Skip to content

Run a session

The Session Dashboard is the recording console. Left column: what to record. Right column: run controls, the journaler, and the live memo.

1 · Session info

Session Dashboard, ready to initialise

  • Subject ID — format sub-XXXX (X integer).
  • Session ID — format ses-YY.
  • Participant encoding (read-only) — XXXXYY, computed from the two IDs. It is written into the wristbands and into every output path, so set the IDs before you Start. Editing them later is fine — PLASMA re-applies the new identity at Start.

2 · Device initialization

  • Select sensor(s) — the device types to use this run (from the Configuration catalog).
  • 📼 Record all LSL streams to XDF — leave on. While the session runs, the built-in recorder resolves every LSL stream on the machine — PLASMA's own outlets and anything else — and writes them to one .xdf file. No LabRecorder needed.
  • 🚦 Initialize selected device(s) — connects each device and announces its streams. Do this after any BLE scanning on the Configuration tab. The memo header changes to "Ready to start" and a row appears per device.

Memo panel after Initialize

3 · Start

Press Start ▶️. PLASMA:

  • creates the session folder <home>/data/<sub>/<ses>/<enc>_<YYMMDD_HHMMSS>/,
  • tells every device to start,
  • spins up the XDF recorder.

The memo header becomes "Collection in progress" with a running HH:MM:SS clock, and each device row turns green with a live latest-value and a 📼 N samp @ X Hz → …xdf recording line.

Memo panel during collection

4 · Journaler

Open the 🗒️ Journaler accordion to drop timestamped markers onto a dedicated LSL stream that is recorded alongside the sensors (so they land in the .xdf too).

The Journaler accordion

  • Marker text + ✍️ Send marker — a free-text event ("subject seated", "block 2 start").
  • 🚩 Flag — a one-click [FLAG] marker for "something happened here, note it later".

5 · Stop

Press Stop 🛑. Every device is told to stop, the recorder flushes and finalises the .xdf, and the memo header becomes "Collection stopped". A device reporting "stopped" is now expected — its row goes neutral, not red.

Memo panel after Stop

Where the data is

<home>/data/<sub>/<ses>/<enc>_<YYMMDD_HHMMSS>/
├── plasma_recording_<YYMMDD_HHMMSS>.xdf   # every stream, one file
├── events.jsonl                           # this session's fault history
└── msense/                                # MSense .txt dumps, SQC snapshots

Full layout and the daily session log: Files & paths.

6 · Review

Watch the memo through the run and check it at the end. Any row that ends amber or red is telling you something — the memo engine page explains the colours, and abnormal handling is the fix-it runbook.

Next: Signal-quality checks.