I/Q sampling captures a radio signal as two components: in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q), which represent the signal’s amplitude and phase over time. Unlike decoded Wi-Fi packets, these raw samples preserve lower-level signal information for processing by software or specialized tools.
Researchers and engineers use I/Q data to analyze radio behavior, experiment with signal processing, or reverse engineer wireless protocols. In security, this capability matters because a chip may expose more radio functionality than its ordinary networking role suggests. Raw samples alone do not make a device a general-purpose software-defined radio: results depend on the hardware, firmware, drivers, and available tools. Device inventories and firmware reviews can help defenders identify and assess such capabilities.