Analog2 for 2 photon microscopy?

[amchagas]

Hi everyone!

I can't say I'm a user yet, as I'm still in the phase of figuring out if Analog2 is suitable for a project we want to develop at work, so I have a couple of questions (don't even know if this is the right place to ask them, or if they were asked before... If they were, I would be thankful for a pointer to the right thread!)

I'm a researcher in a lab in Germany and we are trying to develop a new version of the system we use to control our 2 photon microscope. In our current system, we have two NI boards that allow us to record 4 analog signals at 1MHz each, output 3 analog signals at lower rates (20kHz would be fine) and control and record some digital signals. Would be possible to develop a similar application with the analog2 discovery boards (or some other board from Digilent)?

We are also saving all data to a hard drive in the computer and displaying data online, so another question is, is it possible to control the board with custom software?

 

Thanks in advance!

Andre

[zygot]

Your signal requirements certainly seem to be in line with the Analog Discovery capabilities. Digilent has a software SDK for the original Analog DIscovery though I haven't used it. I'd be surprised if there wasn't one for the version 2 device.

Can you do something similar? Sure. Can you do something equivalent to what you have? I don't know. Since you need 3 D/A and 4 A/D channels you will need to control multiple devices. I don't know if multiple enumerations are supported by the SDK or driver. My experience with USB is that the OS and what other applications are running could be a factor. The first thing that I'd determine is if the stock driver and SDK allow for continuous streaming of data in both directions. I suspect that this is not the case. Two channels of 14-bit A/D sampled at 1 Mhz works out to roughly 4 MB/s raw data so this is high enough to maintain decent USB 2,0 data rates. The issue is the small converter sample buffers. I suspect that you are limited to a lot of short data transfers and USB data rates drop dramatically if this is the case. I don't know the answer to this. I suspect that it's a problem. Some USB controller devices are better at streaming data than others. Digilent doesn't reveal what USB controller it's using on these devices.I'd want to see a working example that demonstrates continuous data streaming for comparable sampling rates of multiple channels before spending the time finding out on my own.

I realise that I'm not answering your question but perhaps I've been able to frame potential responses that they can be helpful. 

[Bianca]

Hi @amchagas,

Sorry for the delayed answer. It is possible to perform all these with AD2 but only on 2 channels for output and also you can record only two signals.

You can't control the hardware with custom software, but, as Zygot said, the current software offers the possibility of writing custom commands based on existing APIs.

Best regards,

Bianca

[amchagas]

Hi @zygot and @Bianca,

thanks for your replies, they help quite a bit. So if I understand correctly it would be a long shot getting this to work with these many channels and simultaneous input and output. Are there any other platforms from Digilent that would fit these criteria?

 

Best,

Andre

 

[Bianca]

We have the Electronics Exporer which has 4 scope channels but only two channels for AWG. It's more expensive and includes a solderless breadboard and +/-9V variable power supply, when the Discovery would give only 5. I don't know if these features would help you on your project or on the future. You can see the product here: http://store.digilentinc.com/electronics-explorer-all-in-one-usb-oscilloscope-multimeter-workstation/ and the resource center with the reference manual and the full specs, here: https://reference.digilentinc.com/reference/instrumentation/electronics-explorer/start?redirect=1

Bianca

[zygot]

As the saying goes; "The devil is in the details"

It's been my experience that inexpensive stuff can be a deep deep hole absorbing time and effort before you conclude that it just can't get you to where you want to go. Expensive stuff can be the same but isn't so alluring.

The Analog Discovery products are tremendously wonderful and well executed concepts for what they are indented to do. I just don't have any knowledge or even the confidence to suggest that they are appropriate for your needs.