We are excited to announce our latest advancement for researchers: Mentalab’s new high-precision wireless synchronization system Hypersync. This innovative solution empowers researchers to effortlessly align multiple Mentalab Explore devices and implement wireless event marking, achieving sub-millisecond synchronization precision across hours of continuous recording. Moving beyond bulky trigger cables and restrictive setups, more ecologically valid investigations of brain, body, and social dynamics in real-world contexts become possible.
Why wireless high-precision synchronisation matters
Achieving precise, research-grade wireless synchronization presents several complex technical challenges that must be carefully addressed to ensure high temporal fidelity in experimental data. Some challenges include:
- Clock Drift: Wireless devices operate with internal clocks that inevitably diverge over time. Without active correction, this drift can severely compromise temporal alignment across data streams, especially for longer recording periods.
- Network Latency and Jitter: Common wireless communication protocols such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi exhibit variable transmission delays (latency) and unpredictable fluctuations in timing (jitter). These inconsistencies raise challenges for applications requiring sub-millisecond synchronization.
- Multi-Device Coordination: Synchronizing multiple data acquisition and stimulus delivery devices to a single, stable time source is inherently complex in wireless settings and demands careful system-level design.
- Seamless Ecosystem Integration: Any viable solution must integrate smoothly into existing research environments, including compatibility with established standards like the Lab Streaming Layer (LSL) for synchronized data handling and real-time acquisition. This allows for accurate synchronisation with other equipment such as Eye-trackers, SpO2 Sensors, and even cameras and microphones.
These challenges cannot be resolved through basic wireless transmission alone. Instead, they require a purpose-built, robust synchronization framework that is engineered to meet the stringent demands of (neuro)physiological research.
Our Solution: Mobility, Simplicity, Precision
Accurate synchronization of physiological data streams is crucial for understanding dynamic biological processes and their interactions. While traditional wired methods offer precision, they impose significant limitations, particularly in complex experimental setups. Hypersync effectively addresses these challenges, enabling enhanced flexibility and facilitating more comprehensive data analysis. Below, we highlight three key advantages of using our wireless solution:
- Mobility: Conduct Naturalistic Hyperscanning Studies
- Studying real-time brain-to-brain coupling (e.g., inter-brain synchrony) during social interaction requires that participants engage in natural movement and behaviour. Traditional wired setups often hinder this, limiting the authenticity of the interaction.
- Our solution: By wirelessly synchronizing EEG systems across multiple participants (e.g., between parents and children, collaborating teams, therapist-client dyads, performers and audience members), researchers can explore neural correlates of shared attention, empathy, cooperation, and communication without any physical constraints. Capture the dynamics of interaction as they truly happen!
- Simplicity: Capture Comprehensive Multimodal Recordings
- To gain a comprehensive understanding of brain-mind-body interactions, it is desirable to record multiple physiological signals, such as EEG, ECG, EMG, EOG, and EGG, simultaneously. However, managing the cables from multiple amplifiers on a single participant can be complex and uncomfortable, potentially affecting both data quality and participant comfort.
- Our solution: Effortlessly integrate and synchronize data from multiple Mentalab devices on a single individual. For instance, accurately align cortical activity (EEG) with heart rate variability (ECG) to investigate the heart-brain axis during emotional regulation, or correlate brain waves (EEG) with muscle tension (EMG) during motor tasks or stress responses. Additionally, explore complex interactions, such as the brain-gut connection (EEG+EGG), with ultimate ease and precision.
- Precision: Achieve High-Fidelity Wireless Event Marking
- Event-Related Potential (ERP) studies require precise timing between stimulus presentation and the corresponding neural response. Trigger cables, however, can introduce noise, restrict setup flexibility, and increase complexity, potentially compromising the accuracy and efficiency of your experiment.
- Our Solution: Wirelessly set event markers directly from your stimulus presentation computer, ensuring precise timing synchronization between the computer and the Mentalab Explore Pro ExG amplifier. Conduct robust ERP research without the physical limitations of trigger cables, streamlining the setup process and enhancing overall data quality.
Mentalab’s high-precision wireless synchronization system includes a range of advanced features designed to enhance both usability and performance, including:
- Plug & Play Simplicity: Developed with researchers in mind, the system requires minimal setup and configuration. This allows users to concentrate on experimental design and data collection rather than troubleshooting complex hardware configurations.
- Compact & Mobile: The synchronization modules are lightweight and unobtrusive, preserving the portability of the Mentalab Explore system. This enables data acquisition in a wide range of environments, from controlled laboratory settings to naturalistic field studies.
- High Temporal Accuracy: The system ensures sub-millisecond synchronization accuracy between all connected devices and event markers, consistently maintained over extended recording sessions. This level of precision is critical for time-sensitive analyses, such as event-related potentials or cross-modal integration studies.
- Scalability for Multi-Device Setups: The architecture supports the simultaneous synchronization of multiple Mentalab Explore amplifiers, facilitating complex experimental paradigms such as hyperscanning or multimodal data acquisition.
- Lab Streaming Layer (LSL) Compatibility: Mentalab Explore devices support LSL, enabling real-time data acquisition through standard tools such as LabRecorder. This ensures seamless integration into existing analysis pipelines and allows for immediate compatibility with offline processing tools, including EEGLAB, FieldTrip, and MNE-Python.
Ready To Go Wireless?
Mentalab Hypersync system removes critical barriers, empowering you to design experiments previously deemed too complex or technically challenging. Study social interaction in ecological settings, capture comprehensive brain-body dynamics, and achieve cleaner, more reliable ERP data – all with unprecedented wireless freedom and precision.
- Schedule a personalized demo with our team to discuss how Mentalab can help get your research project off the ground.
- Use the contact form to get an in-depth look at Mentalab Hyperync.
