PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Gonçalo Lopes
AU  - Niccolò Bonacchi
AU  - João Frazão
AU  - Joana P. Neto
AU  - Bassam V. Atallah
AU  - Sofia Soares
AU  - Luís Moreira
AU  - Sara Matias
AU  - Pavel M. Itskov
AU  - Patrícia A. Correia
AU  - Roberto E. Medina
AU  - Lorenza Calcaterra
AU  - Elena Dreosti
AU  - Joseph J. Paton
AU  - Adam R. Kampff
TI  - Bonsai: An event-based framework for processing and controlling data streams
AID  - 10.1101/006791
DP  - 2014 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 006791
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2014/10/24/006791.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2014/10/24/006791.full
AB  - The design of modern scientific experiments requires the control and monitoring of many parallel data streams. However, the serial execution of programming instructions in a computer makes it a challenge to develop software that can deal with the asynchronous, parallel nature of scientific data. Here we present Bonsai, a modular, high-performance, open-source visual programming framework for the acquisition and online processing of data streams. We describe Bonsai’s core principles and architecture and demonstrate how it allows for flexible and rapid prototyping of integrated experimental designs in neuroscience. We specifically highlight different possible applications which require the combination of many different hardware and software components, i0ncluding behaviour video tracking, electrophysiology and closed-loop control of stimulation parameters.