Imagine a Refrigerator placing an order in a supermarket as soon as your tomatoes run out! This is the revolution of the Internet of Things. The products of IoT are unbelievably tempting. But from the perspective of a developer, A device that is connected to several other devices and ensuring the Quality Assurance of the device is a big task. Equipping a distinguished model of Testing methodology and Testing strategy is a must to ensure IoT stability.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the most recent Internet evolution that consists of a wide range of components, including sensors, actuators, and services, all of which have been deployed by various businesses and individuals to serve various applications. With over 14.4 billion IoT devices used the growth is drastically increasing with a phase of 18% annually.

Precision agriculture, environmental monitoring, smart health, smart manufacturing, and smart cities are a few examples of application fields where the information gathered by IoT has an unparalleled possibility to address significant issues and provide services. Like all previous Internet-based services, IoT-based services are likewise being created and implemented without taking security into the account.

But not keeping an account of security is a big threat to the entire IoT industry.  But, how to keep your data and devices secure with IoT connected to many devices? Ensuring proper Quality Assurance manuals and risk assessments, and ensuring the right testing methodology and testing strategy is a need of the hour for all IoT developers there.

Quality assurance of IoT, the major challenges Faced by the Test Engineers

Each IoT device has unique hardware that is powered by software. Application software will interface with IoT devices as well, sending commands to the device and examining the data it collects.

It may not be possible to test all conceivable combinations of hardware and software due to the wide variety of software and hardware options for devices, as well as the many firmware and operating system versions. Gather information from your end users to learn what devices and software versions they are using, then evaluate the information to identify the most common combinations to build an acceptable subset that can be tested successfully.

But at First Floor, once we are aware of the devices and operating systems to test, we concentrate the majority of our testing efforts on these pairings while conducting smaller sanity checks on less popular ones.

Innumerable IoT communication protocols to test

IoT devices currently interact with controllers and other devices through a wide variety of communication protocols. Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP), Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT), and Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) are examples of commonly used protocols. Each has benefits and drawbacks of its own. However, MQTT is the most widely used because it functions effectively in scenarios with high latency and limited bandwidth.

To facilitate developer interaction with the device, an API—typically based on JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) or XML—is frequently placed on top of the transport protocol. The protocols and APIs can be utilized by testers for automated testing, and the test design is based on the protocols and APIs being used. For it to be useful, the testing tool needs to be established to support certain protocols and APIs.

New attack surfaces and other rising IoT security risks and difficulty in Quality assurance

By not forgetting the most infamous DDoS attack which brought down the giants

like PayPal, Twitter, and Spotify in October 2021(among many others). Numerous vulnerable IoT devices had been infiltrated by attackers with malware, which made the devices generate traffic.

Since more than 70% of IoT devices are currently security-vulnerable, checking for security flaws is an essential task. IoT device testers should pay close attention to the password policy of the device, making ensuring that the device has built-in minimum password requirements and that they are enforced.

When creating automated tests, it should be kept in mind that it is advised to practice` for devices to demand a password change upon initial access.

Devices and IoT diversity are a challenge for all the Testing Faculty

Strong test capabilities are required due to the wide variety of IoT devices and applications varieties. User expectation of performance is high in all kinds of devices and IoT supports and it’s quite challenging for QA and Test Engineers

The devices and software being tested must always be set up with the most recent version, and testers must have a solid test strategy and a solid understanding of the architecture. Tests could fail if a third-party service changes that the system depends on. This will be rapidly identified by automated tests that are carried out as part of a continuous testing pipeline.

When a third-party service is unavailable, the First Floor testing team virtualizes it to eliminate reliance on the actual provider. We continue to test employing the virtualized service even if the service is down. We specify the expected answers from the service using a service virtualization tool, allowing you to test how your application will behave in various scenarios.

Fast-moving data and an increase in workload have a major impact

IoT devices that are connected rely on quick communication. As a result, the performance of a device may be significantly impacted by network status. Network infrastructure issues, such as congested WiFi channels, faulty network hardware, and sluggish or inconsistent Internet connections, are common with smart devices. To make sure they respond appropriately without losing data, IoT devices and applications are tested under these various circumstances at First Floor.

