ANT Forum

I am investigating the option to extract location information from hounds being tracked with a Garmin Astro 430 unit. From what I can tell the USB GPS out is only the location of the 430 handheld and not any dogs / collars being tracked. If I understand from information on this and Garmin's website the Ant+ Tracker profile should be able to provide all hound / collar location information as radioed to the Astro 320.

I see from the https://www.thisisant.com/forum/viewthread/6536/ thread that the tracker profile specifications are not yet open but that I should be able to inspect with the observant tool set to determine formatting and datatypes.

My questions is there a simple way to intercept the Ant+ broadcast of the Tracker Profile or will I need to implement a two way handshake with the full API. Our goal is to overlay the hounds positions (along with other items being tracked) on a custom ESRI app for Public Safety Search and Rescue needs in real time. I realize that I would have to have a dedicated Astro 430 within range of Ant+ on 2.4 and I expect I would use the USB dongles plugged into a rugged tablet running Windows 10.

Would this be an allowed use of the API / SDK? Any information that could help get me started would be greatly appreciated.      

Hi CKJordan,

Thanks for getting in touch with us.

The easiest way to understand the information being transmitted by the Astro 320 over ANT would be to read the ANT+ Asset Tracker Device Profile. It is currently it is restricted to Members-Only, but membership is fairly easy to obtain: https://www.thisisant.com/business/go-ant/levels-and-benefits/. With membership, you'll get access to the device profile, simulation tools (to more easily test your tool), as well a discounts on the certification process your product will need to go through to officially claim ANT+ Asset Tracker compatibility.

To answer your question, using ObservANT to try to determine the profile specification is not an allowed use of the technology, albeit your ESRI app would definitely be an allowed an encouraged use-case for the ANT+ Asset Tracker Device Profile.