Power consumption for ANT in background scanning mode

[ola]

Hi,

I would like to build a mesh network with ANT so I tested the ANT scan and Forward example for nRF52832.

And the current consumption is around 5mA, is this current normal?

Since continuous 5mA is way too high for low power applications, is there any way to turn off ANT for all device and turn it back on to save power with a timer? Or any examples to configure the scan channel to lower the current consumption?

I tried to adjust the channel Period to 1Hz and current consumption is not changing.

Thanks for your help!

[Kenneth]

Hi, 

And the current consumption is around 5mA, is this current normal?

Yes. Receive mode is typically a high current consumption mode, especially this is a challenge in mesh networks, where nodes typically must stay in receive at all times to forward data.

Since continuous 5mA is way too high for low power applications, is there any way to turn off ANT for all device and turn it back on to save power with a timer? Or any examples to configure the scan channel to lower the current consumption?

The application can open and close scanning as it see fit. For instance using an app_timer.

Typically however you create ANT channels between two nodes, so they will maintain data communication at a given interval, then the current consumption is much lower:
https://www.thisisant.com/developer/components/developer 

Br, Kenneth

[ola]

Thanks for the reply, I tried to use the app_timer to control the scan channel and seems it working fine. Thanks again for the reply！