Due to differences in the operating system and the effects of sample rate on the computational load of a software radio, we have historically had a difficult time understanding the performance boundaries of software radio applications. This problem further leads to difficulties in debugging, optimization, and profiling analysis of both software radio frameworks and applications. This paper introduces a new tool developed for GNU Radio that starts to solve these problems. Called Performance

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... ers, GNU Radio now has an inbuilt ability to measure its performance for offline optimization as well as realtime behavioral analysis and adaptation. The Performance Counters are designed such that a GNU Radio application can directly sample them or access them through the use of ControlPort, another new tool that enables remote interaction with GNU Radio. We show in this paper some of the tools we have developed around ControlPort and the Performance Counters that will help us better understand GNU Radio's performance and capabilities as well as lead to better on-line adaptation of radios.