Feasibility of Using bladeRF 2.0 micro xA9 for 20 MHz Wi-Fi Reception and TDOA/PDOA Direction Finding

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6K5EUQ
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Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2025 12:07 am

Feasibility of Using bladeRF 2.0 micro xA9 for 20 MHz Wi-Fi Reception and TDOA/PDOA Direction Finding

Post by 6K5EUQ »

Hello,

I am planning a project using the bladeRF 2.0 micro xA9 and would like to confirm whether the hardware is suitable for my intended application.

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Project goal:

Receive a 20 MHz bandwidth 802.11 (Wi-Fi) signal.

Extract BSSID information from the captured packets.

Use two RX channels simultaneously to implement TDOA (Time Difference of Arrival) or PDOA (Phase Difference of Arrival) for direction finding.

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Key questions:

Can the bladeRF 2.0 micro xA9 reliably capture 20 MHz Wi-Fi signals with both RX channels active, maintaining phase and time alignment?

Are there existing examples or recommended toolchains for demodulating Wi-Fi (e.g., to obtain BSSID) using bladeRF hardware?

For TDOA/PDOA, is it possible to achieve the required synchronization between the two RX channels solely with the xA9 hardware, or is external clock/PPS input recommended?

Are there any known limitations or considerations (FPGA resources, USB throughput, host processing) that I should be aware of for this type of application?

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Any feedback, references, or practical advice from those who have tried similar setups would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your help.
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