Maximum Number of Bins

[Criss Swaim]

I am working on a new application of gnuradio that pushes the
limits--satellite-based detection of RF from rotating
magnetized-quark-nugget dark matter transiting through the
magnetosphere--and need as many bins as possible to reduce the
background noise per frequency channel.

I have successfully run with 2 million bins, but when I jump to 3
million bins, the application abends with a segment fault.  I have
deconstructed the following python line in a custom python block that is
failing:

> raw_samps = numpy.fromstring(self._msgq.delete_head().to_string(), 
> numpy.float32)

and the failure is occurring while trying to convert the results from
the delete_head() to a string (to_string()).   Any reference to the
result of the delete_head() functions results in an error.

the _msgq is defined as _msgq = gr.msg_queue(MSGQ_LIMIT) where the
MSGQ_LIMIT = 2

Here is the refactored code:

> # refactor raw_samps line test_str = self._msgq.delete_head()
> print("bin_sub_avg::got msg "
> sys.stdout.flush() 
> print(test_str)
> sys.stdout.flush() test_string = test_str.to_string()
> print("bin_sub_avg::converted msg to string") 
> sys.stdout.flush()
> raw_samps = numpy.fromstring(test_string, numpy.float32)
> print("bin_sub_avg::converted from string to numpy array")
> sys.stdout.flush()

The output is:

bin_sub_avg::got msg 
"the object for the shared pointer - test_str" (I did not save the exact 
message)

Then the application aborts.

Is there a limit on the number of bins gnuradio can handle?

Any thoughts on how to find the cause or limit?

-- 
Criss Swaim
cswaim@tpginc.net
cell: 505.301.5701