Knowledge Base

What's New in CatWalk XT

New in CatWalk 11.0

This section describes new features compared to version 10.7.

Hardware Changes:

• CatWalk 11.0 uses a new camera system with a resolution of 1920 x 1216 pixels instead of 640 x 480.
• The Basler camera is pre-configured to process the middle part of the camera images automatically.
• The installed interface card now has 10 Gig capacity instead of 1 Gig.
• Pleora Ebus drivers are no longer installed. Basler Pylon Runtime is used instead.

Setup Changes:

• The setup of the camera is improved. Focusing, calibration and definition of the walkway are easier and more reliable. A dedicated calibration card is included and is used instead of the calibration sheets.
• Focus support: the camera can be focused to get sharp images easily and correctly.
• Automatic WalkWay calibration: the WalkWay can be calibrated correctly and automatically without any effort.
• Automatic WalkWay definition: the WalkWay is detected automatically.
• CatWalk 11.0 does not support making new recordings on experiments created with previous versions. Data coming from different camera systems cannot be analyzed and compared reliably.

Functional Changes:

• Units for all parameters in Excel export and in the interface.
• User preferred precision in export.
• Meta data added to Excel export files and chart PDF files.
• Body axis color adapted for better visibility.
• Validate WalkWay on demand.

New in CatWalk 10.7

This section describes the functionality that was released in CatWalk XT 10.7. It is only relevant for users that have used CatWalk 10.6 and/or older versions.

CatWalk Control Unit:

The CatWalk Control Unit is now connected to the PC through a USB cable with connectors of type B and C. Your CatWalk XT computer must have a USB-C connector in order to connect it to the Control Unit.

Installation Procedure:

The software installation procedure has been greatly simplified. You no longer have to install and configure the Ethernet card drivers and the camera drivers separately. The new CatWalk XT installation wizard does that for you.

Software License Key:

You can purchase CatWalk XT with a software license that makes it easier to use the software without worrying about losing or damaging the hardware key. You can choose to have your license coupled with one computer (named Fixed license) or with multiple computers (Floating license).

Data Analysis: Phase Dispersions and Couplings:

• In the Phase Dispersions and Couplings analysis sheets, the Normal Mean has been removed from both sheets because of its problematic interpretation.
• A bug was fixed that caused the average CStat Mean of Phase Dispersions to fall outside the allowed range (-50% to 75%).
• In the Phase Dispersions and Couplings analysis sheets, the CStat Mean is reported within the following ranges:
  • For Phase Dispersions: -50% to 50%. Note that a value of 55% is the same as -45% in the circular statistics domain.
  • For Couplings: 0% to 100%.
• To measure the spread of data around a mean, two statistics are offered: the Angular Deviation (which is the same as the Standard Deviation in CatWalk XT 10.6 and earlier) and the Circular Standard Deviation (new in CatWalk 10.7).
• If the average CStat Mean of Phase Dispersions is higher than 50%, it is reported as its complementary (negative) value. For example, the values of Phase Dispersions 50, 55 and 60 would give CStat Mean = 55%, but CatWalk XT 10.7 reports CStat Mean = -45%, which is the complementary negative value of 55% in the circular statistics domain.

Excel Sheet for Calculating Circular Statistics:

An Excel sheet has been added to your documentation that provides formulas for computing circular statistics.

Circular Charts for Phase Dispersions and Couplings:

Phase Dispersions and Couplings are expressed with circular statistics. Circular charts are ideal to visualize that kind of data. To facilitate interpretation of the results for those two groups of CatWalk parameters, in the Group Statistics and Charts screen the bar charts have been replaced by circular charts.

New Colors in Data Visualization:

The colors of many charts, for example those of footfall patterns and the timing view, have been adjusted in order to improve their accessibility to users with color vision deficiency.