Tech Bulletin
Tech Bulletin
Jul 24, 2014
The ANT protocol has been designed with flexibility in mind, supporting a variety of network topologies by offering several "building blocks" that can be mixed and matched as desired.
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May 13, 2014
European engineers and developers are increasing their ANT skillset this May. The Nordic Tech Tour is being supported by one of the senior engineers from the ANT Applications Team, Alejandra Cano Tinoco, as she and a team of Nordic FAE/R&D personnel present a series of live workshops in key cities across Europe. The tour is designed to showcase the capabilities of the N5 module and nRF51 SoC; and includes an in-depth discussion of the flexibility of ANT. A hands-on demonstration will show how to create extended topologies from individual ANT building blocks.
John Leonard, from Nordic Semiconductor describes the value of the sessions:
"This will be a genuine and unique opportunity for developers to meet some of the world's most experienced and knowledgeable ULP wireless specialists and kickstart their next ANT+ or Bluetooth Smart product development within a single day. The day’s event will include an application walkthrough showing how to bridge the flexibility and extensibility of ANT networks to Bluetooth Smart Ready mobile devices.”
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Apr 28, 2014
Products can use ANT-File Share interoperably and independently of the type of data they gather.
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Mar 03, 2014
As per the press releases from last week, ANT is now in Samsung phones, Sony phones, and MediaTek’s new combo connectivity chip. So what does this add up to for developers and how many phones can ANT/ANT+ apps now work with?
Today, the answer is that around 60 million phones have native ANT support. For comparison, approx 1 billion smartphones shipped last year globally, of which approx 80% run Android. (See below for info on connecting to phones without native ANT support.)
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Jan 09, 2014
We have received several questions about manufacturer IDs: what they are used for, who needs one, and how to get hold of one. So, here’s everything you need to know...
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Dec 24, 2013
Season's Greetings, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays! It's been quite a year here at ANT+ and it wouldn't be possible without you!
Read More Sep 30, 2013
If you work with ANT+ products, then you work with ANT+ Device Profiles on some level. By definition, every ANT+ product implements at least one ANT+ Device Profile; making it interoperable with other ANT+ products that implement the same ANT+ Device Profile.
Read More Jul 12, 2013
The network key is one of the channel configuration parameters that must be set correctly for devices to communicate. It is used to identify which network the device will operate on, and for ANT devices the radio will not hear transmissions occurring on other networks. The newest ANT devices can store up to 8 network keys at a time (older ANT devices can typically store up to 3) as network numbers 0 - 7 (or 0 - 2). Each ANT channel is then configured to use a specific network number.
Read More May 28, 2013
We have recently updated the ANT-FS Embedded Client Reference Design to address an incorrect definition for the default transmit power value. Previously this value was set to -20dBm even though the associated comment indicated that it was 0dBm. This could have resulted in poor RF performance and shorter than expected transmission distance between the ANT-FS Client and Host. The default transmit power has since been updated to 0dBm.
If you have been using this reference design as a basis for an ANT-FS Client, please review the changes and verify that your application implements the proper behaviour. For any questions or concerns regarding this issue please contact [email protected].
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Apr 19, 2013
The ANT office is usually a peaceful place to the human ear, but there is no question that it is a busy wireless environment. So when we work with ANT+ devices, the pairing techniques employed by the product designers are either massively helpful - or drive us insane. Allow me to illustrate: imagine a bike computer has arrived to be certified, and our cert engineer needs to put it through a series of tests to check that it can receive and display the ANT+ data correctly.
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Mar 08, 2013
Sunday, April 7 | 9am-6pm | Droidcon Berlin
The ANT Challenge is an excellent opportunity to create new and dynamic applications with cutting-edge technology and use cases using the latest release of the ANT Android API.
Great development opportunity. Great prizes - cash, products and media exposure!
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Mar 01, 2013
Heard about the Selfloops accessory on the ANT Forum? Now the developer version is available! Selfloops ANT+ Accessory will bring ANT+ capability to over 400 million active Android smartphones for real-time display of sport, fitness and health data from ANT+ sensors.
Read More Feb 01, 2013
So you probably already know the basic concept of ANT connections: an ANT master transmits at regular intervals (e.g. 4Hz) and an ANT slave can then search for the master. Once the slave has found the master, it can switch it's radio on and off at the right times to be able to receive the master's transmissions. The slave can also send messages back to the master.
Read More Dec 21, 2012
The new nRF51422 SoC (System on a Chip) and ANTUSB-m include several enhancements to the ANT protocol stack. These include:
Advanced Burst is a method to allow transfers to have properties not supported by standard ANT messaging. These properties can include:
Advanced Burst will not be enabled by default. Sub features (maximum packet size, frequency hopping, etc.) can be enabled/disabled separately. Advanced Burst is intended to facilitate and improve the ability of devices to transfer information. ANT-FS use cases would be the primary concern, with an emphasis on longer file transfers. Advanced Burst will improve the efficiency of transferring a file over ANT-FS by increasing the transfer speed and providing FH to provide a greater immunity to RF interference. It will also make the transfer less susceptible to failure when faced with a slow throughput from the host.
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Oct 05, 2012
Welcome to the new "This is ANT" website, and to the very first Tech Bulletin!
The ANT+ Applications team will be using this blog to address current topics and themes that we see appearing in the support forums. We will also add posts to introduce you to new software tools or updates. If you would like to give us feedback or discuss these topics then the Forum remains the place to do so.
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