Streams and Vectors

This tutorial will describe the difference between a Stream and a Vector. You can find the previous tutorial here: Converting Data Types

Streams

Streams in GNU Radio are what convey the information between blocks. A stream is represented by the arrows connecting blocks in a flowgraph. A stream must have a data type, such as Float 32 or Byte. A stream carries 1 sample for each time instance. A stream is the default when connecting blocks in GNU Radio. Streams are used to represent and process serial data.

• note: use an image

each time instance carries 1 sample

Vectors

Where streams carry 1 sample per time instance, vectors can carry multiple samples per time instance. By analogy, a stream represents a scalar at each time instance, whereas a vector represents an array at each time instance. Vectors allow data to be represent and process data in parallel.

darker color in GRC

• note: use an image