Archive for category Arduino

Video distribution in the classroom

We have a computer room in our local university, ind it’s quite bussy. The main problem it became (this is another story) too long to be usable and there was a strong demand for the screencast view right on the student’s workplace. Yes we do use beamers, but the view was too small to dead the text on the screen.

And so the project was born. There is single seat where the view originates and multiple locations where it should be visible. The system must be easily expandable and upgradeable, no vendor lock-ins. All the points in the systems should be easily adjustable and replaceable.

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LCM-WM002

LCM-WM002 is a 16×2 LCD display, coming from a “refurbished” equipment. To be true, the equipment was a HP 5000 / 5100 laser printer, and the LCD has a bezel and a PCB with buttons attached, named ESU19516, part number RG5-5438. Read the rest of this entry »

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Current token in Arduino’s ArduinoSerialCommand

Ever played with ArduinoSerialCommand? Nice library, but it lacks the possibility to retrieve current command. This possibility is waiting in the pull request for a long time, so if you deadly need it – merge it by yourself.

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Meet the fMRI Parrot

fMRI Parrot

Camera
LG-D405n
Focal Length
3.2mm
Aperture
f/2.4
Exposure
1/20s
ISO
600

What the heck is “fMRI Parrot”?

First of all, the heck is fMRI. fMRI stands for “Functional Magnetic Resonace Imaging”, as defined in Wikipedia. It involves tons of expensive hardware, like Magnetic Resonance machine, and software, used to reconstruct the scanned volumes. During fMRI scanning a series of stimulus are applied to the patient and the brain is scanned using fast scanning MRI techniques. The aim of fMRI is to record immediate changes happening in particular areas of the brain.

The single MRI scan is called “volume”. It is created from a series of slices of the predefined thickness. Having more slices creates more detailed volume and extends acquisition time. As the changes of the brain activity are momentary, a short volume acquisition interval, named TR or “Time Repetition” is needed. Usually it varies from 7 to 1.5 seconds, depending on the capabilities of the MR machine. Short TR time supposes lower quality scans, compared to the “traditional” MR scanning. So the level of detail of particular volume is a trade off between time and specific requirements.

The fMRI scans consists from a number of volumes, recorded at particular intervals. The key condition for a successful scan is the precise timing. In order to find a region with elevated activity, a stimulus must be started just when the volume acquisition begins. For this the MRI machine may expose a short pulse – start of a volume. The pulse may be brought to the MRI control room via the interface box and the required stimulus started automatically. Some stimulus require the patient to respond, eg. press the predefined button. The response from the patient is also brought to the MRI control room. As there are special requirements for any hardware at the MRI machine, only certified equipment is allowed to the MR room. The requirement at the MRI control room are more relaxed as well as the choice of the equipment There are different vendors of the interface boxes and response buttons, NordicNeuroLab (NNL) being one of them.

In order to create the simulation series, or paradigmas in fMRI terminology, a lot of time is needed. Each paradigma is to be verified before the clinical test, while some of them can not be tested without a signal form the MRI scanner or a response from the patient. There is no need to say the MRI equipment is expensive, so is the time spent in the MRI machine. Most of the MRI scanner interface boxed can be used in so called “simulation” mode, sending particular responses at the predefined moments, without actually running the scanner. For example the Sync Box from NordicNeuroLab will send “S” symbol at the start of the volume acquisition, while fORP from Cambridge Reserch Systems is to send “5”. So what is actually required to test a paradigma, is the response from the scan… WAIT!

It’s must not be the MRI scanner nor the interface box.

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