Physical Dimensions

The SciFi 2 headstage measures 78.2 mm top to bottom, 30.6 mm front to back, and 67.2 mm side to side.

Cross sectional diagrams of the SciFi 2 headstage with dimensions called out in mm.

Summary Table

Body	Dimensions	78.2 x 30.6 x 67.2 mm
Body	Dimensions	3.08 × 1.20 × 2.65 in
Display	Display technology	AMOLED
	Resolution	1080 x 1200
	Brightness	400 nits (typ)
	Contrast	10,000:1 (min)
	Diagonal	74.9 mm (2.95 in)
Wireless Connectivity	WLAN	802.11 ax 160 MHz (5 GHz only)
	Max PHY rate	2.4 Gbps *
	Iperf: Max up-link TCP	1500 Mbps *
	Iperf: Max down-link TCP	500 Mbps *
Probe Connectivity	Physical interface	USB-C
	USB Spec	USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
	Compatible probes	Science Axon Probes or any probe with a standard Omnetics or Cereport connector using a Science Axon probe adapter
Battery	Battery capacity	5000 mAh
	Battery life	15+ hours standby; 4+ hours under typical usage with moderate compute load
	Safety features	Undervoltage, overcurrent, JEITA battery charging
Storage	Storage capacity	1TB + 128GB
Platform	OS	Linux Ubuntu
GPIO	Input forward voltage (I = 10 mA)	1.1V min / 1.27V typ / 1.4V max
GPIO	Connector	Single CONMMCX002

* Ideal conditions: minimal RF noise and interference and local WiFi router with minimal traffic.

Interfaces

Interface	Description
Up/Down	Navigate between options on the AMOLED screen.
Power/Select	Holding the power button serves to turn on and off the device, with short presses serving as a select key.
USB-C ports	Three USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports. Port 3 (closest to the GPIO) is the only port that supports USB data transfer to a host computer.
GPIO	Accepts a 0–5V digital input (1.4V threshold) via a single MMCX connector.

Diagram of the SciFi 2 headstage labeled with the power/select button on one side and the up/down buttons on the other

Hardware Requirements

In order to make use of SciFi 2, you will require the following:

USB-C data cable (5 Gbps minimum).
A WiFi network capable of WiFi 5 (802.11ac) or later. For best performance, use WiFi 6 (802.11ax 160MHz).
A PC running the synapsectl tool or Synapse Headstage GUI application.
Science Axon Probes or any probe with a standard Omnetics or Cereport connector using a Science Axon probe adapter.

Synapse Device Details

Peripheral IDs

Peripheral IDs bind physical or virtual peripherals to nodes such as Broadband Source and Optical Stimulation. SciFi 2 assigns hardware peripheral IDs according to the USB port:

100–199 (1xx) identify peripherals connected to the left USB port.
200–299 (2xx) identify peripherals connected to the middle USB port.
300–399 (3xx) identify peripherals connected to the right USB port.
1000 and above identify virtual peripherals.
2–99 are reserved for commands that select a peripheral dynamically.

The only currently defined command ID is 2. It selects the lowest-ID peripheral that can provide a broadband source.

Settings

Setting	Type and values	Default	Behavior
`name`	String, 1–255 characters	`scifi`	Sets the user-facing device name, persists it to the boot configuration, and updates device discovery.
`time_source`	Enum: `TIME_SOURCE_STEADY_CLOCK` or `TIME_SOURCE_SAMPLE_COUNTER`	`TIME_SOURCE_SAMPLE_COUNTER`	Selects how recording peripherals timestamp samples. The steady clock uses a monotonic device clock; the sample counter derives timestamps from sequence number and sample rate.
`fpga_clock_freq_hz`	Integer: `40000000`, `80000000`, or `160000000`	`80000000`	Sets the FPGA clock used by supported recording and stimulation peripherals.
`per_network_mac_address`	Boolean	`true`	When enabled, WiFi uses a different stable MAC address for each network. When disabled, it uses the fixed hardware MAC. A change takes effect on the next WiFi reconnect.

Reserved Folders

Folder	Purpose
`/models`	Stores user-deployed machine learning models that Synapse Apps can use.
`/data`	Stores files created by Disk Writer nodes.
`/sdcard`	Provides access to the filesystem on the SD card installed in the device.

Storage Devices

Storage Device	Location
Disk	The built-in disk storage on the device.
SD Card	The SD card installed in the device.

Access Files over USB

Connect a host computer to the left-most USB port on the SciFi 2. Open a web browser on the computer and navigate to http://10.123.45.1 to access the device filesystem.

Product Details