Open Source Instruments, Inc.

135 Beaver Street, Suite 207
Waltham, MA 02452, USA
President: Kevan Hashemi
Contact: info@opensourceinstruments.com



Company Description

Open Source Instruments Inc. (OSI) designs and manufactures instruments for scientific research. Most of our customers work in neuroscience and high energy physics. We provide physical instruments and software to control and read out the instruments. We charge for the instruments, but not for the software. Our software is free and runs equally well on Linux, MacOS, and Windows. Most of our revenue comes from sales to institutions and private companies, but we do apply for, and we occasionally receive, grants from the SBIR programs of the NSF, NIH, and DoE.

For neuroscientists, we design and manufacture wireless, implantable sensors and stimulators. Our sensors provide high-fidelity biopotential monitoring and allow the measurement of spreading depolarizations in freely-moving, cohabiting animals. Our implantable stimulators provide radio-controlled electrical and optical stimulation. Our data acquisition software is free and provides automatic event detection and translation into standard data formats.

For high energy physicists, we manufacture opto-mechanical metrology devices. Our Boston CCD Angle Monitor (BCAM) has been deployed in large particle detectors such as ALICE, and accelerators such as HIE-ISOLDE. More BCAMs will be installed in the up-coming PIP-II accelerator. Our Direct Fiber Positioning System (DFPS) is a new product we are developing for astronomers in collaboration with Texas A&M Univeristy, and with funding from the NSF.

Active Products

Sub-Cutaneous Transmitter (SCT): Telemetry devices for implantation in small animals. Available with in many versions: mass 1.6-14 g, bandwidth up to 640 Hz, sensitivity down to 0 Hz, dynamic range 30-300 mV, operating life 5-500 days, 1-4 channels, lead thickness 0.5-0.7 mm, lead length 20-260 mm, with depth or surface electrodes.

Head-Mounting Transmitter (HMT): A biopotential sensor that mounts on the head of a small animal by means of a miniature connector, compatible with our subcutaneous transmitter (SCT) system.

Electrode Interface Fixture (EIF): A connector with leads and electrodes designed to be cemented to the head of a small animal and mate with one of our HMTs.

Implantable Stimulator-Transponder (IST): An implantable stimulator designed for long-term experiments requiring intermittent, short-duration stimulation. Provides pulsed, variable-current electrical stimulation with a bipolar electrode, or pulsed optical stimulation with one of our implantable lamps.

Implantable Light-Emitting Diode (ILED): A variety of implantable lamps for use with our Implantable Stimulator-Transponders (ISTs). We have red, green, and blue Surface-Mount Light-Emitting Diodes, and green and blue Fiber-Coupled Light Emitting Diodes.

Implantable Inertial Sensor (IIS): An implantable accelerometer and gyroscope for recording the dynamics of fish swimming or rodents running.

Animal Location Tracker (ALT): A combined receiver, activity monitor, and location tracker in the form of a platform we place beneath a cage full of animals with implanted SCTs.

Telemetry Control Box (TCB): Sixteen-antenna telemetry receiver, location monitor, and command transmitter.

Animal Cage Camera (ACC): High-resolution camera that provides compressed video synchronous with our SCT recordings to ±0.1 s. Also provides variable-intensity visible and infrared illumination. Does not interfere with our SCT telemetry.

Boston CCD Angle Monitor (BCAM): Survey cameras and point sources for monitoring deformations of large structures, 5-μrad precision, 50-μrad absolute calibration, designed for particle detectors and accelerator alignment. We manufacture all active varieties of BCAM as well stand-alone light sources and long cables.

Wire Position Sensor (WPS): Two-camera wire position sensor to monitor the shape of a long, straight wire, 1-μm precision, 5-μm absolute accuracy, designed for linear accelerator alignment.

Developing Products

Direct Fiber Positioning System (DFPS): A telescope-mounting fiber positioner for astronomical spectrography. Piezeo-electric tubes packed on a five-millimeter pitch place the tips of optical fibers on the images of celstial objects.

Contactless Position Measurement System (CPMS): An optical system for measuring the position and orientation of highly-reflecting metallic objects. Custom-built instruments with optional motorized stages.

Data Acquisition Software

LWDAQ User Manual: User manual for our data-acquisition hardware and software.

LWDAQ Software: Home page of our data acquisition software.

OSI GitHub: Repository of LWDAQ software and circuit firmware.

LWDAQ Specification: Specification of our data acquisition system hardware.

Company Details

Part Numbers and Prices: Part numbers and prices of OSI hardware.

Electronic Assemblies: List of electronic assemblies designed and built at OSI.

Warranty: Product warranty, for PDF see here.

Devices: Database of device serial numbers in xml format.

BNDHEP: Archive of work done by OSI employees at Brandeis University.

Customer Support

Calibration Constants: Databases of device calibration constants.

Setup Instructions: Catalog of instructions for setting up our instruments.

Forum: On-line support forum for questions about OSI hardware and software.

Neuroscience Mailing List: Announcements on neuroscience topics, neuroscience customers only.