[Discuss-gnuradio] USRP2 Sample 2.4 GHz Channel

[Miklos Christine]

Hello,

I'm trying to sample the 802.11b wireless channels but the USRP2. I'm currently using revision 10689 of Gnuradio. 
I've added code to bbn_80211b_rx.py to connect the gr_probe_signal_f() to the top block. 
To sample the channel, I use gr.probe_signal_f().
Here's the code to connect the block:

self.connect(self.u, self.conv_c2f, self.probe2) 

Then I use the gr.probe_signal_f().level() to retrieve the signal in a loop. 

    data_file = open('data.txt', 'w')
    T1 = time.asctime()

    while cs_samples < 1000000:
        CST = self.tb.probe_channel()
        data_file.write(str(CST) + '\n')
        cs_samples += 1

        data_file.close()
    T2 = time.asctime()

  def probe_channel(self):
    """
    """

    return self.probe2.level() 

I was wondering if this is the fastest way to sample the channel from python. When I compute how long this process takes, it appears that I can get a sample every 8-9 microseconds, which seems a lot slower than what the USRP2 is built to do. Am I sampling the channel in an incorrect way? 
I'm running this on a machine with a Intel Quad Q9650 @ 3GHz. 

Thanks,
Miklos Christine