EGI Net Amps 300 driver

Making & changing hardware drivers in Acquisition Server
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Lena
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Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2013 3:24 pm

EGI Net Amps 300 driver

Post by Lena »

Hi,

I am trying to connect an EGI device to openvibe, I read that a driver "EGI Net Amps 300 (through AmpServer)" had been developped by the community. However, I cannot find it among the list proposed by the Openvibe acquisition server (even when activating the unstable drivers). Has someone already used it and know where to find?
Moreover, it is said to be unstable, in which situation?

Thank you very much for your help.

Lena
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2013 3:24 pm

Re: EGI Net Amps 300 driver

Post by Lena »

Hello,

I finally found that the "EGI netAmps 300 through Amp Server" driver was present in the 0.15.0 release of OpenVIBE. Does anyone know why it has been removed from the next versions?

Thank you for your answer(s)!

yrenard
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Re: EGI Net Amps 300 driver

Post by yrenard »

Dear Lena,

looking at the 0.16.0 source archive, it turns out that the driver source code is present in the core platform, but is not declared in the ovasCAcquisitionServerGUI.cpp file ; I believe this is a mistake due to the source tree reorganisation. This might hopefully be fixed in 0.17.0, meanwhile, you could rebuild the 0.16.0 from sources after you manually declare the EGI driver in the ovasCAcquisitionServerGUI.cpp file. By the way, in order to use this driver, you will need the AmpServer Pro from EGI with a dongle for realtime raw data access.

Hope this helps,
Best regards,
Yann

jtlindgren
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Location: INRIA Rennes, FRANCE

Re: EGI Net Amps 300 driver

Post by jtlindgren »

It seems that we must have forgotten to check that all the drivers are there that should be there when releasing 0.16.0. Sorry about that.

We'll try to get the driver back for 0.17.0, which is due December.

Nevertheless, thank you for the report. Without it, the driver might have been missing from 0.17.0 as well.


Best,
Jussi

idevecioglu
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jul 10, 2017 9:04 am

Re: EGI Net Amps 300 driver

Post by idevecioglu »

Hi,
Currently, we have an EGI GES300 system in our lab. I try to connect AmpServer with OpenViBE.
I check the Netstation and it says "Amp Server: Connected to "Amp Server Pro SDK" (local)" in the "preferences" dialog.
In the OpenVibe AcqusitionServer, I set the IP of the "AmpServer host name" in the "device config." dialog.
I click connect, and "connection succeed !" is displayed in the command window. Then, I click play and following is the output:

[ INF ] Now acquiring...
[WARNING] After 5000 milliseconds, did not receive anything from the driver - Timed out
[ INF ] Stopping the acquisition.
[ INF ] Disconnecting.

If the Net amp is connected to acquisition computer and NetStation is running, then when I click play, NetStation stops acquisition (Waveform display is frozen).
If the Net amp is not connected but NetStation is running in emulator mode (5 channels: zero, +max, -max, 1 Hz sine and 1 Hz square), then NetStation continues emulating but OpenViBE connection is dropped when I click play.

What could be the issue? I would be grateful for any help.

jtlindgren
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Location: INRIA Rennes, FRANCE

Re: EGI Net Amps 300 driver

Post by jtlindgren »

Hello,

I've successfully used the driver with an EGI system of our collaborators in 2015 and 2016, however the definite spec of the equipment escapes my memory, and even less I remember the versions of the EGI programs involved. What I remember is that the amp was connected to an Apple acquisition computer running the AmpServer. The acquisition computer was connected to a Windows PC which ran OpenViBE. I don't remember any mentions about 'Pro' or 'SDK': the ov driver is not calling an SDK API but instead just sends requests to a port over TCP/IP.

The driver is pretty straightforward, so if you're not stranger to C++ code you could always try to add a few debug prints to it etc to see whats the state of it at different points. Basically it just sends text string commands like "(sendCommand cmd_ListenToAmp 0 -1 -1)" to a Command port of the AmpServer and then continuously reads signal from the Stream port.

By the way, better make sure there's no firewall on either side blocking any sockets it tries to use.


Best,
Jussi

idevecioglu
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jul 10, 2017 9:04 am

Re: EGI Net Amps 300 driver

Post by idevecioglu »

I checked the drivers and tested commands on the Mac to which amp is connected.

