Multiple Instances of Central on the Same Host PC

NOTICE: This feature has been removed as of Central version 7.5.0. 

7.5.0 and later supports running two NSPs in one instance of Central, but cannot run 3 or more in one instance.

If you prefer having separate instances for each NSP connected to your Host PC, it is advised that you do not upgrade past Central 7.0.6.

Installation

Occasionally, connecting to two Neural Signal Processors from the same PC is desired. Since Central does not, by default, allow this to happen, this article covers the simple steps needed to make this work.

In order to complete this, one needs two network ports or NIC cards for the two NSPs. Links for recommended NIC cards can be found on the recommended ethernet cards article in our helpdesk. Note that multiple Central instances on the same host PC requires Central version 6.4.0 or later, and that 7.0.6 is the final version to support this feature.

Network Setup

While one port would be configured with the standard parameters requested in the Neural Signal Processor manual, the second port would have the same configuration except the IP address which should be changed to the following:

192.168.137.xxx

The xxx can be anywhere in the range from 17-32. Similarly, a third NSP could be connected to a third port, which would need to be configured to an IP address that ended in a number between 33 and 48.

Software Setup

The next step is to make an instance of Central that attempts to connect through a different port than the default. To do so, place a shortcut on the desktop to the Central Application (found in Program Files/Blackrock Microsystems). Edit the properties of the shortcut and change the parameters to the following:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Blackrock Microsystems\Cerebus Windows Suite\Central.exe" --network inst=192.168.137.128 --network central=192.168.137.xxx --instance 1

At this point, the one should be able to open up the original Central shortcut to interface with the first NSP and the newly created shortcut to interface with the second NSP. This newly created interface will default to the clinical version of our software. If you require the research version of the software, please run the registry file attached to this article.

Using these same configurations, this idea can carry over to the use of cbmex as well. For more information on cbmex, look at the IFUs on our website or find our help desk article on Matlab Interfaces. To open cbmex to connect to the second NSP, the command would be the following:

cbmex(‘open’, 2, ‘central-addr’, ‘192.168.137.xxx’, ‘instance’, 1);

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