IoT technologies are developing at a tremendous speed today. It can be applied in various industries, from healthcare to urban improvement. However, for IoT to work correctly, it is necessary to create a mobile application through which the device will be controlled.
What is IoT?
IoT stands for Internet of Things. These devices have a connection to the Internet or one standard network. Even though this technology appeared relatively recently, today, it is actively developing and is used in many industries.
It extensively uses various sensors, which are transmitted to centralized devices (computers or smartphones), where this data is processed in the application, and the system makes decisions. Thus, you need to create an application for IoT to work correctly.
But that’s not all. To test all the functions of IoT devices and the exact interaction of each button with the device, as well as to simulate the situation of a device being hacked from the outside (penetration testing), testers may be required with skills in manual or automated mode. Reputable certified professionals can be found in TestFort testing company.
In what industries does it apply?
IoT is being used in a wide variety of industries today. Among the most common are:
- Smart houses;
- Health care;
- Automotive industry;
- Logistics;
- Retail trade;
- Smart farming.
Of course, the list of industries where IoT can be used does not end there. Today, the Internet of Things is also being developed for ecology, water, and air quality control.
What are the main aspects of development?
Before you create IoT, you need to immediately think about what problems you will have to face.
Cost Effectiveness
First, you need to determine how much you can spend on software development, what costs you will have and how best to use them effectively. It should be said right away that such software development is quite expensive and takes a lot of time, so you need to think about financing and finding investors immediately.
Market analysis
Market analysis is one of the most critical stages of development, which many people forget about. If you skip this stage, you risk releasing a typical, useless product that will not be popular with users. So, you need to immediately understand which companies provide similar services and their advantages and disadvantages. It would help to consider what value-added services you can provide to users, study the latest performance testing trends, and understand how you can surprise potential users.
Productivity increase
If you own a small startup, then it is evident that you will not have many customers at first. However, creating an environment where your business will scale would be best. If things go well, you should be prepared that the number of clients will snowball in the future, which means that you need good performance immediately.
Testing
If you want to provide your customers with a high-quality product, you need to pay more attention to functional system testing and checking the operation of the interface. Your product must be convenient and easy to use, accurately perform all tasks, and, most importantly, be helpful to its users.
Testing will reveal the slightest errors that may affect the operation of the device.
What problems can you face?
Software development is a fairly complex process, so you need to be prepared for the fact that you will have to face numerous problems; among the most popular are:
- Safety;
- Privacy;
- Reliability;
- Technological inconsistencies.
After the expert’s test, they will provide a complete list of vulnerabilities you need to fix first.
Particular attention should be paid to security and reliability, especially for IoT for healthcare. Clients’ personal data must be securely protected. It is worth saying that this problem is extremely acute, as recent studies have shown that more than 90% of all Internet of things have fragile protection.
Fundamentals of Architecture
IoTs have a rather complex architecture, which includes:
- Hardware;
- Software;
- Cloud;
- Net.
Hardware uses low-power sensors that connect to the Internet and communicate via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.
IoT software can be cloud, web, and mobile. Depending on the type of controllers, it may be necessary to develop specific software for IoT devices.
Practice shows that the cloud is the most critical part of the IoT system. It stores all data and performs information processing and analysis operations.
The network allows data to be exchanged between sensors and control devices such as smartphones and tablets.
Essential Steps to Build IoT Software
To create quality IoT software, you need to follow several essential steps:
- Define the problem you want to solve with your software;
- Choose a platform for software development;
- Select equipment;
- find a reliable contractor;
- testing;
- launch and ongoing support.
Each of these steps is of great importance; otherwise, your venture will fail. Particular attention should be paid to the choice of a company that will develop the software. Necessary to have a great experience, a large team of professionals owned many tools.