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Table of Contents

Scope

Scope of this Beta engineering release is for RDK-B community to explore and understand RDK-B running on Banana pi R4.We have given support for 6G in this release along with many other existing feature support in BananaPi similar to other platforms .

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Frequently Asked Questions

• Can i use this release for production - No this is just for understandingNot recommended
• Does it cover all features - Most of the existing features are coveredYes
• what release version i can use for deployment - 2025Q2 release is planned for deployment
• Can i share this prebeta Beta release with my OEM's/Operators/SI's/SoC's - You are free to share
• Can i contact rdk RDKM team if i have any queries/to give any feedback - Yes
• Is this Beta engineering release fully tested - Yes we have done End to End testing
• Can i use Beta release for my development/New enhancements - Yes
• Does beta release support 6.x linux kernel,If no what is the plan - Beta release support 5.4 kernel and we are planning linux kernel 6.1 upgrade with upcoming mediatek BSP release
• Does beta release support EasyMesh/Wi-Fi 7 - No,We plan Post beta release
• Can i expand RAM in BPI R4 - You have to do it on Hand,Please refer here https://forum.banana-pi.org/t/bpi-r4-successfully-upgraded-8gb-ram-on-bpi-r4/17882/5

Build instructions

NAND
repo init -u https://code.rdkcentral.com/r/reference/manifests -m bpi4_tags/rdkb-bpi-extsrc-2025Q1.xml -b master
repo sync -j`nproc` --no-clone-bundle
MACHINE=bananapi4-rdk-broadband source meta-cmf-bananapi/setup-environment-refboard-rdkb
bitbake rdk-generic-broadband-image

SD card

repo init -u https://code.rdkcentral.com/r/reference/manifests -m bpi4_tags/rdkb-bpi-extsrc-2025Q1.xml -b master
repo sync -j `nproc` --no-clone-bundle --no-tags 
MACHINE=bananapi4-rdk-broadband BPI_IMG_TYPE=sdmmc source meta-cmf-bananapi/setup-environment-refboard-rdkb
bitbake rdk-generic-broadband-image

Common Build Error 

• Please follow link below to build binary if not having access to artifacts and getting below error

           https://wiki.rdkcentral.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=354648448

• Copy the built binary to necessary path in meta-cmf-bananapi and change the SRC_URI to pint to the binary
  
  

ERROR: bootloader-prebuild-r0 do_fetch: Bitbake Fetcher Error: FetchError('Unable to fetch URL from any source.', 'https://artifactory.rdkcentral.com/artifactory/RDKB-Platform/BPI-R4/uboot-2024.04/bpi-r4_sdmmc_bl2.img;name=bl2')

Flashing instructions(NAND flash)

Pre-requirements: Install tftp server in you local machine and copy the image to tftp server location

Flashing instructions(SD card)

Tested machines - Linux,MacOs

Boot mode

• NAND 

  • switch configuration

    • https://wiki.banana-pi.org/Getting_Started_with_BPI-R4#Prepare_to_develop

• SD 

  • switch configuration

    • https://wiki.banana-pi.org/Getting_Started_with_BPI-R4#Prepare_to_develop

Yocto 

• Version

  • Kirkstone(Yocto 4.0)

• SoC meta layers

  • meta-filogic
  • meta-cmf-filogic

• RDK meta layers

  • meta-cmf-bananapi
    • https://github.com/rdkcentral/meta-cmf-bananapi/tree/Beta

Kernel & user space

• Kernel 5.4 
• Full 64bit (User space and kernel space)

Currently supported & working WAN technologies

• draw.io Diagram
  border true diagramName ethwan simpleViewer false links auto tbstyle top lbox true diagramWidth 111 height 132 revision 1

• draw.io Diagram
  border true diagramName fixedwirelesswan simpleViewer false links auto tbstyle top lbox true diagramWidth 110 height 91 revision 1

Wi-Fi highlights

• 2.4 Ghz (wifi0)
• 5 Ghz (wifi1)
• 6 Ghz(wifi2)
• Does it support multiple creations - As of now we have not created any VAP's.Technically that is possible based on requirement.

Cellular Network highlights

• Tested in North America & APAC regions

Flashing mechanism

• Primary

  • NAND flash supported in Beta Engineering release

• Secondary

  • SD flash supported in Beta Engineering release
  • Prerequisites:You may need to compile your own uboot and copy files to build system before build.The reason is uboot code is not fully open.as of now we are not authorized to host binaries in RDKM(SD Monolitic image build and flashing steps for BPI R4.)