I opened a telnet session for local-host in terminal. Using commands I can start or stop the acquisition which I confirm from the "Dense Waveform Display" of the Netstation software. However, when I try to listen to amp ((sendCommand cmd_ListenToAmp 0 -1 -1) as typed in the driver file) telnet returns (status error).

On the other hand, OpenViBE created four .script files which are ...initialize, ...start, ...stop and ...unitilize. In the "initialize" script, there are 5 telnet commands there which ask for number of amps connected to mac, set power off, set power on, get amp details, and set decimated rate 1000. The remaining scripts are empty! Is this OK?

jtlindgren
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Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:53 pm
Location: INRIA Rennes, FRANCE

Re: EGI Net Amps 300 driver

Post by jtlindgren »

If the other commands pass without failure, then I suppose the problem is the server side not accepting the convention that openvibe is using. Perhaps this has changed from the EGI side? If you can figure out from the egi manuals or examples (I dont have them) what command sequence would work instead and let us know, we can try to fix the driver.

About the empty files, I suppose its by design. You'll find four files like 'share/openvibe/applications/acquisition-server/scripts/egi-default-initialize.script'; I think the idea is that you can modify all these files to suit your needs.


Cheers,
Jussi

idevecioglu
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jul 10, 2017 9:04 am

Re: EGI Net Amps 300 driver

Post by idevecioglu »

I contacted to EGI support. Although they did not answer all of my questions, they insist our EGI system does not have The Amp Server Pro SDK. I cannot also confirm this from previous PI of our lab who make the purchase almost 7 years ago. Therefore, I have to decide whether to purchase SDK for $4,100 or purchase a general purpose physiological recording system such as g.tec...

Anyhow, thanks for help.

jtlindgren
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Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:53 pm
Location: INRIA Rennes, FRANCE

Re: EGI Net Amps 300 driver

Post by jtlindgren »

Ouch. Unfortunately the alternatives are not exactly cheap either, so you'll have to balance pros and cons of the different choices. If you consider buying the SDK make sure it gives you what you want (I dont know).

Meanwhile regarding openvibe+egi, if its the case that the server simply doesn't want to provide the data due to license restrictions, there's not much we can do on the OpenViBE side. I'll leave the issue be until there's further information.

Btw, by chance, I'll be going to visit our egi-owning collaborators next week. To get our knowledgebase more complete I'll take notes of their system.


Thanks,
Jussi

idevecioglu
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jul 10, 2017 9:04 am

Re: EGI Net Amps 300 driver

Post by idevecioglu »

jtlindgren wrote:Ouch. Unfortunately the alternatives are not exactly cheap either, so you'll have to balance pros and cons of the different choices. If you consider buying the SDK make sure it gives you what you want (I dont know).
It looks time consuming to get two signals from different amps in synch. On the other hand, the price is an issue... So I try to figure out what to do. :?
jtlindgren wrote: Btw, by chance, I'll be going to visit our egi-owning collaborators next week. To get our knowledgebase more complete I'll take notes of their system.
Waiting for your feedback!

Thanks! :)

jtlindgren
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Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:53 pm
Location: INRIA Rennes, FRANCE

Re: EGI Net Amps 300 driver

Post by jtlindgren »

The system our collaborators use seems to be

Hardware: Net Amps 300
Net Station 4.5.4 (on Mac)
Amp server pro SDK

The role and location of the amp server / sdk is not that clear, it doesnt seem to be installed as a separate component on the mac. The net station simply mentions in some preferences window that its communicating with the net amps 300 through it.

Usually in their workflow they use net station with some profile, and calibrate the amp and fix impedance issues with that. After that, they record with openvibe acquisition server running on a separate pc, providing AS an ip address to the mac. The net station is kept running at the same time.


Cheers,
Jussi

idevecioglu
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jul 10, 2017 9:04 am

Re: EGI Net Amps 300 driver

Post by idevecioglu »

Thanks for quick reply.

I tried to run Amp Server (not Pro SDK - there is no such a file) on terminal, and it notified that Amp Server Pro SDK hasp license is not activated.

In addition, EGI support said hasp license has to be activated in order to connect to the Amp Server Pro SDK.

I guess I will purchase the SDK.

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