Tech FAQ

There are a couple steps which may be under taken to determine why an ANT USB stick is not working with your phone:

1. Your Android device must be running Android Version 3.1 or higher
2. You must be using an ANT USB2 or USBm stick along with your host cable
3. Install the ANT Radio Service
4. Install the ANT USB Service, you may not be able to if your device does not support the USB Host API
5. Use the USB Host Diagnostics App to determine if you have Android USB Host API support
   1. You have support if the app reports under Android API:
      1. Claims support: Yes
      2. Classes found: Yes
      3. Device detected: Yes
   2. If the device is not detected by the Kernel, you may not have USB Host Hardware support, please check with your manufacturer
   3. If the device is not detected by the API but is detected by the Kernel, your device may not support 3rd party apps, please check with your manufacturer
   4. If the classes are not found, that particular firmware does not support the USB Host API and needs to be updated by the manufacturer (or by an intrepid custom ROM programmer)
   5. If the classes are found, but the device is not claiming support, you may be able to enable support yourself
      1. Add /system/etc/permissions/android.hardware.usb.host.xml with the following contents:
         <permissions>
         <feature name="android.hardware.usb.host"/>
         </permissions>
      2. If you have a tablet, edit /system/etc/permissions/tablet_core_hardware.xml, adding the following content with the other permissions:
         <feature name="android.hardware.usb.host"/>
      3. Please read this thread for more information

You can find out which phones natively support ANT available on the product directory, by selecting "Mobile Phones/Devices" under "Categories". For the most up to date information please contact your device manufacturer.

Background scanning mode is supported from ANT firmware version 1.09B00 and onward for the AOV family of hardware.

Yes, the Android API ANTSetNetworkKey command is supported in the Android ANT SDK. A 128 bit network key is required. If you are a vendor with a private network key, but do not know the 128 bit version, please contact ANT Wireless.

To help preserve battery power, any applications which do not require constant real-time data, can request that events (EVENT_TX, EVENT_RX_FAIL, EVENT_CHANNEL_COLLISION, EVENT_RX (Broadcast Only)) be buffered on the chip for a set time/buffer size before the AntInterface.Intent.ANT_RX_MESSAGE_ACTION intent is triggered for each.

The ANT Android Emulator Bridge tool, which allows you to run ANT capable applications on the Android Emulator (through an ANT USB Stick on a Windows PC) can be found here.

Any ANT USB2 stick or newer (such as the ANTUSB-m) can be used with any Android device (phone or tablet) using a USB OTG cable by installing the ANT Radio Service and ANT USB Service from the Google Play Store if the device supports the Android USB Host Mode API. The USB Host Mode API was introduced with Android 3.1 and higher, please check with your device manufacturer if it is supported.

You can find out which phones natively support ANT available on the product directory, by selecting "Mobile Phones/Devices" under "Categories". For the most up to date information please contact your device manufacturer.

If your device running Andoid is using a multi-mode communication device which supports ANT among other protocols such as WiFi or GPS, you may be able to merge in changes from the ANT Wireless GitHub Repository. If you are using an external device such as a network processor, an Android USB accessory and have any questions, please visit our developer's forums. 

The best way to control the UI of your ANT related dialogs is to use the MultiDeviceSearch class, and handle displaying the results in a dialog of your own making.

You may find the documentation for the class here.