IoT Test Automation: Achieving Efficiency with Hardware Software Fusion

Testing any IoT system can be a complex and challenging task, as it involves the fusion of both hardware and software components. To automate the testing of IoT systems, both the hardware and software parts need to be controlled, managed and verified in a single flow / script. While much has been written and discussed about automating pure software systems, when it comes to their fusion with the hardware (a.k.a., IoT devices), most existing approaches do not work. What makes IoT test automation unique is the inclusion of the hardware aspects such as device state, power supply connections, communication modes/ channels, etc. In this talk, I will present an approach that we developed and evolved for our IoT testing needs at ifm engineering. I will cover the design, and mechanism for achieving a fully automated IoT test execution process that leverages ethernet controlled relays via programmatic access to automate the hardware in loop software system. We describe the design and mechanism of our approach, and how it can enable software testers to design and use relay boards based systems for their IoT test automation flow.