Iot Performance Testing

By Author: Michael Wade
Total Articles: 61
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In recent times, the coverage area of Internet of Things (IoT) has expanded exponentially and has become inclusive of the everyday objects and appliances. The overall testing pattern of IoT devices is completely different from those of regular web and mobile applications. Here, performance testing is mainly concerned with testing the internal computation between the devices and the network infrastructure. But, before we can discuss the right approach of testing the performance of IoT, it is important to understand the different challenges faced during testing.

Challenges
Testing APIs: A smart device needs to work on a wide variety of devices and web browsers in order to maximize its reach to the audience.
This requires that the developers use API Testing and performance testing tools in order to make sure that the web interface of the IoT device works correctly with all the major browsers, platforms as well as a number of screen sizes.

High Volume Usage: Service Virtualization is a good approach to run IoT Performance Testing on the servers. The testers need to be aware of the threshold limits where the infrastructure will eventually start demonstrating a degraded user experience. An increased number of device volumes also imply that more devices will compete for the same radio frequency spectrum causing slow communication with the servers and end-users.

CPU Testing Vs Real World Testing: Performance Testing through Service Virtualization and direct CPU Testing does not completely cover for real-world situations. They are prone to problems related to infrastructure, overburdened WiFi channels, unreliable network, and slow Internet connections.

User Interaction: This refers to how the devices are actually used by the end users. Hence, testing an application calls for an adjusted look at the IoT performance testing tools and performance monitoring processes.

The best approach to address the challenges listed above is to prioritize the test cases. Since everything is not required to be tested, it is better to identify the key areas which may be required for the longest testing time. It needs to be taken into consideration that the priority of test cases will vary through devices. The same kind of testing may not hold equal priority for every device or application. Hence, defining the objective of an IoT device is the first approach for its successful performance testing. Test cases can be generated by defining use cases of the objects. Failover or Disaster Recovery testing for both the hardware and software is critical. Both require varied scenarios for a complete test coverage. A suitable testing tool can be used to test the device performance in an appropriate and timely manner.

Conclusion
Performance Testing of IoT has now become a commonplace. Although IoT brings a new level of complexity in the processes, new and improved testing tools will help to make the testing process easier over time.