Unified image
Reuse a Pi 4 with USB adapters.
Good for
- Reusing a Pi 4 or R4 you already own
- Two-channel captures with two USB adapters
Hardware
| Part | Detail |
|---|---|
| Processor | Broadcom BCM2711 |
| Wi-Fi | USB adapters only; no M.2 slot |
| USB | Two USB 3.0 ports (5 Gb/s; also called USB 3.1 Gen 1 and USB 3.2 Gen 1) and two USB 2.0 ports. All four sit behind one VIA VL805 controller on a single PCIe 2.0 ×1 link (5 GT/s, about 4 Gb/s), so the ports share it. A Netgear A9000 (MT7925U) linked at 5 Gb/s |
| Storage | microSD |
| Wired | Gigabit Ethernet; PoE needs an add-on HAT (not tested) |
| Display | The original WLAN Pi R4 display and button HAT, after one setting |
| Memory | 1, 2, 4 or 8 GB, depending on the model you buy |
What you can buy
- Memory: 1, 2, 4 or 8 GB. Any model runs the image. More memory means longer bursts held once capture buffering ships.
- Storage: microSD. Write speed depends on the card.
- Wi-Fi: USB adapters only. Plug them into the blue USB 3.0 ports. Two adapters share one 5 Gb/s controller link.
- Power and PoE: USB-C 5 V / 3 A supply; PoE through an add-on HAT. We have not tested a PoE HAT with the image.
Radios
| Card | Measured |
|---|---|
| MediaTek MT7925U (Netgear A9000) | 6 GHz at 160 MHz with no drops |
Limits
- No PCIe slot, so no 320 MHz card.
Measured
- One-hour capture on two USB adapters at once: 2,645,918 and 627,327 packets, no kernel drops.
Install
Write the factory image to microSD and start on Ethernet. Choose a supported USB radio. The original WLAN Pi R4 display and button HAT needs an explicit display setting; the display may stay blank on first boot until it is selected. Other HATs are not automatically compatible.
Then follow the unified image setup guide: claim the sensor with its one-time code, and connect from the app or the device website.