trgenpy 0.0.5

A Python library used to communicate with TrGen devices.

trgenpy

A Python library for IIT's TriggerBox device 🐍.

• Documentation

Getting started

To install this package use is required Python >= 3.9

pip install trgenpy

Client

The TriggerClient is the object that stores all the information about the socket connection between you and the TriggerBox.
You can instantiate the TriggerClient object like this:

client = TriggerClient() 

Once the client object is created you can connect to Trgen Device...

client.connect()

...or check device availability

isAavailable = client.is_available() # true / false

Single Trigger Send

To send a defaul trigger signal (positive square with a logic state of 20µs) you can use the sendTrigger() function:

client.sendTrigger()

Custom Trigger Send

If you want to send trigger to a custom list inside the pinout you can use the sendCustomTrigger() function:

client.sendCustomTrigger([TriggerPin.NS0,TriggerPin.GPIO0])

Sending Markers

In order to send a marker value to all (Neuroscan,Synamps and GPIO) ports you can use the sendMarker() function:

client.sendMarker(13)

if you want invert the bit order, just flag the LSB argument (Trueby default)

client.sendMarker(13,LSB=False)

if you want to send different markers simultaiously on different ports you can use the arguments:

• markerNS
• markerSA
• markerGPIO

like this:

client.sendMarker(markerNS=8,markerSA=2,markerGPIO=15)

Trigger

The Trigger object defines a single trigger behaviours through its id. This is the list of supported trigger_id values for the TriggerBox:

Trigger ID List

• Neuroscan IDs The Neuroscan pinout (only for used pins) goes from 0 to 7
  • [NS0,NS1,NS2,NS3,NS4,NS5,NS6,NS7]
• Synamps IDs The Neuroscan pinout (only for used pins) goes from 0 to 7
  • [SA0,SA1,SA2,SA3,SA4,SA5,SA6,SA7]
• TMSI/O IDs
  • TMSO
  • TMSI
• GPIO IDs The GPIO pinout goes from 0 to 7
  • [GPIO0,GPIO01,GPIO02,GPIO03,GPIO04,GPIO05,GPIO06,GPIO07]

You can instantiate the Trigger object with:

neuroScan = TriggerClient.create_trigger(TriggerPin.NS3)

passing ad only argument the constant from TriggerPin

Now you're ready to define the instruction set for Trigger with the set_instruction() function. Each trigger has a memory property, a list that can contain 32 instructions, so this function is defined:

def set_instruction(self, index, instruction):
# index: 0-32 value
# instruction: instruction_code

Each instruction code can be encoded using the Instruction Helpers

# call the function directly on the same Trigger object
neuroScan.set_instruction(0, active_for_us(5))
neuroScan.set_instruction(1, unactive_for_us(3))
# ...

Instruction Helpers

The supported instruction set for Trgen is:

Instruction	1° Param	2° Param	Description
unactive_for_us(us)	µ seconds duration		Set the unactivation time for µ seconds
active_for_us(us)	µ seconds duration		Set the activation time for µ seconds
wait_pe(tr)	Trigger ID		Wait the positive edge for a specific Trigger ID
wait_ne(tr)	Trigger ID		Wait the negative edge for a specific Trigger ID
repeat(addr,time)	Instruction address	Time of repeat	Set the activation time for µ seconds
end()			End the behaviour
not_admissible()			Empty instruction, it has to be placed after the end()

NOTE

Each Trigger can support a list of N instructions, where N = 2^MTML (Max Trigger Memory Length)

You can access to the mtml value by

# Add this in try block to manage errors
try:
    impl = client.get_implementation()
    mtml = impml.mtml
except InvalidAckError as e:
    print(f"⚠️ ACK sbagliato: {e}")
except AckFormatError as e:
    print(f"⚠️ ACK malformato: {e}")
except TimeoutError as e:
    print(f"⏱️ Timeout: {e}")

Native Commands

IIT's TriggerBox can receive some commands, the full instruction set includes:

• Program Trigger
• Start Trigger
• Set GPIO I/O Direction
• Request Implementation parameters
• Request Trgen Status
• Set the Trigger level
• Get GPIO I/O Direction
• Get the Trigger Level
• Stop the Triggers

Program Trigger

Start Trigger

Set GPIO I/O Direction

Request Implementation

Request Trgen Status

Set the Trigger level

Get the GPIO I/O Direction

Get the Trigger Level

E-Prime integration via Python COM-visible

Install pywin32

pip install pywin32

TODO continue...