Banana Pi BPI-R4 Wifi 7 Module design

[wvdakker]

@frank-w

mt7916

thanks, will look into that.

[Sebastian_Kwiatkowsk (Sebastian Kwiatkowski)]

If I get mt7916 WIFI what image can I put on the device which will have the needed drivers and UI for easy router setup?

[frank-w]

Please open new thread for this as this is for r4 wifi7 card

[totkeks (Norman Dankert)]

There was news today on X about the WIFI7 NIC: https://twitter.com/sinovoip/status/1790331961963401630

Banana Pi BPI-R4 WIFI7 NIC 6 antenna finish all test, and will public sale soon

[oli]

awesome news. i am wondering if there is a “list” that is recommended to buy, e.g. what antennas exactly (quality etc.), and if there are any things to consider when using a case (layout of the antennas and their connection to the card)

[Lorem_amicus (Michael Fischer)]

I made a remark on the “official” Wifi 7 Nic board chat:

Banana Pi BPI-R4 BPI-BE14 Wi-Fi7 NIC module

There is a new info about the release of the board: https://twitter.com/sinovoip/status/1790331961963401630 I wouldn’t say it is very informative … but better than nothing!

Thanks

[spyro (Ian Molton)]

Hi…

Where can I buy it?

[oli]

nowhere, its WIP. when its done, you can buy directly from sinovoip e.g. on aliexpress.

for anyone interested regarding antennas: if i understood the person from sinovoip, seems like there are special antennas required for wifi 7 which will be sold when the card comes out.

[jens1976]

Ok, will they also work with Wifi6? Or will you need different ones?

[oli]

i assume they will work with all wifi standards. otherwise, it would be useless, wouldnt it.

[Voidstranger]

So there is no 14 antennas version anymore?

[frank-w]

Afaik same state as here:

BPI-R4 - any information?

You can ask wei about this We replaced the original MT7975N (2.4G, 4x4) and MT7977B (5G, 4x4) with MT7976C (2.4G 2x2 + 5G 3x3), and then used a diplexer to aggregate 2.4G and 5G together (same as R3mini), although The overall speed is reduced a bit, but the number of antennas is reduced significantly, which we think is worth it. As for the 14-antenna version, we will check it later and decide whether we need to continue doing it or not.

And generally for release:

Banana Pi BPI-R4 BPI-BE14 Wi-Fi7 NIC module

I have been busy with BE14 calibration, OpenWRT One testing and R4’s case, so don’t have much time, sorry. We are modifying the layout of BE14 recently, and the V1.0 version will be produced soon, but the quantity will not be too large, just about 30 to 40. After that, it will be hundreds.

Mainline driver does not support firmware we have at the moment…we need a newer wifi firmware which is compatible with mainline code.

[sinovoip (bpi team)]

ths wifi modue test report . Continue to test wifi7 and optimize it

BPI-R4-NIC-BE14_report(20240522).xlsx (22.6 KB)

[M10 (M)]

What speed level can we get on 6GHz band with card like intel be200m or similiar?

[a_human]

planning to use this on a x86_64 build openwrt computer when its released, but how can you connect this to your motherboard? i know we can use two PCIe to mPCIe adapters but how can we inject 12v into this wifi module?

[frank-w]

I guess you can supply 12v via the white jst connector,difficulter will be the mpcie connection as you need 2 slots with same spacing

[a_human]

also if we have a adapter that can use only one full PCIe x16 and converts it to two mPCIe would be great

[a_human]

Oh, thanks for replying!

But here’s what I would do with the 14 antenna module, Buy two mPCIe extenders then connect it to your PCIe to mPCIe adapter then you screw the wifi board to a metal like an hard drive slot (you should probably put a plastic between the metal and the wifi board to prevent it from shorting) now connect the two mPCIe extenders to the wifi module. Though I don’t know if those type of extenders exist, I will check online.

EDIT: oh man, the prices are ridicolously high for just a small adapter, like 23 dollars (in my country)

[a_human]

What about the 14 antenna design? Do I have to trace it instead or i just have to find the right soldered holes for it?

[Lorem_amicus (Michael Fischer)]

Sounds interesting … why do you want do build an x86_64 system? I thought x84 is dying.