysis process for each device or solution. So understanding the overall performance of the system becomes a challenge, after all, the testing phase is more complex and extensive.
Security
To guarantee the security of the connected devices is fundamental, but even more important is to guarantee that security is maintained at all times.
To ensure security, IoT Testing involves different strategies that guarantee the data encryption between devices. While exploring all the possibilities that safe protocols offer (like TLS or SSL), you can guarantee that only authorized users have access.
One of the most common challenges in terms of security of IoT is how to prevent easy access to stolen devices, which will reduce risk of data breaches.
Mobility
Most IoT devices, like smart cars, are not restricted to physical locations. This means that devices aren’t restricted to be tested in just one place, this means that they can be sent to a lab or an office.
Cost
The cost of IoT testing can become high due to shipping or leasing the required equipment to test certain devices (e.g., smartphones).
Conclusion
IoT Testing is a challenging process, especially when an application is tested across multiple devices at the same time.
In general, this makes it more complex to determine which device is causing the problem or if there are other issues related to the system, connectivity, or ease of use of the device.
A good way to ensure the use of different approaches and tools from IoT Testing is to invest in automatization while avoiding wasting time with manual tests.
Currently, different options are available in the market, and this has simplified the process of IoT Testing, while effectively meeting the needs of a company.
Take the chance to contact us today, and we can support you through the process of IoT testing.
