When considering the importance of QA Testing for IoT, we begin with what is QA?
Quality Assurance is about assuring the quality of any specified products and services. It is a process that enables all the tasks, procedures are being completed and followed to get a prevalent outcome as originally expected and envisioned.
It is evident that Quality Assurance is a vital part of the process of producing a truly end-to-end production level of IoT system. In this way, interconnected products provide enormous benefits to both users and manufacturers. Communicating with devices is a complex task. We have already witnessed major failures of IoT that highlights the significance of proper testing and QA.
Hence, in this article we have provided the importance of QA testing for Internet of Things.
IoT Based Components and Resources
It must be noted that there are several components associated with an IoT based system. It is difficult to test individual components via integrating and identifying potential issues. There are 3 major components in a complete IoT based system.
- an IoT Module for communication purposes
- cloud computing based components
- interfacing device with cloud or mobile application
If you want to ensure high-quality products and services, IoT based platforms can provide transparency into network-based traffic at every stage. In this manner, platform service providers can allow an easier approach for handling and maintaining by providing online presence into possible productivity and service-based issues.
Categories of Key Testing
There are many key level testing categories but two of the major categories are described below:
Device based Testing
Device based testing comprises of test bench using a dashboard environment. This provides accessibility to devise an automated method to maintain your devices. In device-based testing, there are total 6 levels of key testing areas that consists of:
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- Device Level Properties
- Serial Protocols
- Schedulers
- Switching power modes
- Reliable Connectivity
- Ove the Testing (OTA) Approach
Mostly multinational companies and IT firms have a network and system administration department that governs certain rules and regulations pertaining to configuration issues that are often classified under device-based testing.
Cloud based Testing
Cloud based Testing is a subset of software testing that focuses on the use of cloud computing aspects to simulate real world user driven traffic. In cloud-based testing, continuous integration tools play a vital role in digitalising functional integration-based systems and relevant APIs tests being carried out. Hence, some of the critical aspects of cloud-based testing comprises of:
- Improved Performance Metrics, Reliability and Scalable Testing Approaches
- Improved Privacy and Security enabled Tests
- Data Governance and Privacy enabled Tests
Mostly cloud based testing is used in software companies including responsive web development companies and education institutes that use cloud computing platforms such as Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive etc. for cloud-based storage purposes. However, cloud-based testing can also be performed for multiple aspects related to cloud-based testing.
Wrap Up
In a nutshell, software quality assurance & testing is an essential ingredient in measuring performance metrics, maintaining consistency and relevant aspects related to IoT and Cloud Computing based environments. Hence, it is proven that SQA and Testing approaches are most definitely needed in various areas of computing and Internet such as Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Computer Vision and Digital Signal Processing.
