This walkthrough demonstrates Synapse concepts using the Synapse Headstage GUI and a SciFi 2. To use this guide, you will need:

• A computer with Synapse Headstage GUI installed
• A SciFi 2 device
• A USB-C cable (optional)

Connect Your Device

The homepage of the Synapse Headstage GUI will display all autodiscovered devices on your network, or you can add a device manually using the + option.

Configure and Start a Signal Chain

Signal chains define how data is processed on a device. This walkthrough uses generated simulated broadband data from the SciFi Virtual Recording Peripheral. If you want to use a physical peripheral, you will need to connect it to your device using a USB-C cable.

1. Add a Broadband Source node in the device editor and select SciFi Virtual Recording Peripheral in the first drop down.
2. Select the ↓ update button to send your signal chain to your device. A signal chain is necessary for data acqusition.
3. Select ▸ start.

Record Data from a Tap

While your device is running, you can listen to the Tap corresponding to the Broadband Source node in your signal chain.

1. Select Taps, then the Broadband Source node to see a livestream of your data.
2. To save the stream in the Synapse HDF5 format, select Record, choose a location and file name, and begin recording. Select Record again when you are ready to stop.

Write to Disk

You can also save data directly to your SciFi.

1. Return to the Editor tab and stop your signal chain.
2. Add a Disk Writer node, and connect it to the output of the Broadband Source node.
3. Update and start your new signal chain on your device and it will now write the broadband data to your device's onboard storage.

Access Files

You can transfer files from your SciFi to your computer using a wireless or wired connection, but we recommend a wired connection for fastest transfer times.

1. Connect your computer to the left-most port on your SciFi using a USB-C cable.
2. Open the Files tab in the GUI.
3. Enter your SciFi's Disk Writer password, you can find it on your device under Settings > Device Info > DiskWriter Pass.
4. Select your recording, and download it to your computer.

Filter Data

You can configure your SciFi to filter data using a Spectral Filter node.

1. Return to the Editor tab and stop your signal chain.
2. Add a Spectral Filter node and another Disk Writer node and connect them in series to the Broadband Source node.
3. Adjust the filter parameters and give your second Disk Writer node a unique file name.
4. Update and start your new signal chain on your device and it will now write unfiltered and filtered broadband data to your device's onboard storage simultaneously.

Synapse Clients

This guide used the Synapse Headstage GUI, a desktop client for discovering, configuring, and operating devices visually. The same workflows are available from synapsectl, the command-line client, and from the Synapse Python client for scripting and automation.

Deploy a Synapse App

Synapse Apps are custom applications that run directly on your device as a node in your signal chain. You can control Synapse Apps in the Synapse Headstage GUI, but you will need to use the Synapse Python client to set them up.

To use the Synapse Example App, you'll first need to:

• Install and run Docker
• Configure SSH access to GitHub
• Clone the repository through SSH.

git clone git@github.com:sciencecorp/synapse-example-app.git
cd synapse-example-app
git submodule init
git submodule update

After it is cloned:

1. Build a Debian .deb package by following the Synapse App SDK.
2. Open the Apps tab in the Synapse Headstage GUI, select Deploy App, and choose the .deb package you want to deploy to your SciFi.
3. Return to the Editor tab, add an Application node to your signal chain, and select synapse-example-app in the node's dropdown.
4. Update and start your new signal chain on your device.

Open the Taps tab to observe the Taps published by the running app. Select joystick_out to view the joystick values produced by the example app. Select app_logs to inspect the app's runtime logs.