FirmataSpy: A Firmata Emulator to Streamline Interoperable Automated Testing for IoT Devices

The swift progress of Internet of Things (IoT) technology has unveiled vast opportunities for interfacing and monitoring physical devices. Developers frequently encounter obstacles when conducting human-in-the-loop testing and connecting hardware devices for assessing IoT applications. This inconvenience hinders the development process and demands substantial time commitment for software quality maintenance, thereby diverting attention from core programming tasks. This research endeavors to design and implement an emulator named FirmataSpy based on Firmata, a widely-used serial-port communication protocol, for bridging application software and IoT devices. Serving as a Test Double for IoT devices, FirmataSpy facilitates developers in testing and validating IoT devices seamlessly. What sets FirmataSpy apart from other Test Double approaches is its language independence. It emulates the hardware and interacts with software at the protocol level, thereby broadening its adaptability.