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Avisoft-UltraSoundGate
High-Quality Ultrasound Recording and Playback
The Avisoft-UltraSoundGate system is an integrated PC-based hardware and software solution for recording and playing back ultrasonic signals both in the field and in the laboratory,
which has been specifically designed for bioacoustic applications.
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Key Features
- Avisoft-UltraSoundGate is a turn-key system that consists of a
rugged data acquisition hardware with USB interface and a PC-based harddisk
recording software. Depending on the specific application, various ultrasound microphones or hydrophones can be attached (see the signal flowchart),
- Selectable sample rates of up to 750 kHz with adaptive anti-aliasing filter,
- The accompanying Avisoft-RECORDER USGH software provides a real-time
spectrogram display, advanced triggering facilities and many other useful features.
- Balanced analog inputs for high immunity against electromagnetic interferences,
- Multichannel recording with guaranteed synchronity from up to 12 channels,
- Acoustic real-time (broad-band) monitor (models 116xx only),
- Overload indicator & peak level meter (model 116Hm and 116Hme only),
- Gain adjustment potentiometer either continuous (standard version) or stepwise with eleven 3dB increments (optionally on request),
- Trigger button for quick start and stop of recordings.
- Digital inputs for external triggering and time code acquisition,
- Easy plug-and-play installation,
- Bus-powered operation (no need for extra power-supplies, which is important in the field),
- Rugged and compact design suited for field use (all parts have
been selected for best performance and maximum long-term reliability),
- Watertight, dustproof and unbreakable transport box (model 116Hm only).
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Principle of the UltraSoundGate system
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See also the general  UltraSoundGate advertizing flyer or the application-specific UltraSoundGate USV flyer for laboratory rodents.
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UltraSoundGate Product Family Members
The UltraSoundGate product family consists of the following components:
Recording Devices (A/D Converter Units)
- 1 channel : 1 x 300 kHz/16 bit (USB 2.0 High-Speed): UltraSoundGate 116Hnbm
(low-cost solution for stationary bat call monitoring)
- 1 channel : 1 x 300 kHz/16 bit (USB 2.0 High-Speed): UltraSoundGate 116Hnb
(low-cost solution for mobile bat call recording in the field)
- 1 channel : 1 x 300 kHz/16 bit (USB 2.0 High-Speed): UltraSoundGate 116He
(low-cost solution for mobile bat call recording in the field)
- 1 channel : 1 x 750 kHz/16 bit (USB 2.0 High-Speed): UltraSoundGate 116Hn
(low-cost solution for mobile bat call recording in the field)
- 1 channel : 1 x 1 MHz/16 bit (USB 2.0 High-Speed): UltraSoundGate 116Hme
(full-featured system for mobile use in the field)
- 1 channel : 1 x 1 MHz/16 bit (USB 2.0 High-Speed): UltraSoundGate 116Hm
(very small-sized and full-featured system for mobile use in the field)
- 1 channel : 1 x 300 kHz/16 bit (USB 2.0 High-Speed): UltraSoundGate 116Hb
(basic solution for stationary lab use)
- 1 channel : 1 x 1 MHz/16 bit (USB 2.0 High-Speed): UltraSoundGate 116H
(full-featured system for stationary lab use)
- 4 channels : 4 x 300 kHz/16 bit (USB 2.0 High-Speed): UltraSoundGate 416Hb
- 4 channels : 4 x 750 kHz/16 bit (USB 2.0 High-Speed): UltraSoundGate 416H
- 8 channels : 8 x 750 kHz/16 bit (USB 2.0 High-Speed): UltraSoundGate 816H
- 12 channels : 12 x 750 kHz/16 bit (USB 2.0 High-Speed): UltraSoundGate 1216H
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single channel |
multichannel |
| model number |
116
Hnbm |
116
Hnb |
116
Hnb+ |
116
Hn |
116
He |
116
Hme |
116
Hm |
116
Hb |
116
H |
416
Hb |
416
H |
816
H |
1216
H |
| number of channels |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
8 |
12 |
| max sample rate at 16 bit [kHz] |
300 |
300 |
300 |
750 |
300 |
1000 |
1000 |
300 |
1000 |
300 |
750 |
750 |
750 |
| acoustic monitor output |
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| overload indicator |
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| peak level meter |
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| polarization voltage for CM16 |
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| trigger button |
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| external trigger input / output |
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| digital input |
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| sync input/output |
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| extra low-noise preamplifiers |
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Ultrasound Microphones
Preamplifiers for connecting 1/4" microphones and hydrophones
Playback Devices
Ultrasound Speakers
- Dynamic speaker (1...120 kHz) : ScanSpeak
- Dynamic speaker (1...120 kHz) : Vifa
- Electrostatic speaker (25...200 kHz) : ESS 16
- Electrostatic speaker (25...150 kHz) : ESS Polaroid
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System Integration |
| Avisoft-UltraSoundGate is fully
integrated into the sound recording and analysis applications
Avisoft-RECORDER and Avisoft-SASLab Pro. |
| Avisoft-RECORDER provides the following
key-features in conjunction with UltraSoundGate: |
- Multichannel real-time spectrogram display (0% - 87.5% overlap),
waveform envelope display, energy waveform within selected
frequency range,
- Pre-tigger harddisk-recording with widely selectable trigger
options. Trigger event threshold definition for sound-activated
recording can be done graphically by mouse,
- There will be no limitations on the duration of continuous
recordings (harddisk space rather than RAM size limits the
duration of single recording sessions),
- ASCII-format LOG file containing date, time and duration of
each recorded event and optional text comments,
- Manual triggering by the UltraSoundGate button,
- External triggering through the UltraSoundGate digital input
(TTL-compatible, 2.5mm mini jack). This external signal can also
be used to enable/disable the sound-activated recording mode.
- Multichannel recording with UltraSoundGate 416Hb / 416H / 816H / 1216H with either
separate triggering of each channel (separate .wav files for each
channel) or simultaneous triggering for all active channels (one
single multichannel .wav file containing all channels). The latter
configuration is suited for passive acoustic location of animals
because all channels are packed into a single data stream, which
secures the phase relationship between all channels. Several USG xx16H devices can be sychnronized in order to extend the total number of synchronous channels.
- Real-time measurements of call frequencies that can also be issued by voice messages.
- Real-time acoustic monitoring through the soundcard
(heterodyning or aliasing technique).
- High-pass filtering for rejecting low frequency noise.
- Acquiring GPS location data from NMEA 0183 compatible GPS receivers and logging the geographic locations of the recorded .wav files into .gpx or .kml files.
- Time program for limiting the recordings to predefined time intervals (optionally relative to sunrise or sunset).
- LANC/SMPTE time code signal tracks (fed into the DI inputs) can be used to synchronize the recorded .wav files with video or to synchronize several (distibuted) UltraSoundGate units.
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Avisoft-RECORDER real-time spectrogram screen shot |
| The versatile sound analysis software Avisoft-SASLab Pro can be used to analyze the .wav files created by the RECORDER software. |
Sample recordings made with the UltraSoundGate system can be found at the Animal Sounds page.
A list of scientific papers that report the use of the UltraSoundGate system can be found on Google Scholar.
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Third party solutions integrating the UltraSoundGate system
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