ANT Wireless Networks

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What is the difference between ANT and ANT+?

ANT is a purpose-built ultra-low-power wireless networking protocol operating at 2.4GHz. ANT+ is an implementation of ANT and is an ecosystem of interoperable products built on device profiles.

What is a device profile?

An ANT+ device profile is a specification that defines how ANT network nodes should connect and share or transfer activity or application-specific data between one another. By building products on the device profiles, the ANT+ product ecosystem maintains internal interoperability that is easier to sell and to buy.

Is it Bluetooth?

Although ANT and Bluetooth Smart share many characteristics (including range and power consumption, and both run at 2.4GHz), ANT is its own protocol. ANT offers more flexible network topologies, and you can get chips and modules that are capable of running both ANT and Bluetooth Smart.

Is ANT just for sports applications?

No, ANT is generally applicable and is suited for many residential, commercial and industrial sensing and control applications outside of sport and fitness. ANT’s topology flexibility allows it to adapt to many different use cases. ANT+ is an ecosystem predominantly for sport and fitness applications that is built and runs on ANT.

How do I get started?

There are many resources to help you get started with using ANT and ANT+.

• Visit the ANT Wireless website to access documentation, development tools and reference designs.
• Participate in the ANT developer forums to get your questions answered.
• Sign up as an ANT+ adopter to access the ANT+ device profile specifications, and get access to ANT+ specific development tools.
• Join the ANT+ Alliance as a member to get discounts on product certification, or to join technical working groups collaborating on evolving the ANT+ device profile portfolio.

Is there a list of products that support ANT+?

The ANT Wireless website hosts a searchable and filterable product directory that contains more than 600 listings of commercially available ANT+ certified products.

Can ANT+ and ANT devices communicate to the same display?

yes

• ANT+ devices communicate with displays using device profiles. Because of ANT’s unique properties, those devices can communicate with multiple displays at once. Any display that can understand an ANT+ device profile will be able to get that profile’s shared data from devices it is connected to.
• ANT devices can still communicate with displays that use ANT+. The displays require an application that understands how the ANT device in question is trying to communicate.
• Using the Connect IQ developer program opens our product ecosystem to communicating with both ANT and ANT+ devices simultaneously and simply.