Anybody has successful experience with EGI NA300 & AmpServer

Obtaining data from various hardware devices
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iPsych
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2017 11:02 pm

Anybody has successful experience with EGI NA300 & AmpServer

Post by iPsych »

Hello,
I am using the newest (5.2 to 5.4) version of NetStation software with Old NA300 Amplifier.
I am quite confused since,
-EGI entirely dropped support for NA300 last year, so they can't sell any SDK license for NA300 anymore.
-It's quite confusing if certain old version of OpenVibe (or BCI2000) succeed to let NA300 to send the raw EEG data to another machine.
-Also, it's not clear what file I should get from any other NA300 users or somewhere else (should I install something using dmg/pkg file? or just need to 'activate' some function of Net Station Acquisition?)

Any help with experience will be sincerely appreciated.

KJEatLRI
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2022 8:10 pm

Re: Anybody has successful experience with EGI NA300 & AmpServer

Post by KJEatLRI »

Hello,

This appears to be the last post having anything to do with an EGI system. EGI is now Magstim-EGI. Our lab is considering purchasing a 64 channel EEG system for some new neurofeedback research, and have narrowed down to ANT, BrainProducts, and MS-EGI. Our programmer would prefer to use OpenViBE, but MS-EGI is not currently actively supporting OpenViBE, though it plans to in the "near future". I understand that some labs used the Net Amps 300 successfully with OpenViBE back in 2017 and earlier, and that the EGI-OpenViBE driver was never updated for Net Amps 400, which is the only model MS-EGI provides now.
I am personally favoring the MS-EGI system and have been communicating with MS-EGI support about testing and possibly modifying the existing EGI-OpenViBE driver to work with the NA400. MS-EGI will allow me to come to their site and do this testing, but I need to get a copy of the driver and hopefully its source code. There seem to be two paths to take to accommodate the NA400:

1. modify the settings of the existing driver
2. modify the source code of the existing driver

So I first need the existing driver, and second its source code. Anyone know how I can obtain these?
-Jeff Eriksen
Legacy Research Institute
Portland, OR

Thomas
Posts: 210
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2020 3:38 pm

Re: Anybody has successful experience with EGI NA300 & AmpServer

Post by Thomas »

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for you message and motivation to contribute to OpenViBE.

You can find the OpenViBE code on Inria's gitlab.

This links to the main repository which then links to submodules. You can find instructions on OpenViBE website on how to pull everything and how to compile the software.

The submodule that contains the code you are interested in is "extras". The driver code is located in: extras/applications/platform/acquisition-server/src/drivers/egi-ampserver.

Note that the UI file for the driver configuration is located in extras/applications/platform/acquisition-server/share, and you will need to install Glade in order to update it.

When you have the driver ready, I will be happy to integrate it into the code base.
Unfortunately the Inria gitlab does not allow external accounts at the moment. You can simply email me an archive of the code.

Don't hesitate to get in touch, I'll be happy to answer questions and assist you.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

All the best,
Thomas

KJeffrey
Posts: 74
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2022 6:47 pm

Re: Anybody has successful experience with EGI NA300 & AmpServer

Post by KJeffrey »

Hi Thomas,

I really appreciate your quick response. I will download everything you mentioned and try to get our programmer to look at it with me. I am by no means a coder at this point myself - my last experience with C was 20 years ago and I never learned C++, C#, Java, or anything that came afterwards (Glade?). I limp along with Matlab for my data analysis now. So, I will definitely have more questions shortly.

I did install OpenViBE on my laptop and was able to select the EGI driver and look at its settings, but they are currently pretty meaningless to me at this point.

Thanks,
-Jeff

KJEatLRI
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2022 8:10 pm

Re: Anybody has successful experience with EGI NA300 & AmpServer

Post by KJEatLRI »

Hello Thomas,

Our programmer has looked over the driver code and is not knowledgeable and capable enough with C++ to be able to modify it at this time. According to EGI support, the modifications needed are minor going from NA300 to NA400, possibly involving only a packet definition change. I know that the BCI2000 people were able to make this modification so that BCI2000 can support the latest version of the NA400 with its current injection option for transient DC neurostimulation.

Q: If I could find out the details of this modification from the BCI2000 people (or otherwise), would someone in the OpenViBE community (like the person who wrote the NA300 OpenViBE driver) be able to make the changes and send to me for testing? I might be willing to pay them for their time.

Thanks for considering this,
-Jeff

KJeffrey
Posts: 74
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2022 6:47 pm

Re: Anybody has successful experience with EGI NA300 & AmpServer

Post by KJeffrey »

Hi Thomas,

Please review my previous post (Nov 21).

-Jeff

Thomas
Posts: 210
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2020 3:38 pm

Re: Anybody has successful experience with EGI NA300 & AmpServer

Post by Thomas »

Hi Jeff,

Sorry for the late reply, it's been a bit busy lately.

I've never looked at the BCI2000 code and cannot tell how easy it will be to find the info there. I am adding this to my todo list.

In the meantime, the call is here for the community, and if you have any more info, feel free to share.

Cheers,
Thomas

KJEatLRI
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2022 8:10 pm

Re: Anybody has successful experience with EGI NA300 & AmpServer

Post by KJEatLRI »

Hi Thomas,

I understand busy. I do not expect you to look at the BCI2000 code - I will work with BCI2000 people on that.

I am looking for someone who could modify the last known EGI-OpenViBE driver. The best person for that would be the person/people who wrote the one for the Net Amps 300. Do you know who that is? Someone with INRIA?

Have a Scintillating Solstice and Happy Holidays!

-Jeff

KJEatLRI
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2022 8:10 pm

Re: Anybody has successful experience with EGI NA300 & AmpServer

Post by KJEatLRI »

Hi Thomas,

From my last message Dec 20:

I am looking for someone who could modify the last known EGI-OpenViBE driver. The best person for that would be the person/people who wrote the one for the Net Amps 300. Do you know who that is? Someone with INRIA?

-Jeff

Thomas
Posts: 210
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2020 3:38 pm

Re: Anybody has successful experience with EGI NA300 & AmpServer

Post by Thomas »

Hi Jeff,

Unfortunately there is no author mentionned in the files, and the git history points at someone who imported the files to gitlab 9 years ago.
That person is not at Inria anymore, and I don't think he would remember much of that code anyways.

There is roughly 500 lines of code so it shouldn't be too tricky. If you could give me pointers on the BCI2000 code, I could probably look into it.

Cheers,
Thomas

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