Key Features

• Plug and play (Mac & Win & Linux)

• Up to 512 channels of ephys using industry standard Intan amplifier chips

• 1–30 kHz Sampling Rate

• Low Noise 2.4 µV rms

• Electrophysiological input range: ± 5 mV

• True real-time audio monitoring

• NEW! 3D capable headstages acquire absolute head orientation data and drive our torque-free SPI commutator

• NEW! Faster boot times and headstage recognition

Connectivity

• Up to 8 RHD headstages on 4 tethers (up to two 64ch RHD chips per headstage port)

• Standardized SPI digital headstage tethers

• USB 3.0 data transmission

• 8 TTL inputs and 8 TTL outputs

• 8 analog inputs (± 5 V)

• 8 analog outputs (± 5 V)

• Standardized I/O cables

• NEW! Direct compatibility with the Harp family of devices

Acquire absolute head orientation with 3D capable headstages

Our new 3D capable headstages accurately monitor absolute head orientation thanks to an embedded 9-axis inertial measurement unit. This technology senses rotational movements (pitch, yaw, and roll) which can be used to correlate neural activity with behavioral states and drive our torque-free SPI commutator.

The Acquisition Board works with industry standard Intan RHD recording chips to interface with passive electrodes such as silicon probes, twisted wires and other microelectrode arrays. Researchers can opt for monopolar (multiple single-unit acquisition) or bipolar inputs (EMG or EEG acquisition) from our 3D capable headstage range.

Vertical and low-profile headstage variants

With a compact height of 4 mm, our low-profile headstage significantly reduces torque on the animal's head in comparison with standard 20 mm tall vertical-profile headstages.

The low-profile headstage supports 64 channel implants with a Hirose connector, while weighing 0.92 g, making it ideal for use with our ShuttleDrive tetrode drive. The 32 channel vertical profile is an alternative for silicon probe Omnetics based implants, and weighs 1.25 g. We offer both profile variants with 9 degrees of freedom 3D capabilities or a 3-axis accelerometer.

The 3rd Generation Acquisition Board works with industry standard SPI headstages and is backwards compatible - it works with all previous SPI RHD headstages from us or other vendors, such as Intan and Cambridge Neurotech, and many others.

Upgraded board AND upgraded GUI

The Acquisition Board works seamlessly in the Open Ephys GUI, enabling real-time signal visualization, processing and recording. The GUI is free and open source. Its flexible plugin architecture lets you create a signal chain adapted to the specific needs of your experiments, with an easy to use drag and drop interface and ever growing collection of plugins. The long-awaited 1.0 GUI release provides first-class support for 3D capable headstages, performance improvements, and user interface enhancements. Read about the 1.0 release here.

Torque-free SPI commutator

Our active torque-free SPI commutator provides a tangle-free connection between the 3rd Generation Acquisition Board and any of the 3D capable headstages on a freely-moving animal. The absolute orientation sensor on 3D capable headstages enables active commutation based on head orientation measurements instead of requiring tether to transmit force generated by the animal as needed by torque-based motorized commutators.

Standardized input/output connectivity

The Acquisition Board has 8 channels of digital in, 8 channels of digital out, 8 channels of ± 5 V analog input, and 8 channels of ± 5 V analog output. All this I/O uses the same standardized HDMI connectors, so you can use the same I/O boards for everything, or even incorporate a HDMI connector into your equipment and connect the system directly without any bulky BNC cables.

All the devices connected to the acquisition board are sampled at the sample rate as the headstages, so you can easily synchronize external datastreams (e.g. behavioral cameras or stimulation devices) with neurophysiological recordings such as extracellular activity.

Open Ephys FPGA module

The Acquisition Board uses an open-source FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) module developed by the Open Ephys engineering team. Acting as the 'brain' of the acquisition board, the FPGA controls data acquisition, attaches a common timestamp, and efficiently sends data to the computer via USB. In doing so, it ensures synchronization across the setup. This technology is essential for capturing and responding to brain activity with minimal delay, making it a key component of our device ecosystem.

Easy to use closed-loop feedback

When using the Open Ephys Acquisition Board, neural data is streamed to the GUI with an approximate delay of 10 ms. This latency is sufficient for most applications, enabling the detection of neural or behavioral states and allowing timely interventions, such as stimulus changes, optogenetic manipulation or any other closed-loop experiment-specific actions. If you’re interested in shorter latencies, check out our ONIX next-gen ecosystem.

The Open Ephys GUI can also stream data to other applications, such as Python or MATLAB, via its ZMQ interface, ensuring smooth integration for live signal processing, visualization, and data analysis.

Learn how to work with our Acquisition Board alongside members of our team. This remote training is tailored to your scientific project and thoroughly covers all aspects of acquisition hardware. In-depth explanations of electrophysiology data acquisition and equipment details, operation of the Acquisition Board in the Open Ephys GUI or Bonsai, synchronization and triggering with external hardware and data structure and loading in Python or Matlab.

Consult our Training page for more detailed information.