Quality Assurance and IOT

Been involved in the testing and utilizing of many IOT devices for the smarthome, and in the process found many bugs in process and software,     So quality assurance is a big deal to hope to effectively test and deliver robust systems.   If your IOT device is gathering data from sensors, a common approach, consider the implications for embedded downstream ML, analytics and decision making.

The relationship between QA and the success of IoT devices

Posted by Hemanth Kumar Yamjala on February 1, 2021 in IOT Central

In an increasingly tech-driven world, the Internet of Things holds a special place. It helps to connect devices and establish communication among them through the use of embedded software. According to Statista, the global revenue projection for IoT devices in 2021 will be worth 520 billion USD. This exemplifies how the Internet of Things is slowly but steadily taking the digital world by storm and is capable of adding economic value to diverse markets. At the core of such devices are the sensors with embedded software that help to automate processes, connect domains, and deliver superior user experiences. The terms like smart homes and smart cities are no longer in the realm of fiction but a reality where data mined from myriad sensors are processed to perform specific activities for delivering great user experiences.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of connected devices through sensors or embedded technologies that interact with the external and internal environment to arrive at intelligent decisions. The IoT ecosystem comprises three core components:

Things: The real-world physical objects or devices containing sensors and embedded software to interact or communicate with the external environment.

Communication: The networking component allowing communication between IoT devices and the external environment comprises protocols. 4G for LAN, Wi-Fi for LAN, and Zigbee, BLE, and ANT+ for PAN.

Computing: It is executed on a computer or mobile device at two levels – to take intelligent decisions within the ecosystem and to create a vital link for data analysis. By analyzing mined data, the computing component makes intelligent decisions possible.

A real-life example related to the three components is the car’s navigation system. Here, the ‘thing’ is the actual hardware present in the console, which ‘communicates’ with satellite readings to ‘compute’ and deliver data for the driver to take notice.

Since the IoT ecosystem can have real-time implications for individuals, enterprises, and entities, IoT device testing should be accorded top priority. The critical role of the Internet of Things QA testing is based on validating the software and hardware components and checking if the transmitted data leads to real-time intelligence. Let us understand why it is important to apply QA to the IoT ecosystem?  ... "