Box Contents

Inside your package, you should find one of each of the following:

SciFi
Axon Omnetics Adapter
AC charger
USB-C SuperSpeed cable
Router

Schematic diagram of box contents

Connecting components

The SciFi headstage connects to Axon probes directly or to any neural probe with up to 2 male Omnetics 36 pin connectors (Omnetics A79024-001 or A79026-001) via the Axon Omnetics Adapter. The included router will be used to connect the SciFi to your network.

A omnetics connector is shown conencted to an Axon Omnetics Adapter via pin mounting, the adapter is shown connected to a SciFi via USB-C cable, and the SciFi is shown connected to Nexus or the Synapse CLI via WiFi 6.

Installing Software

If you do not already have it, install pip in your Linux, Mac, or Powershell terminal.

Support is primarily for Mac and Linux computers, though windows will work. We recommended using a virtual environment. Please note that WSL is not currently supported.

Install synapse-python client with pip:

pip install science-synapse

You can run the help command to view a description of the available synapsectl commands.

synapsectl --help

If you are running on Linux, you will need to update the UDP buffer size:

To update the buffer size immediately:

% sudo sysctl -w net.core.rmem_max=10485760 # 10 MB
% sudo sysctl -w net.core.wmem_max=10485760 # 10 MB

Or make a persistent change by adding the following file:

% sudo touch /etc/sysctl.d/50-udp-buffersize.conf
# And add these lines:
net.core.rmem_max=10485760
net.core.wmem_max=10485760

then reboot for the changes to take effect.

On MacOS:

To update the buffer size immediately:

sudo sysctl -w kern.ipc.maxsockbuf=10485760

or add the following to /etc/sysctl.conf:

kern.ipc.maxsockbuf=10485760

Hardware Setup

Data acquired using SciFi can either be recorded locally to on-board device storage, or streamed to your local computer using a dedicated WiFi network. SciFi ships with a WiFi 6 router for this purpose. This WiFi network should be used exclusively for streaming ScFi data and free from other network traffic. This ensures a high-bandwidth connection to SciFi.

You can charge your SciFi with the provided USB-C cable or connect it to Axon devices such as Axon-1N-1P probes, Cereport adapters, or Omnetics adapters.

Router setup

Your SciFi will come preconfigured to connect to the included router.

Plug the router in near your computer and SciFi device. We recommend placing the router at least 3 meters away from your experimental setup to minimize interference. We also recommend rotating the outer antennas on the router into the horizontal position.
Connect your computer to the router WiFi network (the SSID and password are printed on the router).

Note: A wired Gigabit Ethernet connection from the router to the local computer is recommended, but not required. If the computer is not equipped with Ethernet, you can use a USB to Ethernet adapter rated for Gigabit data transfer or a wireless connection to the network.

Headstage setup

Power on the SciFi headstage by holding down the power button on the right side of the device for 3 seconds. An LED indicator will appear while it is initializing.
After the devices powers on, the device status, the battery percentage, and the on-board data storage can be seen at the top of the home screen. Tabs showing device configuration, peripheral connections, and data tranfer status are listed below. Navigate between tabs using the Up and Down buttons. Open a tab using the Select button.
If you are setting up a new device, navigate to the Configure Network button in the Network tab.
Select WiFi Setup from the list of options and then select Start Wifi Config to begin configuring the device.
A QR code will appear on the device along with a network SSID. Scan the QR code on your mobile device, which will connect you to the SciFi’s access point.
1. After it is connected, a popup browser will appear on your mobile device.
2. Use the dropdown menu to select the wifi network displayed on the sticker of the provided router, and connect using the indicated password.
3. This setup can also be done on a PC. Select Show Instructions below the QR code to reveal the instructions for performing setup manually.
Return to the SciFi home screen, and navigate to the Network tab to find the device IP address.
On your PC, connect to the same network as your SciFi.
Run the below command using the terminal command line interface (CLI) to ensure your SciFi is recognized on the network, replace $DEVICE_IP with the IP address listed in the Network view.
```
synapsectl info $DEVICE_IP
```

The CLI will print information about the device name, serial number, firmware version, status, and any connected peripherals.

name: "twelve-ducklings-stampede"
serial: "SFI-A0001"
firmware_version: 4619714
status {
state: kStopped
sockets {
  node_id: 1
  bind: "224.0.2.115:17441"
  data_type: kBroadband
  type: kStreamOut
}
power {
  battery_level_percent: 100
}
}

peripherals {
name: "SciFi Virtual Recording Peripheral"
vendor: "Science Corporation"
peripheral_id: 100
}

Now, connect the Omnetics Axon Adapter or Cereport Axon Adapter to the SciFi using the provided USB-C cable.
After the probe has powered on, it will appear in the Peripherals tab on your device. Run the info command again to print the peripheral information to CLI.
```
peripherals {
  name: "Nixel512"
  vendor: "Science Corporation"
  peripheral_id: 2
}
```
Your SciFi is ready for use!