Introduction to BPI-R4

The BPI-R4 router board is designed using MediaTek MT7988A (Filogic 880) quad core ARM Corex-A73 solution, with 4GB DDR4 memory, 8GB eMMC storage, 128MB SPI-NAND flash memory, and also has 2 10Gbe SFP optical ports, 4x Gbe Gigabit Ethernet ports, with USB3.2 ports, M.2 interfaces supporting 4G/5G/NVME SSD.2x miniPCIe3.0 2lane interfaces, and Wi Fi 7 network interface cards. It is a very high-performance open-source router development board.

Introduction to MediaTek MT7988 (Filogic 880) Chip

MediaTek‘s Filogic 880,36Gbps Wi Fi 7 access point/router/gateway platform provides the fastest and most reliable network connection experience

MediaTek‘s powerful quad core CPU and MediaTek network processor (NPU): The embedded CPU of MediaTek‘s Filogic 880 features a quad core Arm Cortex-A73, with a large internal cache and a speed of up to 1.8GHz, providing class leading performance close to 30K DMIPS. By uninstalling network tasks through NPU, device manufacturers can use CPE for free to provide operating system customization, built-in services, and applications to expand functionality, which is now a regular feature of flagship routers/AP devices.

The On Chip Network Processing Unit (NPU) designed by MediaTek provides hardware QoS acceleration and tunnel offloading engines for VLAN/PPTP/L2TP/GRE. It surpasses other products and can use both Wi Fi and Ethernet connections to ensure full speed performance, while also uninstalling the main application processor.

The MediaTek Filogic 880 platform has high scalability and high-speed internal and external interfaces, including 10Gbps PCI-Express, 5Gbps USB, UART, SD, SPI, PWM, GPIO, and OTP, providing rich platform customization opportunities.

MediaTek MT7988A is a world leading network processing platform that provides high-performance and reliable network experiences in both wired and wireless applications. MT7988A includes a rich set of connection interfaces, including 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports. Two UNXGMII interfaces. With 4 PCIe interfaces and 2 USB 3.2 interfaces, MT7988A further achieves seamless Wi Fi 7 triple band, 2.4 GHz, 5GHz, and 6 GHz connectivity. Its Wi Fi 7 supporting chip has a bandwidth of 320mhz, 4096-QAM, MLO, MRU, and AFC.

In order to meet the rapidly developing needs of tunnel applications, MT7988A is equipped with MediaTek Tunnel Offloading Processor System (TOPS), which helps to handle various tunnel protocols. MT7988A is committed to improving network transmission performance to advanced levels through the carefully adjusted MediaTek TOPS ISA to optimize network performance.

Application scenarios

• Internet Service Router
  
• WiFi 7 wireless router
  
• 4G/5G wireless router
  
• Wireless/wired relay communication gateway
  
• Home Safety Gateway
  
• Smart Home Control Gateway
  
• Nas gateway
  
• Network communication applications
  
• Industrial control and integrated communication applications

Key Features

• MediaTek MT7988A (Filogic 880) quad core Arm Corex-A73,1.8GHz processor
  
• 4GB DDR4 memory
  
• 8GB eMMC storage
  
• 128MB SPI-NAND Flash storage
  
• Micro SD card holder
  
• 2x 10Gbe SFP optoelectronic ports (optional: 1x 10Gbe SFP optoelectronic products and 1x 2.5Gbe network ports)
  
• 4x Gbe Gigabit Ethernet port
  
• 1x USB 3.2 interface
  
• 1x M.2 KEY-B interface connected to 5G module using USB3.2 interface
  
• 1x M.2 KEY-M interface uses PCIe 3.0 1lane interface to connect NVME SSD hard drive
  
• 2x miniPCIE interface uses PCIe 3.0 2lane interface to connect Wi Fi 7 NIC (network interface card)
  
• 26 PIN GPIO extension

Hardware

Hardware interface diagram

WiFi7 iPA network port module support

The BPI-R4 wifi 7 module is designed using the MediaTek MT7996+MT7995+MT7977A+MT7977B chip solution

Hardware specifications

BPI-R4 wifi7 module use MediaTek MT7996+MT7995+MT7977A+MT7977B chip design.

Wifi 7 module interface