New Raspberry Pi 3 Announced – Improved Processor & Networking

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ Announced

On this Pi day, The Raspberry Pi organization released its new board called ‘Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+‘ enhanced with new 1.4 GHz Cortex A53 Processor and a Dual-band WiFi compliance. The Pi organization also announced that it is working on Power Over Ethernet which makes Powering the Pi over Ethernet line. The new Raspberry Pi 3 B+ has the following upgrades :

• New Broadcom BCM2837B0, Cortex-A53 (ARMv8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.4GHz
• Dual Band Wi-Fi – 2.4GHz and 5GHz IEEE 802.11.b/g/n/ac wireless LAN.
• Bluetooth 4.2, BLE – Bluetooth Low Energy
• Upgraded Ethernet speed from 100 Mb/s to 300 MB/s Gigabit speed over USB 2.0.
• Certified Dual-band Wi-Fi for an easier prototype.
• Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) support (requires separate PoE HAT)

Other Technical features in Pi 3B+

• 1GB LPDDR2 SDRAM
• Extended 40-pin GPIO header
• Full-size HDMI
• 4 USB 2.0 ports
• CSI camera port for connecting a Raspberry Pi camera
• DSI display port for connecting a Raspberry Pi touchscreen display
• 4-pole stereo output and composite video port
• Micro SD port for loading your operating system and storing data
• 5V/2.5A DC power input

Detailed Specification:

Processor:

The Raspberry Pi 3B+ is enhanced by a new high speed 1.4Ghz Cortex A53 CPU (1.2Ghz in Pi 3). It improves the speed of the Pi. It has improved the thermal design to reduce heat dissipation. An aluminum coating is covered on the top of the processor which act as a heat sink.

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Dual-Band Wi-Fi:

In the new Raspberry Pi 3B+, The Wi-Fi is upgraded to Dual Band (2.4 GHz & 5 GHz). The dual-band wireless LAN comes with modular compliance certification. This allows the board to be designed into end product with significantly reduced wireless LAN compliance testing, improving both cost and time to market. The dual-band Wi-Fi might be the new Wi-Fi standard in the IoT devices. The advantage of 5 GHz is that it will have less interference & improved performance.

Bluetooth:

The Bluetooth 4.1 in the previous Pi 3 is upgraded to 4.2 with Bluetooth Low Energy in the new Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+. This makes the Tinkerers create their own IoT Hubs.

Gigabit Ethernet via USB 2.0:

The Ethernet speed is upgraded from 100 Mbps to 300 Mbps (Gigabit speed) which is three times faster than previous boards.

Power Over Ethernet:

Raspberry Pi foundation is working on the Power over Ethernet feature. This will enable the Pi to consume power from the Ethernet line. The developers are found a workaround for this and will be making a new Pi HAT for this. Users can buy this and attach it to their Pi to use this feature.

Apart from this, the dimensions and price range remains same. Hobbyists can utilize their old Pi 3 cases & Peripherals with the new Pi too. The Raspberry Pi 3B+ is expected to be available now.