# QuadRF

> **TL;DR.** QuadRF is a modular four-element beamforming tile that brings full 4x4 MIMO phased-array capability to software-defined radio hobbyists and researchers.

- **Category:** Hardware / Open Source / Software-Defined Radio
- **Stage:** validating
- **Age:** 81 days
- **Origin date:** 2026-04-01
- **First detected:** 2026-06-21
- **Canonical URL:** https://earlyterms.com/term/quadrf
- **Sources:** 8 primary URLs

## Definition

QuadRF is a modular four-element beamforming tile that brings full 4x4 MIMO phased-array capability to software-defined radio hobbyists and researchers. Each tile pairs four coherent C-band (4.9–6.0 GHz) Tx/Rx chains with a Lattice ECP5 FPGA and an integrated Raspberry Pi 5, enabling real-time spatial signal processing previously confined to defense and telecom labs.

Built by Santa Barbara-based ScaleRF (formerly open.space), the product was formally named in an April 1, 2026 announcement after a November 2025 Pacificon demo generated viral word-of-mouth. The [Crowd Supply campaign](https://www.crowdsupply.com/scale-rf/quadrf) went live June 2, 2026, targeting July 2026 shipments. At roughly $399, a single QuadRF tile is a standalone RF camera; sixty tiles daisy-chain into the 240-antenna [MoonRF](https://moonrf.com/) array designed for Earth-Moon-Earth amateur radio communication.

## Example

At 30 fps, QuadRF renders a live augmented-reality heat map of every 5–6 GHz transmitter in a room—Wi-Fi access points, drones, handheld radios—overlaid on a phone camera view. A Hackaday demonstration in June 2026 showed the system distinguishing a quadcopter’s two separate video transmitters simultaneously in flight.

## Analogy

Think of it as a radar gun for the full radio spectrum, cheap enough to build into a university lab kit.

## Why it's emerging now

QuadRF is the first open-source 4x4 MIMO phased-array tile priced for hobbyists and universities (~$399), arriving as the SDR community exhausts what single-antenna dongles can do. The Crowd Supply campaign opening in June 2026 marks the window where early content and tooling earn durable authority in a search-empty niche.

## Related terms

- *parent:* MoonRF
- *related:* ScaleRF
- *parent:* software-defined radio
- *parent:* phased array
- *related:* beamforming
- *related:* 4x4 MIMO
- *competitor:* RTL-SDR
- *related:* GNU Radio
- *related:* SoapySDR
- *related:* mimo-code

## Sources

1. [QuadRF — Crowd Supply campaign page (ScaleRF)](https://www.crowdsupply.com/scale-rf/quadrf)
2. [MoonRF / ScaleRF official site — product lineup and pricing](https://moonrf.com/)
3. [QuadRF development updates — Nov 2025 through Jun 2026](https://moonrf.com/updates/)
4. [QuadRF technical documentation — FPGA, specs, MIMO architecture](https://moonrf.com/docs/)
5. [Hackaday — ‘Seeing the world in radio waves with the QuadRF’ (Jun 20, 2026)](https://hackaday.com/2026/06/20/seeing-the-world-in-radio-waves-with-the-quadrf/)
6. [RTL-SDR.com — QuadRF coming to Crowd Supply (Jun 8, 2026)](https://www.rtl-sdr.com/quadrf-4-element-beamforming-sdr-tile-coming-to-crowd-supply/)
7. [open-space-sdr/main — open-source firmware and RF camera stack (230 stars)](https://github.com/open-space-sdr/main)
8. [Zero Retries 0253 — QuadRF Crowd Supply launch update (Jun 5, 2026)](https://www.zeroretries.org/p/zero-retries-0253)

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_Generated by EarlyTerms · https://earlyterms.com/term/quadrf_