General Information

Soma is a high-density, real-time open-source hardware and software system for the recording and analysis of multiunit electrophysiology data.
Soma grew out of a desire to have transparent, open, expendable tools for acquisition and analysis of electrophysiological data. The entire architecture was designed for low, deterministic latency, anticipating the next-generation of real time experiments.

Soma Hardware

Soma Software

Applications

Libraries

Assembling a Complete System

These pages contain all the information required to assemble a working system. The order of these pages reflects the flow of data from its source to the computers for storage. Note: Soma Hardware is only officially supported from the acqboards on. Individual labs are responsible for getting their signals to the acqboards.

From Electrods to Soma (any beyond)

Data is aquired by electrodes which are connected to a pre-amplifier. The signal is then carried from the pre-amplifier to a patchbox by finewire. The patchbox connects to the acqboard with 20-pin IDC which then connect to the Soma Backplane via fiber optic cables. The Soma Backplane then dumps the acquired data onto the network.

Two different types computers are used in the system: Acquisition and Visualization computers. You will need to purchase at least one acquisition computer and multiple visualization computers depending on your needs.

Once you have your computers and a gigabit switch follow these instructions to configure the Local Area Network

Developer Pages

Misc Pages