In the modern IT industry, where quality and efficiency are highly valuable and cutting-edge technology is the prioritized factor of constant development, testing hardware in interaction with software is becoming extremely important.

Hardware testing is a too general concept as it depends on the field of device application, its functioning peculiarities, the project’s direction, etc. Since tested devices differ greatly, they require different approaches and technical skills. In addition, types of hardware testing can vary from checking the device itself, its functions, and reliability to monitoring the quality of the interactions between devices or the hardware-software relationship, etc.

In this article let’s focus on testing the hardware requiring close interaction with software for its functioning.

Components of Hardware Testing

Considering the chosen direction of hardware testing, it is necessary to point out its components:

• Testing actual elements of the device, those hardware features that depend on the physical device, such as the quality of the device’s operation, the accuracy of its functioning, load capacity, etc.
• Firmware testing, aimed at checking the device functions that are included in this firmware.
• Testing the device in interaction with software, which is especially important if the application and the device are elements of a single process and the device usage is not possible without the application involvement.

Obviously, it is impracticable to separate these components totally. Therefore, although hardware testing is usually divided into stages taking into account these components (for example, the process can be divided into testing button functionality, performance, update, connectivity, etc.), they are not isolated and tested separately because this would make the results inapplicable in practice as the interaction of these components is a precondition of the correct device operation.

Specifics of Hardware Testing Process

Our QA team’s experience has shown that a deep knowledge of all the peculiarities of the described components’ interactions and a clear understanding of the team’s competencies, requirements, and acceptance criteria are preconditions for the effective organization of the QA process.

Technical base and documentation research

Starting the work in a new hardware project our team wasn’t aware of all aspects of the device’s operation as it requires special knowledge. In the case of hardware, being a testing professional is not enough.

Hardware testing needs deep studying of the technical base of devices’ functioning. For this, we used technical documentation from the field of device application to obtain a fundamental understanding of its operation and the device specification with detailed information about its functions.

Besides, the essential sources of information for our QA team were other teams’ members working with the device for a longer time. They strongly facilitated the study of the device’s operation, and also helped to catch the areas of teams’ responsibilities quickly.

Experience involvement

Since devices usually have a narrow specialization, considerable experience with hardware is not a guarantee of easy and effective testing.

If your previous experience in hardware testing is limited to one area or device type, then your advantage is understanding the general peculiarities of hardware testing, but you should be aware that with a new hardware project, you need to start the study of some technical details from scratch due to device specifics.

Continuous improvement

Deep studying of the device’s operation causes the testing process to become more efficient, but since the device regularly receives function updates, this usually requires additional technical knowledge because of its narrow specialization.

Continuous improvement of the device allows to constantly develop the technical skills of the QA team. For example, while working with the hardware, our QA team, besides learning the specifics of x-device settings, gained a deeper knowledge of hidden networks functioning, latency specifics, USB export of logs, OTA updates, etc.

New issues in old functions

It is also necessary to take into account that with adding new functions or even small improvements, old hardware functions may break. If you’ve never had a problem with initial functions during regular regression testing, then a sudden flaw of a minor function may not be noticeable.

Although over time, our experience of testing the device has become an important source of information, we always take into account the possibility of new problems with old functions and do not reject full regression in favor of speeding up the testing process.

Difficulties and Challenges in Hardware Testing

Software-hardware interdependence

Since the development of firmware and software are parallel processes, updating firmware without updating software and vice versa requires testing both components as changing the smallest function can affect the software-hardware interaction.

Influence of involved devices

Obviously, the testing process is affected by other involved devices, for example, mobile devices of various types. Although this is a common feature in software and hardware testing, for the latter, the influence of additional devices and their functions or settings on the testing result may be less noticeable and, therefore, more important.

Technical details effect

Other technical details, such as types of internet networks, the quality of materials used in the device’s functioning, and proper compliance with the rules of use, also affect the testing process.

Problems in the operation of internet networks and the specifics of the devices ensuring network functioning can significantly affect test results.

For example, when testing the time required for devices to connect to a Wi-Fi network, additional devices involved (like adapters used for GPON, etc.) can increase the connection time, changing the obtained time result.

It is worth considering that an incorrect testing result may be caused by such technical detail, not by a problem in the functioning of the tested device.

Interaction with teams

Another significant challenge in such type of hardware testing is interaction with teams. After all, different specialists are engaged in the development of software and firmware, so this process is implemented in parallel.

The challenge for QA is to work simultaneously as part of these teams, which requires more time and effort. In addition, the teams’ work processes can be based on different methodologies, which requires QA to be flexible and able to work within different approaches at the same time.

To build efficient communication in hardware testing, we need:

• Effective time management skills;
• Diversification of communication types to make the process more convenient for other team members;
• Means of reporting intermediate test results (tables, schemes, diagrams, etc.);
• Applying previous results of the device testing (for example, analysis of test results of previous releases);
• A detailed description of problems in the device functioning to facilitate their understanding by members of the other team (additional data, screenshots, videos, etc.).

Simultaneous releases

Critical challenges for the QA team arise in case of simultaneous releases of software and hardware, doubling the already excessive load of the release period.

In this case, to make the testing process more efficient we can use:

• Correct prioritization of tasks;
• Postponing less important tasks for the post-release period;
• Coordination of priorities with the product owner;
• Redistribution of tasks between QA team members;
• Regular communication between team members to quickly respond to problems and share test results.

Conclusion

The widespread use of devices in interaction with applications increases the relevance of hardware testing, which is largely determined by the unique characteristics of the device and the field of its use. The key to creating a quality product in this field of testing is the combination of deep technical knowledge, attention to detail, a complex approach, and effective communication.

Since the QA team is connecting the development of hardware, firmware, and software into one process, the speed of solving problems and improving the product’s quality depends not only on the hard skills of the QA team members but also on their skills of time management, qualified communication, and quick adaptation to parallel work processes.