OpenExplorer User Guide

OpenExplorer is a data visualization and analysis package that harnesses the power of the TTank data server, giving you the tools you need to make sense of complex data sets.

Before You Begin

Requirements

TDT Drivers and either the OpenEx or Synapse Suite must be installed before installing OpenExplorer.

The recommended operating systems for all TDT systems are Windows 7 and 10.

Organization of the Manual

This manual is organized in the following sections:

• Overview
• Tutorial - Exploring Data
• Auto Tuner Example
• Workspace Basics
• Selecting Data
• Creating Plots
• Dynamic Filtering and Analysis
• Animating Plots
• Exporting Data and Graphics
• Plot Settings Reference
• Anomalies and Tech Notes

Overview

Unparalleled in processing power and flexibility, Tucker-Davis Technologies' System 3 is a user-configurable research platform. An almost endless variety of configurations include: stimulus waveform generation and presentation; multi-channel neurophysiology, EEG, and evoked potential recording; and button press, manipulandum, and eye tracker acquisition. Using a single time base for all stimulation and acquisition tasks, our unique TTank data server stores divergent data types into a synchronized, indexed, DataTank format. The TTank data server is the driving force behind our powerful OpenEx and Synapse software suites.

With System 3 hardware and OpenEx or Synapse software, researchers can generate complex data sets that include information about stimulus characteristics and multiple dependent and independent variables. OpenExplorer is the powerful and flexible data visualization and analysis package that harnesses the power of the TTank server, giving you the tools you need to make sense of complex data sets. With OpenExplorer, you'll be able to quickly hone in on important variables and choose subsets of the data for further analysis. You'll be able to explore complex data sets, plotting the data in many different ways to look for correlations and define the plausible interrelationships.

Designed with TDT's philosophy of building research tools with flexibility and user extensibility in mind, OpenExplorer provides an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface for exploring functional relationships in complex data sets. The flexible OpenExplorer format allows a data element to be displayed in a wide variety of plot types. For example, you can switch between spike shape, spike count, Peri-Stimulus Time Histograms (PSTHs), and feature space displays with just a few mouse clicks.

Sophisticated data filtering capabilities allow you to compare subsets of data based on stored stimulus parameters or external events. Multiple subsets can be filtered and simultaneously displayed as individual plots in a flexible display grid format. The grid axes can easily be changed. For example, you can display activity across an electrode array or a PSTH for each unique combination of stimulus parameters. Once the desired display parameters have been selected, the entire plot grid can be animated for dynamic visualization or exported as a publication quality graphical image.

For run-time visualization, OpenExplorer includes an interactive real-time plotting mode that filters and plots data in the desired format as it is acquired. After data is acquired you can use OpenExplorer's onboard quantification tools for further analysis or export the raw data for analysis with your favorite statistical package.

Anomalies and Tech Notes

The latest anomalies and tech notes are always available on the Web at www.tdt.com/technotes/.

Store names that begin with any of the characters listed below will generate an error message, such as "Unable to set cell filter. TTank server Error. Server Call: SetQueryCondition Error:Invalid filter format": -, =, (, ), <, >, !, a space, or any number 0 to 9. When the TTank engine performs filtering of events in the Tank, the above characters will not be parsed correctly, and the store name will not be decoded properly.