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Purpose of the LED box

The LED box is used as a showpiece for visualizing live MEA/neural data. The current box is a cube of opal acrylic plates containing 240 individually controlled ws2812b RGB-LEDs controlled by an Arduino Mega.

Quick guide for getting started with the LED box

• Learn about NTNU Cyborg: NTNU Cyborg.
• Read the the pages in this wiki.
• Learn Arduino coding and code uploading since we use the Arduino Mega in this project.
• Box folder: student project rapports are found in the LED box Box folder. Note: the Arduino Mega has replaced the ESP8266.
• Cyborg lab access: for access to G114 where the LED box is located, contact the project coordinator.
• Github access: contact the project coordinator.

MEA/neural data visualization

From a recording

• A database is being set up with recordings in .hdf5 format. Some samle recordings can be found in the Recordings Box folder. Use the DataManager MCS Software to export data into ASCII (add .csv to filename) or .hdf5 format.
• The python Pandas library can be used to import and easily manage .csv and .hdf5 files.
• Convert either raw voltage data or spike data into light shows with the LEDs. E.g. since there are 60 electrodes and 240 LEDs, assign 4 LEDs to each electrode value.
• The data can then be loaded through serial from a PC or using an Arduino SD-card shield.
• Optional: the MCS Analyzer software can be used to open and run recordings if one is interested.

By streaming live data from the MEA server

An MEA client must be developed to aquire the live datastream from the MEA server. See MEAclient.