Live-Streaming Usability Testing Solution for Mobile Apps

Client

A US-based R&D company in the tech sector

Industry

Technology

Services

Technology Consulting, Product Development

Tech

C/C++, Jetson Nano, CMake, GStreamer, inotify, CUDA, Boost

Challenge

A US-based company performing user research in the tech sector wanted to build a live-streaming usability testing solution to transform the way this testing is done for location-based AR games like Pokemon Go and other mobile products. Their idea was to empower testing teams with a tool capable of live-streaming multiple data from users so that the testers could see and hear first-hand what users experience while interacting with a product in the real world. To make their idea a reality, they, however, needed a reliable tech partner in software development services. They found one, ITRex.

Our task was to:

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Scope the usability testing solution for mobile AR apps that would capture versatile data streams from test participants for testers using Jetson Nano Developer Kits

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Research the best-fit technologies to ensure successful implementation

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Set up the development infrastructure and manage configurations in DevOps

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Design and build the architecture

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Design and build streaming usability testing applications to connect Jetson to test participants’ devices

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Prepare test documentation and run end-to-end testing

Solution

A mobile app usability testing solution consisting of custom applications on Jetson, connected external cameras equipped with a microphone, and custom streaming software installed on test participants’ mobile devices. The solution provides a real-time first-hand understanding of how users behave in the real world, and of their mobile experiences while playing a location-based AR game or interacting with another mobile product. It does so by simultaneously live-streaming their phone display, angle and voice, as well as sending positional data, device statistics, and other data streams to the testing team. Its key components are:

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A software package installed on test participants’ wearable iOS or Android devices to live-stream their device display and capture statistics, including CPU/GPU usage, temperature, and GPS data on the user’s location

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An application on Jetson to connect to the mobile device. It fetches configuration data to create live audio and video streams, and is also responsible for encoding and saving copies of the data streams as a backup

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A separate configuration application on Jetson that acts as a supervisor of the above application and keeps separate logs so that they can be recoverable if a stream crashes. It also creates configuration files for the above application to adjust the streaming parameters

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Implementation of a pipeline for a smooth integration of all input data streams into one modeled stream

usability testing solution for mobile AR apps

Impact

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The mobile app usability testing solution built by ITRex saves months of work to prepare and run usability tests to understand how users engage with a mobile product on the go

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By providing real-time observation of mobile experiences in the real world, it delivers deep insights into the user experience across the product's lifecycle

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This way the system helps deliver products that fit seamlessly into users’ on-the-go life