Internet of Things include a plethora of software
components, embedded sensors, actuators, electronics et al., that enable physical
infrastructure like buildings, appliances, machines, and vehicles to communicate
and exchange data with each other. Such level of automation and sophistication
among physical devices requires testing of software components to check for
their functionality and responsiveness. In the absence of automated functional testing for IoT, the
physical infrastructure that forms a part of IoT might not be suitable for automation.
The world of
computer based technology has been evolving from one paradigm to another – from
Internet and cloud computing to the newer and more exciting – the Internet of
Things or IoT. The latest paradigm talks about connectivity of
physical infrastructure – appliances, buildings, vehicles, security
paraphernalia and others, whereby each part of the infrastructure is embedded
with sensors, thermostats, and actuators to enable exchange of data among them.
This automation of physical infrastructure brings immense benefits to the people.
The benefits include savings on power, less exploitation of resources,
optimisation of productivity etc.
As the Internet
of Things works on a real time basis through communication between physical
infrastructure and applications, any malfunction of a part of the chain can
have undesirable implications for the whole automatic ecosystem. For example, a
vehicle travelling on autopilot can misread the traffic signal leading to an
accident or a thermostat malfunction can lead to overheating of the geyser and
cause it to burn. To prevent such unwarranted situations, it is important that
each unit is checked for its intended function and responsiveness. It can be
said with a fair degree of certainty that the culmination of successful functional test automation services
will have a
positive impact on the overall IoT testing as well.
However, the
process of Functional Test Automation faces a few challenges as well:
- The individual components, be it the subsystems or services, can be owned or manned by third party vendors, the absence of which during testing will not produce desired outcomes.Read More ...
