Many of todays fitness trackers are using a low power wireless protocol called ANT+. ANT+ was designed to allow open-access between heart rate monitors, displays, power sensors and much more. Here is a list of 661 fitness products that use ANT+. The trouble with ANT+ is that almost all smart phones, laptops and single-board computers do not have any ANT+ hardware in them. This means if we want to pull heart rate data from a Garmin watch that is broadcasting it we are left with four options:
Use an existing ANT+ compatible device (ANT+ watches, bike computers, heads-up displays)
USB ANT stick – This will allow single board computers and laptops access speak ANT+.
Roll your own embedded solution using an ANT+ chip and link it with a Bluetooth / BLE device.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, or even use Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for MakeCode, CircuitPython, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell with Google Hangouts On-Air is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
