ANT Forum

I have been looking through the forum and site in detail and I can find no mention of motorsport applications - lots on bicycles and running and gyms, even sailing and kayaking

I have not tried anything yet just downloaded and skimmed the docs trying to work out a plan of action. We're selling a waterproof camera kit that includes GPS, G-Force, Video, Sound etc and have added hear rate ANT+, but get requests for ANT+ sensors for brake pedal, accelerator pedal, track magnetic pick-up (tracks have up to 6 or 8 (sometimes more) magnetic strips per track for lap and sector timing ) as well as degree of steering lock . It seems that ANT+ cameras are mostly limited up to 4 ANT+ sensor channel paths at present .... but it looks like there is not currently any support or interest in the motor-racing field.

I was wondering if anyone knew why as it seems a really apt application. Is there a problem with ANT+ in the electronically noisy world of motorsport - or are they just too slow in data transmission?


     

Hi motoevita!

Thanks for the question. We probably don't have a complete ANT+ solution for you yet, as we don't have a lot of history with motorsport. Having said that the ANT+ Device Profiles for MSM, HR, and ENV (Temperature), could be useful to you.

We don't have the data rate to stream video or sound (at best it would be right on the limit) but ANT+ is good for controlling video / audio / generic devices - so it really depends what you need.

You can also use ANT in proprietary ways (so long as you avoid the ANT+ network key and frequency - 2457MHz). You can choose faster channel periods, and if needed you could turn on frequency agility (in most ANT applications it's fine to stay on one frequency, but this feature allows the channel to switch frequency if it is experiencing too much interference).

ANT was initially developed to enable a running footpod to communicate with a sports watch wirelessly, as there was nothing else in the market that could do that and give a decent battery life. So ANT's major strength is being ultra low power (a coin cell battery in a running watch will last for years) and the focus on running and similar sports using the PAN has naturally continued. The development focus now includes personal health monitoring applications - still using the PAN but sending different data.

How much data do you need to transfer and how fast? Where would the sensor and receiver be positioned? The range can be controlled by the antenna design and the transmit power - and can be increased substantially from the usual range we use for PAN networks. I'm curious which ANT+ cameras are you referring to? Most ANT chips have 8 channels so 4 shouldn't have to be the limit.

It would be good to know more details about your case, then it's a case of matching these up to the ANT Message Protocol and Usage doc to see how to meet those requirements. If you want the sensors to be ANT+ (not just ANT) so they can be interoperable with various manufacturers / developers then we'll need to discuss ANT+ membership with you and see whether that would be appropriate.

Hope that's helpful,

Kat


     

> We probably don't have a complete ANT+ solution for you yet, as we don't have a lot of history
> with motorsport.
Hopefully we can help you change this.

> Having said that the ANT+ Device Profiles for MSM, HR, and ENV (Temperature), could be useful to you.
Already using the HR and currently looking at a speed (wheel) sensor.

We are also using goBandit cameras and these have ANT+ capability - they are equipped with GPS and G-Force accelerometers already - so we're looking at a number of addons:
1) Magnetic Lap pickup - there are up to 12 magnetic sensors in a race track and these give sector speeds and lap speed. (Karting uses 3 or 4 typically).
2) Brake Pedal usage - pressure for cars and linear travel for karts- pedals work as for cars, but karts have different structure and are usually cable based - or cable and hydraulics - so the easiest way is to measure amount of braking by linear travel of the brake cable (even if we have to encase it to do so);
3) Accelerator Pedal - cable again
4) Wheel Speed sensor - more accurate than GPS
5) Temperature
6) Engine Revs
7) Steering Input - We're developing some advanced kart steering wheels (and Car ones too) and we'd like to build-in ANT+ devices to show the amount of steering - both amount of steering and smoothness are critical factors in motor-racing
With the available skins etc, we should be able to display all of these on the video.

We wouldn't be streaming video or sound as the ANT+ camera device is going to record the data from the ANT+ devices.

>> How much data do you need to transfer and how fast?
I am assuming all data would be transmitted into the car/camera in the car.
Total distance is therefore 6 feet
(There would also be other sensors from other vehicles within that range, but I assume there would be no noise/interference.)

Sensor would be on engine, pedals, steering wheel, front wheels and floor of car. Would not need to transmit far (6 feet)

> I'm curious which ANT+ cameras are you referring to? Most ANT chips have 8 channels so 4 shouldn't
> have to be the limit.
ok - camera is GoBandit Live (http://gobandit.com/live)

I am happy to give you details of our systems by e-mail - we can post summaries here but certain proposals are sensitive at the moment.

Nick
at Formulastars
dotcom

Hope that's helpful,

Nick