Our teams use network virtualization to programmatically simulate various network conditions and responses because it is rarely viable to create a network with all of the possible situations. During testing, device system metrics like CPU and RAM are also observed.

An IoT device with a memory leak, for instance, will operate slowly and might not respond appropriately. The user taps, clicks, or types to activate and test software on desktop or laptop computers. IoT devices, however, are frequently passive, thus testers must be aware of the kind of devices being used and how they operate. Performance testing tools and performance monitoring need to be examined differently in light of this.

IoT Testing Strategies followed in First Floor

IoT setups leverage a variety of software testing techniques from our standard QA procedures. The three IoT basic components—devices, communication between devices, and calculating the amount of data that has to be processed and analyzed—are all given equal weightage by our team.

In the IoT ecosystem, the following test types are employed by team First Floor.

Performance testing

It measures both the embedded software system’s internal processing speed and the speed of the communication network model. In the Internet of Things testing, performance testing is carried out at the network and gateway level (using protocols like MQTT, CoAP, and HTTP), system level (database, processing, and analytics), and application level.

Security Testing

Data protection, device identity authentication, encryption/decryption, and other security features are included in security testing. In an IoT architecture, security testing entails protecting both the devices themselves and the networks or cloud services to which they are connected. Since there is no regulation that adequately shields sensitive data from potential attacks, experts agree that the IoT poses a risk to people’s privacy and confidentiality of their information. For this reason, security testing is crucial.

One or more of the factors listed above, such as sensor networks, real-time data-gathering applications, middleware, interfaces, and M2M protocols, may result in more injection points and new security risks. One of the key places where problems can be found at the root is through security testing at the device and protocol level.

For instance, At team QA and testing at First Floor, we ensure that there has been no unauthorized access to the device. Alternatively, confirm that data on hacked devices are enabled to be remotely erased.

Compatibility Testing

testing for compatibility with various combinations of devices, protocols, mobile devices, and mobile OS versions The Application Layer and Network Layer of the IoT framework make compatibility testing a critical requirement. It ultimately comes down to confirm that any potential functional configuration of hardware, software, operating systems, and communication protocol versions is possible.

Example: At First Floor, we verify the IoT software supports a defined set of devices or Ensure device-to-device communications protocols are compatible.

End-user application Testing

This term refers to testing an IoT application’s user experience and usability as well as all of its functional use cases.

For example, At team First Floor, we verify an IoT application has all required features working as per the specification or verify whether the User Experience (UX) is good.

Device Interoperability Testing

Testing for device interoperability entails determining how well protocols and devices can work together across various standards and specifications. In a word, it checks the connectivity of all the IoT setup devices and protocols. As IoT demands standards to enable platforms that are communicable, operable, and programmable across devices, independent of make, model, manufacturer, or industry, interoperability testing in the service layer of the IoT framework becomes extremely important.

Example: If we at our team test a device that is using an iPad as well as Mac for an IoT application, the transactions are done or data saved on the iPad is “As-is” when accessed through a Mac desktop.

The enormous amount of information revealed by the countless items, activities, pieces of software, hardware, and SLAs may result in a thorough testing strategy that directs and regulates a unified testing life cycle.

In the IoT, testing acts as a change agent by establishing a logical connection between development and operation from both a technological and cultural standpoint.

Conclusion

Who doesn’t want to automate their lives?

 

With IoT around lives gonna be easy as pie. Not only your home devices but IoT is going to revolutionize the business by giving insights into how systems are working and delivering insights into everything from the performance of machines to supply chain and logistics operations.

 

An IoT can be as easy as  Child’s toy or as serious as a driverless truck driver!

 

IoT can revolutionize the way things operate with each other. But a security threat can be serious damage to the client’s TRUST in the product.

 

To ensure your end-user trust your IoT should be backed up with strong testing and a QA team and strategy. At First Floor, we ensure all the levels of Quality and security are enabled to ensure your product is a success in the market.

It is easy to outsource Team First Floor for your Testing project. For more information contact us at contact@firstfloor.agency.