ANT Forum

Hello,
I have Favero Assioma Duo power meter pedals on my bike (Assioma Power Meter), my vision is to build a lightweight microcontroller based device which will convert instant power to 3sec average and use that to drive an RGB display based on defined power ranges in my indoor training room.
I am a total novice in this space but committed to learn the tools i need to implement the solution I am looking for. I would appreciate some guidance please on a high level E2E architecture so I can avoid some rabbit holes if possible.
I have installed Simulant and AntWare2 (on my pc) and configured a receiving channel such that I can connect to the pedals and receive initial power data on pages 10, 12 & 13 from the ANT+ Power Only Profile, I have not yet created a sample log file of actual power messages (need to bring my trainer near my PC) but will do so once I have validated the rest of the architecture I will need. I believe the only data I am going to need from the stream once established will be 4E power messages on page 10 so I’ll be looking to write code that reads only those lines.

Requirements:
Hardware:
ANT USBM – I have two already.
Microcontroller – There's a bewildering array of SOC modules so I am not sure how to determine what meets my needs, I think a a starter kit would help me so I believe it requires a receiver for ANT channel management (USBm), serial interface for data streaming, onboard compute for whatever code is required to manage data conversion and GPIOs for RGB matrix connection, any guidance on suitable options? (D52DK2 - D52 ANT SoC Module Series Starter Kit?)

Display matrix – I would like to drive either an RGB LED strip and mount it under my trainer or just a couple of daisy chained RGB display matrices, power requirements for either might be somewhat different but if I go for a display matrix how can I validate the right display matrix for a starter kit if I get one? Can I confirm that the board will support a Hub75 connection?

Software:
Planning to use Antware2 to capture inbound data to create a log file then leverage Simulant to build an app.
The gap I am working on is how I then implement the app in a runtime environment on the MCU, I can’t find anything that directly explains how this can be achieved (even for a different use case like HR) so I assume I need to use Simulant as my IDE along with code written in something like Perl or Python and then commit that code to the MCU. The question is “how?”. This probably belies my current maturity in this space but think of me as an empty mind eager to be filled with Kool-Aid!

All help, direction, guidance (and maybe some mocking of my sheer n00bness) gratefully received.
     

nRF52 is currently the recommended SOC solution. The 52832 is a good general purpose solution. Depending on what display features you want the 52840 may offer better peripherals.

D52DK2 and modules are a good option if you are looking to build a more compact unit, but will require a lot more work to interface to a display.

https://www.nordicsemi.com/Software-and-tools/Development-Kits/nRF52-DK is a good alternative if you are just looking to do a basement project. It makes accessing pins simpler than D52DK2, and is compatible with Arduino shields which may solve your display issue quite simply. https://www.nordicsemi.com/Software-and-tools/Development-Kits/nRF52840-DK is similar for the 52840.

With the Nordic dev kits you may need to buy an ANT USB stick separately. Primary use case is to test with SimulANT+ instead of your pedals.

The Nordic SDK includes the ant_bpwr/bpwr_rx example that will get the ANT part of you project up and running quickly.      

If you are doing an embedded project you won't be able to use SimulANT+ as a starting point. SimulANT+ ships with a profile lib dll that can be used to build software(https://www.thisisant.com/resources/ant-an-using-the-simulant-library-for-simulating-ant-devices-in-c/), but is limited to the .NET framework. This means it is meant for computers and not small embedded projects.