Improve documentation of physio setups

[tsalo]

Detailed Description

Currently, there is some information about common setups in the Best Practices page. However, I think it would be very helpful to (1) get more specific about different overall setups and their strengths/weaknesses, (2) reorganize the documentation to distinguish the general setup and modality-specific hardware, and (3) maybe add basic diagrams. Diagrams would be a bit of work, but I think they'd be very helpful for new folks.

Tagging @CesarCaballeroGaudes @smoia @RayStick @sangfrois.

Context / Motivation

When FIU first started working on installing BioPac, none of us knew that you could have a T-splitter to directly send the trigger signal from the scanner to both the task computer and the physio computer, so we ultimately chose to feed the existing trigger signal going to the task computer through to the physio computer via a parallel port and using our task scripts. We only learned recently how that was suboptimal.

The phys2bids site is a great opportunity to provide all of the documentation necessary to at least know what questions new folks should be asking their scanner or physio hardware support teams. Information about costs would also help folks figure out what the best solution is for their facility, based on their current hardware and budget.

Possible Implementation

Not so much an "implementation" as a list of things I think we should cover:

• Break down general hardware by scanner manufacturer and physio manufacturer
• Break down modality-specific hardware, possibly by physio manufacturer
  • Model IDs and links to product pages would definitely help people in their searches
• Break down consumables by modality (e.g., gels and electrodes for EDA, nasal cannula for CO2 if not using a mask).
• Include estimated costs for everything we can estimate costs for
• Describe common trigger setups, possibly with diagrams (or pictures) and definitely with lists of pros and cons:
  • Have a T-splitter to split the trigger signal from the scanner to output to both the task computer and the physio computer.
    • This may require a custom circuit to extend the duration of the trigger pulse so that it can be reliably captured by BioPac.
  • Manually add a marker in the physio software when the scan starts.
  • Connect the task computer to the physio computer through a parallel port and have your task scripts send a signal when they are started by the trigger signal from the scanner.
  • Multi-run vs. single-run

[RayStick]

I think this is a great initiative. It will take time to cover all this, and summarize it well, so I won't promise to do that anytime soon, but I've flagged this as something I can contribute to.