How to setup BCI software

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Galileo

Galileo is the software used by our electroencephalograph.

Presets

This section contains a description of the presets saved in the Galileo software on the laptop you find in the laboratory. For more information on the connectors of the Be Light electroencephalograph please see Electroencephalographs#Connectors.

P300

Used for P300 and ErrP recordings. There are 4 EEG channels, 1 EOG, 2 external signals in DC; sampling frequency is 512 Hz.

Channels and connectors
EOG: EOG, input "A"; the "+" input for the electrode above the eye, the "-" input for the one below
Fz: Fz, input 7
Cz: Cz, input 12
Pz: Pz, input 17
Oz: Oz, input 20 (labeled as "O1" on the amplifier)
Sync: phototransistor for stimulus synchronization; positive lead (red) in input 22, negative lead (black) in input NEP
Button: button, used for target signaling; positive lead in input 23, negative lead in input NEP. If it's not used, please short the input 23 with NEP.

BCI2000 and Galileo

BCI2000 is a general-purpose software system for BCI research developed by the Wadsworth Center of the New York.
In our project BCI2000 is used for:

  • data storage,
  • stimulus presentation,
  • on-line feedback applications.

Since our EEG amplifier is not directly supported by BCI2000, data acquisition is performed instead by Galileo, the software provided with the EEG amplifier.
Galileo and BCI2000 communicate by means of two components:

  • AirBat: a custom plugin for Galileo that sends the acquired data to GalileoSource through a pipe,
  • GalileoSource: the data source module seen by the other modules of BCI2000.

BCI2000 implements a client-server architecture. When the server (operat) is launched, it starts waiting for all the others modules to connect:

  • the data source (in our case it is GalileoSource);
  • the filter;
  • the application.

When all these components are ready it is possible to start modifying the configuration parameters and finally run the application.
Please note that GalileoSource is ready only when the connection with the AirBat plugin is correctly established.

Thus, the correct order in which the components should be launched is the following:

  1. start operat;
  2. start GalileoSource;
  3. start the filter component;
  4. start the application component;
  5. from Galileo start a new data acquisition with the AirBat plugin.

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