In COM we trust: Feasibility of USB-based event marking

Area of Science:

• * Experimental physics and neuroscience
• * Computer hardware and data acquisition

Background:

• * Modern research requires precise synchronization of experimental events.
• * Event markers, often TTL pulses, are crucial for temporal alignment of recorded data.
• * The traditional parallel port for event marking is becoming obsolete due to hardware changes.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To evaluate microcontroller units (MCUs) and the LabJack U3 as replacements for parallel port event marking.
• * To assess latency and jitter performance of these devices in simulated experimental conditions.
• * To provide practical guidance and code examples for implementing MCUs in research settings.

Main Methods:

• * Evaluation of four different microcontroller units (MCUs) and the LabJack U3.
• * Testing latency and jitter in sending event markers.
• * Simulated experiments conducted on both Windows and Linux operating systems.

Main Results:

• * All four tested MCUs demonstrated performance comparable to the traditional parallel port.
• * MCUs consistently achieved event marker latencies below 1 millisecond.
• * The LabJack U3 also showed comparable latencies, with certain considerations.

Conclusions:

• * Microcontroller units are a viable, cost-effective, and flexible alternative to parallel ports for event marking.
• * MCUs enable reliable synchronization of data streams in modern experimental research.
• * The study provides resources for researchers to adopt MCUs for event marking.