SpikeInterface / SpikeInterface/probeinterface
Add shank thickness to the Probe model
Nobody has claimed this yet.
- Dominant language
- Python
- Stars
- 85
- Forks
- 49
- Avg merge
- 13h 47m
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 3
Description
Thinking about double-sided probes on probeinterface_library surfaced a gap: front and back contacts sit at identical (x, y), so the only physical separation between a front site and its back twin is the shank thickness along the plane normal, and the Probe model has no field for it. The value is published for our main manufacturers (Cambridge NeuroTech 15 microns, https://www.cambridgeneurotech.com/neural-probes; Neuropixels 24 microns, https://www.neuropixels.org/probe1-0), yet it lives only on datasheets. Even SpikeGLX's geometry metadata stores the in-plane electrode coordinates (x, z) and omits thickness (https://billkarsh.github.io/SpikeGLX/help/imroTables/).
Useful beyond double-sided probes:
- Forward-modeling of extracellular signals: the shank is an insulating body that shapes the recorded field, and ground-truth simulators model the probe body, where thickness is a direct input.
- Completeness: it is the same datasheet-sourced geometry as the contact positions and contour we already store, so the probe description stays self-contained.
- Enables reconstructing double-sided probes in three dimensions (front and back at plus or minus thickness/2 along the normal). [This is how I started thinknig about it]
Related: #14.
Altought maybe this is omited for a good reason?
Contributor guide
No contributing guide indexed for this repository
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by locating the Probe model and its existing contact-position and contour geometry fields. Review related issue #14 and the linked double-sided-probe discussion to clarify the API, units, and whether there is a reason thickness was omitted. Done should leave datasheet-sourced shank thickness available for complete probe descriptions and three-dimensional front/back reconstruction.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- backend
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Active
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 48/100