IoT Device Testing Enhanced with SmartTest Automation

The number of connected IoT devices reached more than 10 billion in 2021, and that number is continuing to rise in 2022. To ensure these devices can connect seamlessly and work together, design and test engineers from the automotive, healthcare, consumer electronics and enterprise device markets need to perform thorough robustness and interoperability testing.

Testing can improve product reliability, stability, data-integrity and security. However, many IoT device manufacturers do not have these testing capabilities, and some find outsourced testing services to be cost-prohibitive. 

Teledyne LeCroy’s Frontline Test Services is a source for interoperability testing, consulting and training services for Bluetooth, 5G, Wi-Fi, USB, ZigBee (News - Alert), Matter and other connecting technologies. To enhance testing capabilities, the Frontline Test Services team developed SmartTest automated testing. SmartTest automated testing will enable rigorous and repeatable testing while reducing test times and customer costs.

Key benefits of SmartTest include:

• Speed and scalability: Quickly scale the number of tests and boost coverage to accelerate delivery times, and use multiple set ups to perform regression testing for multiple products concurrently.
• Repeatability and consistency: True repeatable testing will open up the possibility for collection of accurate and meaningful data, such as failure rates, that is open to statistical analysis.
• Test coverage and complex scenarios: Test the thousands of permutations created by a fragmented mobile ecosystem of devices, generations and operating systems.
• Investigation and fault finding: Uncover intermittent issues or determine the complex sequence of events required to reproduce an issue allowing fault finding, bug fixing and verification of any fixes.
• Robustness and reliability: Create a more robust product, increase reliability and reduce customer support traffic with accelerated life testing, high permutation testing and randomized human interactions and variations.

Test results are logged in Teledyne’s cloud-based, secure database. In that database, users can access all test results, a library of essential reports and supporting data in the form of protocol trace files, log files and video captures. Additionally, subject matter experts will provide a detailed explanation as to the causes of any faults or issues.

“Combined with Frontline Test Services' testing and analysis, the SmartTest automation system can speed up test cycles from years to just days,” said Nick Kriczky, vice president of services at Teledyne LeCroy. “This allows IoT device manufacturers to be more effective using their testing budget, cut down on technical support and update releases and deliver the best quality product to their customers."

SmartTest, now available, will help engineers ensure that their product is ready to deliver an out-of-box experience that will boost customer satisfaction.