Alkhoury Ludvik, Scanavini Giacomo, Swissler Petras, Shah Sudhin A, Gupta Disha, Jeremy Hill N
Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10065, USA.
Mechanical Engineering Department, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA.
HardwareX. 2024 Dec 24;21:e00619. doi: 10.1016/j.ohx.2024.e00619. eCollection 2025 Mar.
In neuroscience, accurately correlating brain activity with stimuli and other events requires precise synchronization between neural data and event timing. To achieve this, purpose-built synchronization devices are often used to detect events. This paper introduces SyncGenie, a programmable synchronization device designed for a range of uses in neuroscience research-primarily as a "trigger box" to align neurophysiological data with physical stimulus events, among other possibilities. It can support both hardware-triggered and software-triggered pulse synchronization and can even serve as a cost-effective digitizer for real-time analysis of analog signals. We provide the complete circuit-board designs, 3D models, and Arduino code necessary to build and use SyncGenie. The board is designed for easy manufacturing and assembly, with components that can be seamlessly soldered. It includes a range of connector types required for common applications, such as 3.5 mm TRS, D-sub25, BNC, and JST-XH. Additionally, SyncGenie features a user-friendly interface that allows for experiment-specific adjustments without requiring coding expertise. Its programmability, supported by our public-domain Arduino library, provides the flexibility to adapt SyncGenie to diverse experimental protocols. Overall, SyncGenie offers enhanced functionality at a lower cost relative to commercially available trigger boxes.
在神经科学领域，要准确地将大脑活动与刺激及其他事件关联起来，就需要神经数据与事件时间精确同步。为实现这一点，通常会使用专门构建的同步设备来检测事件。本文介绍了SyncGenie，这是一种可编程同步设备，专为神经科学研究中的一系列用途而设计——主要用作“触发盒”，以便将神经生理数据与物理刺激事件对齐，还有其他多种用途。它既支持硬件触发的脉冲同步，也支持软件触发的脉冲同步，甚至还能作为一种经济高效的数字化仪用于模拟信号的实时分析。我们提供构建和使用SyncGenie所需的完整电路板设计、3D模型以及Arduino代码。该电路板设计便于制造和组装，其组件可以无缝焊接。它包括常见应用所需的一系列连接器类型，如3.5毫米TRS、D-sub25、BNC和JST-XH。此外SyncGenie具有用户友好的界面，无需编码专业知识就能针对特定实验进行调整。在我们的公共领域Arduino库的支持下，其可编程性提供了将SyncGenie适应各种实验协议的灵活性。总体而言，相对于市售触发盒，SyncGenie以更低的成本提供了增强的功能。
