ANT+ Overview & Troubleshooting

How to configure and troubleshoot ANT+ sensors for heart rate, power, and muscle oxygenation data in Velogic Studio.

If you have a ANT+ USB device plugged into your computer, Velogic Studio can use it to communicate with ANT+ sensors close to your computer.

What does ANT+ support look like in Velogic Studio?

Step 1 of Velogic Studio is the configuration step. There's a section to help you configure ANT+. If you have an ANT+ device already plugged into your computer, you'll see this:

ANT+ configuration section in Step 1 showing device detection interface

... and after a few seconds, you'll see which sensors it found. If it didn't find any sensors, you'll see this:

ANT+ interface showing no sensors found message with RESCAN button

If you do have sensors, but they're not found, check that they are turned on and press RESCAN.

When sensors are found, they'll look like this:

ANT+ sensors detected showing heart rate, power, and muscle oxygenation options

You may see all of these, some, or none, depending on which sensors are actually found by the scan.

If there is more than one sensor of each type, you can select which sensor to connect to - they don't have meaningful names, but you can select each one and find the one that is giving data that matches what you would expect:

ANT+ sensor selection interface with multiple devices of same type available

If you don't want to see data from one of the sensors, you can tell Velogic Studio to ignore it by turning off the checkbox (slider) next to that sensor.

In step 2, ANT+ data will be shown live, and will automatically be captured for each capture period, so you can compare along with all of the other data:

Step 2 live ANT+ data display showing real-time sensor values during capture

The values from the first and last capture are also automatically included in the report:

ANT+ sensor data automatically included in fit report with first and last capture values

Note: The values in the report above aren't sensible values - they were created with a simulation tool for documentation purposes.

ANT+ FAQ

Q. Which dongle should I use?

Velogic Studio interfaces with your ANT+ sensors via a small USB adaptor (also known as a "dongle"). There are many of these on the market now, we have purchased several brands and unbranded versions and haven't yet met one that didn't work. You can search for ANT+ USB dongles on Amazon - they're inexpensive so you might as well buy a spare or two at the same time.

Q. Can I connect with Bluetooth instead of ANT+?

A. Yes! Velogic Studio now supports Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) sensors for heart rate, power, and cadence. See the Bluetooth Overview for details on configuring Bluetooth devices. You can use ANT+ and Bluetooth sensors simultaneously if needed.

Each protocol has its advantages:

• ANT+ - A single USB dongle can connect to multiple sensors; supports muscle oxygenation sensors

• Bluetooth - Built into most modern computers (no dongle required); simpler setup

Q. Can I control my trainer's resistance with Velogic Studio?

A. Not currently. This is called "FE-C" and there are more and more trainers which support control via this protocol. The list of trainers that support FE-C is available here - if you have a compatible device, and you would like to be able to control it from Velogic Studio, please get in touch.

Troubleshooting ANT+ support

Check that your ANT+ USB device is visible in Device Manager

You should see an entry like this in Device Manager:

Device Manager showing properly installed ANT USB-m Stick under USB controllers

If you can't see that entry (or a similar one), try replugging into a different USB port.

If you see the "ANT USB-m Stick" entry under "Other devices", like this:

Device Manager showing ANT USB-m Stick under Other devices requiring driver installation

... then you can follow this guide to install the drivers manually.

If you can't see any entries in Device manager related to your ANT+ USB device, you might consider purchasing a different device.

Check that Velogic Studio can see your ANT+ device

If you can see your device in Device Manager, but Velogic Studio shows this message:

Velogic Studio error message indicating ANT+ USB device cannot be utilized

... then Velogic Studio is unable to utilise your USB ANT+ device. Please contact us to help you troubleshoot further; email [email protected] with a screenshot of your USB device's name in Device Manager.

Check that Velogic Studio can connect to your ANT+ sensors

If you have a heart rate sensor, power sensor, or muscle oxygenation sensor that is powered on but is not detected by Velogic Studio, please first check that your device is actually a compatible ANT+ device.

The list of compatible devices is available from the ANT+ website:

• Compatible power sensors

• Compatible heart rate sensors

• Compatible muscle oxygen sensors

We don't own every single device on those lists obviously - we test with representative devices and simulation software provided by ANT+.

If your device is compatible but is not being detected by Velogic Studio, please contact us for support; [email protected]