Local Streaming

This part of the documentation is about streaming data from HackEEG to software running on the same computer, like a laptop.

Installing HackEEG on a Raspberry Pi 4

First, install HackEEG on your computer.

Connecting OpenBCI to HackEEG via Lab Streaming Layer

  1. IMPORTANT! Ensure you are running on battery power. HackEEG has no mains isolation circuitry.

  2. Start the hackeeg_stream program:

    $ hackeeg_stream --sps 500 --continuous --lsl

  3. You should see the HackEEG blue board LED blink briefly to indicate proper operation.

  4. Start OpenBCI as described in Installing OpenBCI

  5. Select Live (from Lab Streaming Layer)

  6. Select 8 channels

  7. Click Start Session

  8. Click Start Data Stream

  9. In the lower right widget drop-down, select the Band Power widget

  10. You should see something like this:

OpenBCI streaming LSL data from HackEEG


hackeeg_stream Usage Information

$ hackeeg_stream -h
usage: hackeeg_stream.py [-h] [--debug] [--samples SAMPLES] [--continuous]
                         [--sps SPS] [--gain GAIN] [--lsl]
                         [--lsl-stream-name LSL_STREAM_NAME] [--messagepack]
                         [--hex] [--quiet]
                         serial_port

positional arguments:
  serial_port           serial port device path

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --debug, -d           enable debugging output
  --samples SAMPLES, -S SAMPLES
                        how many samples to capture
  --continuous, -C      read data continuously (until <return> key is pressed)
  --sps SPS, -s SPS     ADS1299 samples per second setting- must be one of
                        [250, 500, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16384], default is
                        500
  --gain GAIN, -g GAIN  ADS1299 gain setting for all channels– must be one of
                        [1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24], default is 1
  --lsl, -L             Send samples to an LSL stream instead of terminal
  --lsl-stream-name LSL_STREAM_NAME, -N LSL_STREAM_NAME
                        Name of LSL stream to create
  --messagepack, -M     MessagePack mode– use MessagePack format to send
                        sample data to the host, rather than JSON Lines
  --hex, -H             hex mode– output sample data in hexidecimal format for
                        debugging
  --quiet, -q           quiet mode– do not print sample data (used for
                        performance testing)