The Banana Pi team is developing a new router board, the BPI-R4 Lite, which is expected to support Wi-Fi 7 and high-speed networking. The design is based on the MediaTek MT7987A quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor and includes multiple connectivity and expansion options.

Current design plans include 2GB of DDR4 memory, with support for up to 4GB, along with 8GB of eMMC storage. Additional storage options include a 256MB SPI-NAND flash, a 32MB SPI-NOR flash, and a microSD card slot.

For networking, the proposed configuration includes a 2.5G SFP port, a 2.5G RJ45 WAN port with optional PoE support, and four 1G RJ45 LAN ports.

Banana Pi BPI-R4 Lite PCIe Slot Configuration(click image to enlarge)
Expansion options under discussion include an M.2 Key-B slot with USB 3.0 for 5G modules, a miniPCIe slot with PCIe 3.0 2-lane support for Wi-Fi 7 NICs, and another miniPCIe slot with USB 2.0. The design also includes a USB 3.0 port, a USB Type-C debug console, and two 8-pin MikroBUS headers for additional application development.

A key design consideration is the miniPCIe slot configuration. The current plan includes two PCIe 1-lane connections for two miniPCIe slots. However, to support high-speed Wi-Fi 7 cards like the BE14, a special setup has been proposed that allows direct insertion without requiring an adapter.

Banana Pi BPI-R4 Lite Design(click image to enlarge)
Since access point Wi-Fi modules tend to be larger and have higher power consumption, the team is maintaining miniPCIe as the primary form factor. While M.2 A+E cards such as the MT7925 and QCNCM865 are typically used for STA applications, there are ongoing discussions about potential adapter solutions for specific use cases.

Further Information

Development updates and discussions can be found on the Banana Pi forum.