ANT Forum

Hello All!

I am new to the ANT community and have a few basic questions regarding ANT development kit that comes with AP2 and AT3 modules. I greatly appreciate pointers in terms of software development and tools necessary.

My goal is to scan all wireless ANT channels using AT3/AP2 modules for transmissions from different ANT/ANT+ devices. I do not intend to decode the data but just scan and make note of the active broadcasts/transmissions and if found, blink the LEDs on ANT IOboard. What is the easiest way to achieve this? I want the AT3 module to do this without any intervention from PC through USB. Do I need any C# programming?

Please let me know.


Thank you!
Srinivas      

Also, I see that AT3 module has a MSP430 variant ANT MCU. Is the only way to program AT3 module through scripts? How does the power-up and boot sequence happen? Using non-volatile memory?

Thank you!      

2nd Question:

You can only access the MCU on the AT3 module through an NVM script upload. This can be achieved using SensRware and an AT3 module on an ANT USB board. The MCU on the AT3 is locked from being reprogrammed.

1st Question:

The configuration you have described cannot be achieved using the AT3 modules and SensRware. SensRware scripts allow you to set the output pins based on the contents of your message, so unless you will be aware of the contents of the received messages beforehand, you cannot make the LEDs flash consistently.

You will need an external MCU interfaced with an ANT module to achieve the functionality you described. This will probably require C programming.

To be able to receive data from all transmitting ANT devices (need to be on the same frequency and network key) you will need to open a background scanning channel. If battery consumption is not a concern you may also use continuous scanning mode for better performance.


Please read through the following documents for more information:

Application Note 6 - SensRcore Mode:
http://www.thisisant.com/resources/an06-sensrcore-mode/

SensRware:
http://www.thisisant.com/resources/sensrware/

Interfacing ANT Chips with external MCUs:
http://www.thisisant.com/resources/interfacing-with-ant-general-purpose-chipsets-and-modules/

Background Scanning Channel:
http://www.thisisant.com/resources/an11-ant-channel-search-and-background-scanning-channel/





     

Thank you very much for the lucid reply.

I intend to use LEDs just as an event indicator, the event being the presence of an ANT device. So the exact message is not required and a preset pattern would do. I hope such a scheme is possible based on your explanation.