ANSLAB Professional Version History

On this page you find additional information about newly added or changed features for the different releases of ANSLAB Professional. This page will not contain information about minor changes or bug fixes but will only list major changes (e.g. new features or changed behavior of ANSLAB).

The complete change log, containing also minor changes and bug fixes, can be downloaded from here.

01.12.2023: Update for version 2.6 from v38 to v39 (v17 to v18 in case of ANSLAB 2.6p)

Potential compatibility issues with more recent MATLAB versions have been resolved.

02.08.2023: Update for version 2.6 from v37 to v38 (v16 to v17 in case of ANSLAB 2.6p)

This update just contains some minor enhancements to make reading of raw files more robust in certain cases.

21.12.2022: Update for version 2.6 from v36 to v37 (v15 to v16 in case of ANSLAB 2.6p)

Artifact detection and removal for the EMG analysis
The EMG analysis has been extended to include an optional artifact detection and removal. The detection aims to detect flat lines in the raw signal which indicates possible problems (e.g. clipping or no signal). The potentially problematic portions of the signal are then displayed in the data view. And if artifact removal is enabled too, the respective parts of the signal are set to missing before the actual analysis.

Respiration calibration based on flow data
ANSLAB now supports a respiration calibration based on flow or volume data (e.g. as acquired using a spirometer).

Secure server communication
From this release on, ANSLAB supports the secure HTTPS protocol only for a communication with the ANSLAB server. Unfortunately, MATLAB seems to contain a problem prior to version R2018a, which leads to an error when using a secure connection. If you receive a message about connection problems after this update, please try the solution shown in this document.

22.02.2022: Update for version 2.6 from v35 to v36 (v13 to v14 in case of ANSLAB 2.6p)

Channel names per study folder
From this version on you may choose whether you want to store the channel naming information for the different raw file types in your ANSLAB installation folder (like up to now) or whether you want to store that information inside your study folder. After installing this update you will be asked to choose between these two options for each study folder you open or you work with. You will be asked only once per study folder and the decision is remembered.

The dialog which asks you for your decision shows the following message:

It has been detected that your study folder misses at least one channel naming file.
Do you want to create default channel naming files, copy over existing channel naming files from your ANSLAB folder, or use the ANSLAB channel naming files for this study?

allowing to choose between the following options:

  • Create default files
    Choosing this option creates the default channel naming files as shipped with ANSLAB inside your study folder (subfolder „channelnaming“). The channel names will be loaded from these files when analyzing files from your study.
  • Copy existing files
    Choosing this option copies over already existing channel naming files from your ANSLAB installation folder to your study folder (subfolder „channelnaming“). The channel names will be loaded from these files when analyzing files from your study.
  • Use ANSLAB files
    When you choose this option, the channel naming files from your ANSLAB installation folder will be used for your study. This is the way channel naming files have been used so far. If you choose this option, ANSLAB will create a file named „useanslabfiles“ inside the subfolder „channelnaming“ of your study folder.

The first two options allow you to have separate channel names for different studies. This might be beneficial if the channel names change across studies. But, if in doubt about the right option to choose, just choose the option „Use ANSLAB files“ to handle channel naming files the way your are already familiar with.

In case you want to revert your decision just delete all files from the subfolder „channelnaming“ and you will be prompted to choose again upon opening or working with the study folder.

Channel names wizard
This is a new tool which makes it easier to configure the channel names in ANSLAB. In fact the wizard is a handy tool which allows you to configure channel names for a raw file format more quickly instead of typing in all the names manually in the configuration.

Start the wizard by selecting „Tools“ and „channel names wizard“ from the main menu.

In the dialog which pops up you are then able to open a raw file from your study. It is not necessary to select the right file format in the main window of ANSLAB before doing so since the wizard detects the file format automatically. After you open a raw file, the list of channels in the dialog is populated with all channel names found in the raw file selected (shown in the first column). In the second column of this list you can then assign the channel names to the different types of channels. So, for instance, if the selected raw file contains an ECG channel named „ECG_1“, select „ECG“ from the dropdown in the second column for this channel. For all channel assignments already known to ANSLAB (from the channel naming files) the correct types will be selected automatically.

Once you assigned all channels needed, click „Save“ to save the channel naming information to the channel naming files for the raw format. If you want to replace the channel naming information for the raw format, check the option „Replace channel names in configuration“. This will overwrite the old channel naming file.

New batch plotting
For this update the batch plotting has been rewritten completely. The goal was to end up with a more consistent, faster, and more reliable batch plotting mechanism which also offers some new features. These can be configured in the options dialog for the batch plotting.

The new features are

  • more supported file formats for the plots saved (JPEG75 which was the format used up to know, JPEG100 which offers a better plot quality, PNG which offers lossless compression, and PDF which is lossless too and in addition allows you to zoom into signal traces to see more details)
  • plotting of timing file segments (enable the option „plot segments“ in the option for that). This allows a visual inspection of the batch plots generated and to see immediately if problematic signal parts fall into segments of interest.
  • plotting of missing values (shown as red dots at the bottom of a single plot).