Knowledge Base

UltraVox XT 3

Background Information

UltraVox XT is software for analysis of ultrasound emitted by rodents and other animals. EthoVision XT can import UltraVox XT files (ETX) using a specific import profile.

The following picture shows an example of an ETX file for EthoVision XT 11 and later. The first column contains the time stamps in milliseconds. The other columns show 0 (not a call start) or 1 (call start time). The 0 in the row following a 1 marks the end of that call. Each column represents a call category (call name, or call name*pattern label). Note that the time stamps are not equidistant.

The UltraVox XT 3 Import Profile

The following figure shows an example of the Import Profile Definition window in EthoVision XT for the import profile of UltraVox XT 3.

In the Data definition section, the cells under Data Set Name contain the information read from the Header section (the corresponding cells in the Header section are grayed out). The cells in the Type column contain the call types and the green cells in the Data Set section contain the data sets.

Install the UltraVox XT 3 Import Profile

If you do not see UltraVox XT 3 in the list of import profiles when you attempt to import the call data (that is, during Import a complete external data file at once), it may not be installed.

Install the import profile from the UltraVox XT installation USB Flash drive.

1. Close EthoVision XT.
2. On the UltraVox XT 3 installation USB Flash drive, open the folder Extras\Import Profiles.
3. Double-click the file EthoVision XT 11 and Newer.bat.
4. You should now see the UltraVox XT 3 import profile in the list.

Notes

• The UltraVox XT 3 import profile is installed in the following folder: C:\ProgramData\Noldus\Common\Profiles. It includes the folder UltraVox XT 3 and a file, UltraVox XT 3.eip.
• You can find the UltraVox XT installation files on my.noldus.com. Log in, and locate Downloads > UltraVox XT > Current Version.

European Data Format Files

European Data Format (EDF) files and BioSemi Data Format (BDF) files are binary files. EDF files are 16 bit and BDF files are 24 bit. The import profile for EDF and BDF files cannot be edited, as for BIOPAC and other import profiles.

Simply import the files by selecting the European Data Format in the import window.

Notes

• Import of EDF+ and BDF+ files, which may contain annotations, is not supported.

Synchronization of Tracking Data and External Data

Synchronize Data Automatically

Aim: To synchronize EthoVision XT data and external data using the synchronization signal sent to the external DAQ system during live tracking.

Procedure:

1. Import the external data that was simultaneously acquired during live tracking into EthoVision XT.
2. In the Import External Data window, you see one or more Normal Data Sets (indicated by a diagram icon) and one or more Sync Data Sets (indicated by a clock icon). The Link Variable cell for a Sync Data Set shows which Trial was acquired simultaneously with the external data. A Sync Data Set is automatically detected when you use the Time Code (TCAP) synchronization signal. When you use the On-Off signal, it may be necessary to select Sync Data Set from the context menu to tell EthoVision XT that the data set contains the synchronization signal. In the Import External Data window, right-click the Data Set that you want to change to Sync Data Set and select Sync Data Set.
3. If necessary, adjust the Synchronization Settings or proceed to step 4. Click the Synchronization Settings button to open the Synchronization Settings window. Here you can set values for the following parameters that determine how the information from the synchronization signal is extracted from the imported external data file (default values in brackets):
   • Number of offset values (10) is the number of time points in the synchronization signal used to calculate offset points. This only applies to the Time Code signal. The offset values are used for the calculation of average offset and gain. A higher value increases the accuracy of synchronization, but also increases calculation time.
   • Smoothing factor (1) is the number of sample points over which an average signal level is calculated. A higher value reduces spikes on the signal, but also reduces the time accuracy of the synchronization. The Smoothing Factor is used for both On-Off and Time Code signal.
   • Signal-to-noise-ratio (50) determines the tolerance for detecting high-low signal transitions. A higher value increases this tolerance, but also increases the chance of detecting false transitions.
   • Number of samples prescan TCAP (180000) is the maximum number of sample points used for auto-detection of a Time Code signal in the DAQ samples. For example, 180 seconds at 1 kHz or 30 minutes at 100 Hz. This setting only applies when you started your DAQ system before you started tracking in EthoVision XT.
   Click in the boxes to set a value for each of the parameters. Click Defaults if you want to return to the default values or click OK to finish.
4. In the Import External Data window, select one or more Data Sets you want to link, click on one of the Data Sets with the left mouse button, keep the left mouse button pressed and link the Data Sets with a drag-and-drop action to the corresponding Trial, Arena or Subject.
5. Click Import to finish linking the Data Sets.

Notes

• The Synchronization Settings button in the Import External Data window is only available if Enable DAQ co-acquisition is selected in the Experiment Settings.
• The information in the synchronization signal is sampled by the DAQ system. During import into EthoVision XT some digital signal processing takes place to deal with noise, signal distortion, spikes etc. This processing is determined by the Synchronization Settings above.