ANT Forum

Hello, I'm new to ANT+ development so I just wanted to present an overview of my project / approach, and hopefully the more experienced folks here can help tell me if I'm on the right track or have any other approaches I should consider.

End goal:
Multiple (around 5) ANT+ heartbeat sensors to be simultaneously streamed into 1 central server, where the ANT+ signal is converted into a format to be processed into real-time visualizations by installation software TouchDesigner. (which can easily consume OSC, UDP, or MIDI protocols)

Current status:
I have one ANT-compatible heartbeat sensor by COOSPO https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R8741CN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I also have 2 USB-ANT sticks by the same company
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CB4328P/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I was able to connect the sensor to my computer within SimulANT+ using a "Heart Rate Display" Device Profile (I think it works, it seems to match my heart rate while wearing the sensor although the repeated use of the word "simulator" within the UI makes me doubt myself a bit)

Potential solution 1:
Setup a python script within SimulANT+ (importing a library like https://pypi.org/project/python-osc/) to convert the sensor signals into OSC to the broadcast to a local port.

Potential solution 2:
use a python library like this one https://github.com/Tigge/openant to create a data stream with InfluxDB which I can then use a similar conversion to OSC (without using SimulANT+)

Conclusion
With the context that the solution needs to be able to scale to multiple sensors simultaneously, do one of these solutions sound more feasible / preferable than the other? Is there another simpler solution I may be overlooking?

Any help appreciated!      

tiwonku - 22 June 2023 10:07 AM

Hello, I'm new to ANT+ development so I just wanted to present an overview of my project / approach, and hopefully the more experienced folks here can help tell me if I'm on the right track or have any other approaches I should consider.

End goal:
Multiple (around 5) ANT+ heartbeat sensors to be simultaneously streamed into 1 central server, where the ANT+ signal is converted into a format to be processed into real-time visualizations by installation software TouchDesigner. (which can easily consume OSC, UDP, or MIDI protocols)

Current status:
I have one ANT-compatible heartbeat sensor by COOSPO https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R8741CN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 uno online
I also have 2 USB-ANT sticks by the same company
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CB4328P/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I was able to connect the sensor to my computer within SimulANT+ using a "Heart Rate Display" Device Profile (I think it works, it seems to match my heart rate while wearing the sensor although the repeated use of the word "simulator" within the UI makes me doubt myself a bit)

Potential solution 1:
Setup a python script within SimulANT+ (importing a library like https://pypi.org/project/python-osc/) to convert the sensor signals into OSC to the broadcast to a local port.

Potential solution 2:
use a python library like this one https://github.com/Tigge/openant to create a data stream with InfluxDB which I can then use a similar conversion to OSC (without using SimulANT+)

Conclusion
With the context that the solution needs to be able to scale to multiple sensors simultaneously, do one of these solutions sound more feasible / preferable than the other? Is there another simpler solution I may be overlooking?

Any help appreciated!

Thanks for th info      

SimulAnt+ is just for testing purposes, it doesn't sound right to use it on your software.

You should implement an Ant+ connector and you will eventually be able to open a maximum of 8 channels for your sensors.

HeartRate is probably the simplest sensor to set up. I haven't tried with python but in ANT-SDK_PC.3.5 there is a simple Ant+ Heart rate monitor sample.

In a nutshell, you will receive data frames representing the instantaneous heart rate data of your devices, that you can send wherever you want. Ant+ will run on its own thread.