One of our main areas of focus right now is software development for products addressing behavioral experiments, such as MED-PC® and Schedule Manager. We are also the exclusive distributor of K-Limbic, a behavioral control system that requires minimal programming. Next on the priorities list are Video systems.

Currently our major system for video-based behavior analysis is the Near-Infrared (NIR) Video Fear Conditioning System. A validation study has been completed at a major laboratory comparing our system with the human observer, and we expect it to be published in the near future. By using high quality digital cameras and a combination of visible and NIR illumination with direct digital recording we are able to produce excellent results, much better than one could obtain using video camcorders and frame grabbers. We are also able to significantly reduce the system noise with this direct digital recording versus analog recording and frame grabbers. There are already a significant number of these systems in the field collecting data.

The most important parameters for video analysis are lighting, high quality cameras, resolution, digital recording and speed. Our current high-speed camera is the VID-CAM-MONO-2A. This camera has a full resolution speed of 100 frames per second and 250 frames per second at a reduced resolution. We currently have in development a new digital system capable of running at 1,000 frames per second. Our generic recording and video monitoring software is the Video Monitoring System (MED-SYST-VMO). This software package provides functions such as the ability to control the camera and video annotation from MED-PC®. For example, you can use MED-PC® to turn on the camera prior to a reinforcement and then automatically annotate text to the video for specific times or events, such as “Reinforcement Delivered”. The Video Monitoring System also allows the experimenter to subsequently annotate a video him/herself, either while a video is playing back at normal speed, or frame-by-frame at their own pace. We expect to add a number of additional features to this software in the future. Our focus is to produce a total environment based on MED-PC® for recording, control and analysis. In addition, we also have complete stand-alone systems (i.e. cameras, chamber and lighting) for maze tracking. Stay tuned to future issue of MedLines to keep up on the latest in our product development plans.

Sincerely,

Karl R. Zurn, M.E.E.