CTG Helped a Security Products Manufacturer Boost Performance with Quality Assurance

A global remote gate access control manufacturer based in the United States sought to enhance customer satisfaction by streamlining visitor-property owner connectivity. With multiple products and complex systems involved, a customized quality and assurance approach was required to make connectivity much more reliable and efficient.

Portals/Systems Involved

The process of allowing authorized visitors and restricting access to others at the same time requires three major systems/portals to work in synergy.

• Admin Portal – Used by client-side administrators for end-user account creation, management, access control, and activity tracking.

• End-User Portal – Used by property owners to customize call groups, set access roles, and manage gate devices via RFID, access cards, and more.

• Mobile Applications – Used by Dealers for device provisioning and Property Owners for granting visitor access via video calls.

All the portals and mobile applications communicate and manage gate control devices based on RFID, keypad entry, cameras, and gate controllers that operate on 4G/5G, LoRaWAN, and the like.

The Challenge and Opportunity

The application was evolving rapidly, adding new features and enhancements while supporting device upgrades. The client had to manually test various gate devices for each release. Due to complex functionalities and flows, functional verification across device types was time-consuming. Devices connected to multiple networks and cloud providers via various protocols. These networks, configured in high availability mode, required testing.

The portal’s performance and infrastructure had to be evaluated with numerous connected devices and a vast user database. Different device types connected to the server using various protocols and IP addressing schemes across multiple networks. Firmware upgrades were labor-intensive, time-consuming, and had to be done during off-peak hours.

The Solution and Results

CTG's team devised a strategy to test the complete system using several techniques to avoid any functional flaws that may cost the client a great deal of money and reputation. 

Functional Testing 

The device's static IP and mobile user's network are registered on the SIP server. When a visitor uses the device to call the property owner, the device connects to the SIP server, identifies the specific group created by the property owner, and calls (voice/video) the group members over the mobile network. CTG's team replicated the real-time environment and set up a lab with client devices to ensure accuracy of existing devices, new devices, and changes to the portal/infrastructure during every firmware upgrade. This quality assurance approach ensured zero data loss and a smooth system transition without deterring the system's performance.

Post Migration Testing

The client used two web portals to perform their work. One portal ran on SoftLayer cloud (the old portal), and another on Microsoft Azure (the new portal). They wanted a single maintenance portal with high scalability and availability for all accounts and devices. The transition between portals was challenging, and the user and admin portals had to be thoroughly checked following migration to verify that all functionalities worked adequately.

The QA team performed end-to-end functional testing to ensure seamless functioning, including:

• Call Functionality – Connectivity, trigger speed, correct call group identification, and relay activation upon acceptance.

• Access Control – Multi-channel relay testing, correct/incorrect code validation, RFID card access/denial.

• Video & Image Processing – Video call enablement and visitor photo capture.

• System Integration – Server connectivity, admin portal access from mobile/user portals, and protocol adherence.

High Availability Testing/Packet Analysis

The team implemented high-availability solutions by configuring primary and secondary IPSEC VPN tunnels between Azure and various carrier networks. Each tunnel was tested by intentionally failing one to evaluate inbound and outbound traffic and ensure high availability. Ping tests were triggered to the gateway and specific endpoints to verify tunnel functionality by receiving data packet information. Monitoring scripts for each tunnel were thoroughly examined to confirm they started automatically in case of failure, ensuring system resiliency. Voice, video, and data packets over the tunnel were tested in real-time to maintain application quality. Additionally, network traces were captured and analyzed between the VPN server and endpoint devices for debugging.

Access Control Testing Using Wiegand

Wiegand technology, used in card readers and sensors, is a wired communication interface between a reader and a controller. Each user receives an RFID code for gate access. The client's application accepts both local and non-local codes. Local codes are stored in devices to authenticate users, while non-local codes are stored on the server side to authenticate users via APIs. Valid/invalid code scenarios were thoroughly examined and tested to ensure card authentication against its users.

LoRaWAN Gateways And Nodes Testing

The LoRaWAN network architecture comprises two major components: gateways and nodes. In this case, the end nodes represent the devices, and the gateway must appropriately gather or concentrate data from many end nodes. Functionality testing using LoRaWAN devices comprised the following:

• Configuring and mapping multiple gateways to a single node and multiple nodes to a single gateway and ensuring communication with the proper gateways and nodes.

• Sending specific commands from the application portal to the node and ensuring that it is received in the required format.

• Validating the data on the node terminal and execution.

• Sending commands from the node to the application server and ensuring the correct data and actions are performed.

• Traffic packet analysis at the gateway console to ensure incoming/outgoing packets.

Test Automation and Performance Testing

We used JMeter to automate all APIs to ensure backend verification and introduced bots to upgrade the firmwares automatically. The bots helped with scheduling devices during non-peak hours with no impact on customers, reducing manual labor as well as peak-hour upgrade pressure. Load test was also performed on app services and applications to ensure the system worked seamlessly.

SIP Manager API

When a visitor triggers action at the gate, a background video call is initiated to reach the enlisted groups and connect to the intended users. The SIP manager app service receives multiple concurrent API requests. Testing ensures that API responds in a span of milliseconds to avoid delay in communication. This was accomplished effectively by creating JMeter scripts to record response time. SIPp is a free Open-Source test tool/traffic generator for the SIP protocol that simulates register and call invites between the user agent and the application server. 

The SIP register flow, in this case, is from the mobile app to the application server. Call-invite scripts prompted simultaneous calls from the SIP proxy server to mobile app users to receive the call invite, answer, transfer a few RTP packets, and disconnect. 

Dashboard Monitoring

CTG created a single dashboard to monitor all Azure resources, gate devices, and network types. JMeter scripts were created, and success/failure scenarios were simulated to ensure the dashboard monitoring worked as planned. It was checked that the respective alerts were triggered during the failure scenarios to ensure the correct functioning of the system. Other functionalities such as the number of heartbeat requests, RFID codes, and so on were also tested as a part of dashboard testing.

CTG’s comprehensive quality assurance strategy enabled the client to streamline testing, improve system reliability, and accelerate feature deployment. By implementing automation, real-time network analysis, and high-availability testing, the team ensured faster release cycles with seamless validation of functionalities. Automated firmware upgrades and performance testing allowed for quick and efficient rollouts, reducing manual effort and minimizing downtime. As a result, the client successfully delivered new features within short timeframes while enhancing the overall user experience with a more stable, responsive, and secure gate access control system.