ANT Forum

Hi,

I am planning on developing a tiny device with a set of sensors to capture data needed which are from interest for skydiving and wingsuiting.
As GARMIN has now released the new Action Cam VIRB XE with ANT+ capabilities (connecting to ANT+ devices and capture data in .fit file add. to the video), I thought it would be a great idea to add ANT+ ability to my device.
Here are some questions...

Is it possible to connect "any" ANT+ device to the GARMIN VIRB XE or does GARMIN use a private network key?
I wasn't able to find any information/documentation to it.

In which ANT+ Device Profile would a "skydiving sensor" fall?
The device will save and transmit data for:
- barometric pressure / altitude above ground
- accelerometer (g force)
- compass
- 3 axis gyroscope
- temperature

Any info and/or thought are appreciated.
Thanks      

Oli Vers - 08 July 2015 09:25 PM

Hi,

I am planning on developing a tiny device with a set of sensors to capture data needed which are from interest for skydiving and wingsuiting.
As GARMIN has now released the new Action Cam VIRB XE with ANT+ capabilities (connecting to ANT+ devices and capture data in .fit file add. to the video), I thought it would be a great idea to add ANT+ ability to my device.
Here are some questions...

Is it possible to connect "any" ANT+ device to the GARMIN VIRB XE or does GARMIN use a private network key?
I wasn't able to find any information/documentation to it.

In which ANT+ Device Profile would a "skydiving sensor" fall?
The device will save and transmit data for:
- barometric pressure / altitude above ground
- accelerometer (g force)
- compass
- 3 axis gyroscope
- temperature

Any info and/or thought are appreciated.
Thanks

Hi Oli Vers,
you should ask Garmin your 1st question, as it refers to Garmin product features. However, I wouldn't be overly optimistic that Garmin support will promptly answer this to your satisfaction.
Re your "device profile" question: as you've just invented this, there's no single device profile that covers all these parameters. Some should be covered by "Environment", speed (and hence acceleration as 1st derivative of speed) is covered in e.g. "Bicycle Speed and Cadence". To my best knowledge no device profile covers parameters that refer to direction or gyration.

Cheers,
OMB      

I would like to know the answer to the above two questions as well. In addition, I would like to know how new device profiles are created in general? The details about this are sort of vague. I'm sure as with any standard/specification, there is a governing body, but since the Ant+ Alliance is owned by Dynastream Innovatinos, which was then acquired by Garmin, i'm guessing Garmin can do anything they spankin' want with these Device Profiles.

Like the OP, I am also wanting to create a new device for ANT+. I made a (non-Ant/Ant+) prototype of a paddle (i.e. DragonBoat and Outrigger Canoe) that measures stroke force (strain gauge) and orientation in 3D space (9-axis accelerometer/magnetometer/gyro) and can't find a device profile to fit this. I was using a 2.4GHz wireless transmission medium (802.15.4 - foundation for Zigbee) to transmit data to a laptop, but am very intrigued by the Virb XE and its ability to capture and synchronize a number of different data sources from GPS, and other sensors and be able to overlay it onto the video captured by the Virb. So now, I am thinking about moving the paddle over to use Ant+ so that it can seamlessly integrate with the Virb XE. The ability of Ant+ to do star-network configurations is intriguing in that all 20 paddles on the boat can be instrumented and tracked. My only concern is range (i.e. Dragonboat length is 40 ft and i'm not sure I can get that kind of range with Ant+).

Garmin is short of details on what is needed to create make sure new Ant+ devices play nicely with their equipment, and in fact all they do is point you to this site.

Anyone create a new device for Ant+ who knows the answer to this? Want someone in the know to respond.      

You need to be an ANT+ Alliance member in order to participate in profile development etc.

There are basic details on the ANT+ membership page https://www.thisisant.com/business/go-ant/levels-and-benefits/ along with an email address for more information.