Today, human beings are increasingly getting inclined towards making their life comfortable, easier, and most importantly, simpler. From monitoring health status to tracking vehicular movements, a lot has been simplified by human beings.

According to Gartner, more than 6.4 billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices were used in 2016, and that number will grow to more than 20 billion by 2026.

However, creating technology with an impact needs effective focus on IoT testing services. In this blog, we will aim at highlighting the concept of IoT, the need for IoT testing, different approaches to IoT testing, and challenges that testers often encounter when testing for IoT technology.

What is IoT? 

The Internet of Things (IoT) is taking the market by storm.

In simple terms, IoT is the integrated connection of vehicles, home appliances, and medicinal equipment using embedded electronics, microchips, etc. it aims to collect and exchange data of different types. This technology helps in enabling the user to control devices remotely over a pertinent network.

It can embed sensors and software into physical objects to collect and transmit data over a wireless network, creating new possibilities for monitoring manufacturing, remotely controlling devices, and automation.

Why IoT Testing Is Needed? 

Today, there is an increase in the need to deliver better and faster services. The demand to access, create, use and share data from any device has increased. The main focus is to provide greater insight and control over various interconnected IoT devices.

Hence, the IoT testing framework is essential. IoT testing is a type of software testing which helps in checking the vulnerabilities in IoT devices. Nevertheless, testers working on IoT testing often encounter certain challenges that make it difficult to test the IoT solutions. Let us quickly jump on them before we get on different test approaches that can help streamline IoT development.

Top Challenges Of IoT Software Testing 

• Hardware-Software Dilemma

IoT implies an architecture closely coupled among various hardware and software components. not only do the software applications make the system, but hardware applications play an essential role., Other than this, sensors, communication gateways, etc., play a vital role.

Although functionality testing helps in completely certifying the system. However, there is always a dependency on each other regarding the environment, data transfer, etc. So, the challenge is that it becomes a tedious job compared to testing a generic system [only software/hardware component].

• IoT communications Protocols 

In order to interact with each other and with controllers, IoT devices today use various communications protocols. For example, Protocols such as Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP), Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) and, Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT), are common, and each has its advantages and disadvantages. Sometimes testing vast or too many protocols become challenging.

• Real-time Data Testing 

As we have discussed earlier, Pilot testing/regulatory testing is mandatory for a system such as this; it also becomes very tough to get such data.

Being in a testing team, getting regulatory checkpoints, or getting the system deployed in the pilot is very tough. The step becomes even tougher if the system is related to a domain like Healthcare, which stays a big challenge for the testing team.

• UI (User-Interface) Interactiveness

The IoT is vastly spread across various devices belonging to every platform, such as [iOS, Android, Windows, and Linux]. In such a case, testing that out on devices can be done but testing it on all possible devices is almost impossible or negligible.

The companies can’t overlook the possibility of the UI being accessed from a device they don’t possess or simulate. That’s a challenge that is tough to overcome.

• Network Availability

IoT is all about the vital data being communicated at faster speeds. This is why good connection stability plays an important role. It mandates the IoT architecture to be tested in all network connectivity/speeds.

To test this, virtual network simulators are mostly used to vary the network load, connectivity, stability, etc. But, real-time data/network is always a new scenario, and the testing team doesn’t know where the bottleneck would develop in the long run.

IoT Testing Approaches To Streamline Test Process   

Usability Testing

• It is vital to ensure the usability factor of each device.
• Companies need to ensure that the usability of each machine gets used.
• The IoT equipment needs to be smart enough to push the notifications, error-related messages, warnings, and much more.
• The system must have an option to log all the events to provide clarity to the ultimate users. also, if it is not capable of doing that, the system should also push those to a database to store them.
• It is crucial to test usability in terms of displaying data, processing data, and pushing job tasks from the devices. 

Security Testing  

• As mentioned, IoT is data-centric, where all the devices/systems connected operate based on the available data. Security of IoT devices remains essential.
• When we talk about it coming to the data flow between devices, it is always possible that the data could be accessed or read when transferred.
• From a testing standpoint, testers need to check if the data is protected/encrypted when getting transferred from one device to the other.
• Wherever there is a UI, testers need to make sure there is password protection on it to maintain security.  

Utility Testing 

• For example, when citing a system for a healthcare domain, companies need to make sure the system is scalable enough for the entire hospital.
• When the testing is carried out, it is done for 2-10 patients at a time, and the data is propagated to near about 10-20 devices.
• However, when considering the whole hospital, it is connected, and 180-200 patients are connected to the system; automatically, the data that is propagated is much bigger than the tested data.
• The testers need to ensure that the system performs the same even though the added data is propagated.
• In this approach of testing, the monitoring utility is tested to display the system usage, power usage, temperature, etc.  

Compatibility Testing

• Catering to the complex architecture of an IoT system, compatibility testing is not an option but a good choice.
• It includes testing of multiple operating system versions, various browser types, and respective versions, along with generations of devices and communication modes [e.g., Bluetooth 2.0, 3.0] is necessary for IoT compatibility testing.  

Pilot Testing  

• When talking about IoT devices, Pilot testing becomes crucial.
• Only testing in Lab makes sure that the product/system works fine. But, this becomes a challenge when exposed to real-time conditions or steps/ scenarios.
• During pilot testing, the system is kind of exposed to a limited number of users in the whole field. They use the application and give feedback on the system.
• These comments are easy to access, making the application robust or active enough for production deployment.  

Upgrade Testing 

• IoT combines multiple protocols, operating systems, devices firmware, hardware, networking layers, to name a few.
• When an upgrade is usually performed, be it for the system or any of the involved items as stated above, thorough regression testing should be carried out/a strategy should be adopted to overcome upgrade-related issues.

Wrapping up 

While IoT software testing brings a new level of complexity to performance monitoring and testing, we can’t overlook the potential business opportunities the devices offer. This is why it becomes important for IT enterprises to leverage IoT testing service providers.

Testers must adapt to various new platforms and techniques in the market to ensure they can assess and further solve the challenges of testing IoT devices and applications. This ultimately ensures the delivery of the best experience to the end-user. Also, with the improvements to network infrastructure and testing tools, the entities will continue to make the process easier over time.