Hardware & Peripherals

• Banana Pi R4 Router Board
• BE14 Wi-Fi 7 card & Antennas
• Quectel EM05-G Cellular Modem
• Power supply & Heat sinks
• Case (Optional)
• serial cable

How to get bananapi R4

• https://www.amazon.com/Development-MediaTek-MT7988A-onboard-Network/dp/B0DFBLL1CX/ref=sr_1_3?crid=F4K6S2C1WSLY&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.VcoMSeqhcGQZZ_Izyt-ezSl4nissusDy-9DX3HtClc5bM0CS1tY8XJu61qTPGaRRTQcyNK6BYUXP_vPjx0FIXXkdDGjpgGdSIzz0IQ0Xy2Qrw5_58JPNNl5PQUT6Arvw64sR8D7uwWeqZY0WAlGFZfff303GAp8FdafZ9UWHJ6TFcUIZh_jtU4Wrr9u131p7plmRCHSqIU-dAFGS4Z_plaknOogJtU7PtddRVlPLHd8.SU2S2lZCwzak9CRvg1LH_uRzc_0UKs1UeQqvk5xvIO0&dib_tag=se&keywords=banana+pi+r4&qid=1729895436&sprefix=bananapi+r4%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-3
• Cellular Modem - Quectel EM05-G LTE M.2 Module/Simcom Module 8200EAM2
  • Note: For testing with other CellularModules,There might need some changes in ModemManager (You can plan it on your own)

Features supported in

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Beta engineering release

• draw.io Diagram
  border true diagramName featuressuported simpleViewer false width links auto tbstyle top lbox true diagramWidth 8511064 height 654817 revision 114

Validation  Status

Sanity Status 

Features Status

List of Supported Features - User Manual's

1. Webpa - WebPA Feature Support on BPI R4 - User Manual
2. RFC -RFC Feature Support in RDKB BPI - User manual
3. WebConfig -WebConfig Feature Support in RDKB BPI - User Manual
4. Telemetry 2 - Telemetry 2.0 Feature support for RDKB BPI -User Manual
5. Log Rotate -Log Rotation Feature Support in RDKB BPI - User manual
6. Cellular -  Cellular Feature support in RDKB BPI - User Manual
7. UspPa UspPa -
   1.  
   1. Including UspPa in a device
   2. TR-369/USP on RDK-B
   3. OBUSPA 8.0 User Manual(Engineering Version)
8. CpuProcAnalyser - Cpuprocanalyzer Feature support in RDKB BPI - User Manual
9. OneWifi - OneWifi Integration in RDKB BPI - User Manual
10. Selfheal - Self Heal Feature in BPI - User manual - Preferred Program - RDK Central Wiki
11. TR-69 - TR069 Support for Bananapi R4 - Preferred Program - RDK Central Wiki
12. SNMP - SNMP Support for BPIR4 - Preferred Program - RDK Central WikiWiFi (6E)
13. OneWifi with Single WiPhy support 
    1. OneWifi Integration in RDKB BPI - User Manual
    2. Single wiphy design for Onewifi/rdk-wifi-hal
14. Crashupload - Crash Upload Feature RDK-B - RDK - RDK Central Wiki
15. Test and Diagnostics similar to RPI- Test and Diagnostic on R-Pi
16. Bridge Mode similar to RPI- BridgeMode Feature support in RPI
17. DAC similar to RPI 
    1. Containerization using META DAC SDK in RDK-B RPI
    2. DAC on BPI R4 RDK-B -64 bit
    3. iperf3 application
18. eSDK - RDKB: Extensible SDK support on (BananaPi R4) Yocto 4.0 Kirkstone build
19. PopulateSDK : Creating Yocto SDK 
20. SD card support - SD Monolitic image build and flashing steps for BPI R4.

Roadmap of new Features

Known issues  

• NA

References

• About Bananapi R4 - https://www.banana-pi.org/en/bananapi-router/155.html
• Cellular Modem - https://en.simcom.com/product/SIM8200EA_M2.html
• https://wiki.banana-pi.org/Getting_Started_with_BPI-R4#2.EF.BC.89_4G.2F5G_Module

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• EM05-G

  • View file
    name Quectel_EM05_Series_LTE_Standard_Specification_V1.7(1).pdf height 250

     

Reference image 

• Can be provided to RDK-B Licenses on demand

Test results reference

• View file
  name BPI4-Kirkstone-E2E-Results.docx height 250

  BPI-R4 E2E Report

  View file name

  BPI4

  Minimal-

  Tagged

  Functionality-

  Feature

  for-

  Details

  BPI-

  And

  R4-

  E2E-validation-20241028

  64bit-kirkstone_Feb5.docx height 250

Additional info

• As of now Bluetooth/BlueZ is not supported in Beta release.in case if some organization need.pls add this code manually -Bluetooth support in Banana Pi R4(Reference) - Generic Module

For support

• Please reachout to support@rdkcentral.com

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