SonicRead

SonicRead is a java program that helps you to read the acoustic data sent by a Polar S410, S510 or a S520 heart rate monitor. SonicRead spits out raw data to a file in hsr format. You can use SportsTracker (version 3.6.1 or higher) to view the hsr data and store it in your sporting activities database.

News

• 2009/01/03 Version 2.0 - Released GUI version of SonicRead
• 2009/08/29 Version 2.1 - More robust SonicLink algorithm

Credits

Thanks to Tomás Oliveira e Silva for his time spent on decoding the Soniclink waveform and the structure of the data. See his website for the original code.

Screenshots

Requirements

Java SE Runtime Environment (JRE) 6 or greater This program should run on any platform supported by Java, but I only tested it on Linux (Ubuntu 8.10). Of course, you will need a microphone to read the acoustic SonicLink data.

Installation

Use to following link to start SonicRead using java webstart:

How to

Follow the below stated steps to extract the data from your Polar heart rate monitor..

• Make sure you are in a quiet environment to prevent glitches in the audio signal.
• Enable the microphone signal in the Volume Control program of your Operating System.
• Press the Start button in SonicRead.
• Hold your watch near the microphone.
• Select "Connect" in the menu of your Polar.
• SonicRead should indicate that it started processing SonicLink data, and will update the progress bar.
• When done, press the Save button and save the hsr file to the location you wish
• Use SportsTracker to view the data.

Troubleshooting

If SonicRead doesn't recognize the signal, check the microphone volume:

The dB meter bar should be around 20-30% full when picking up background noise. If you make noise, like for example snapping your finger, the progress bar indicator should rise to 80-90%, and will possible indicate that the audio signal clipped.

You can play with the distance between your watch and the microphone.

Contact me if you need support.

Remco den Breeje