0017 MPSW7 EN
Keywords
Raspberry Pi 5, 2230, 2242, 2280, Pi OS, Ubuntu, NVMe SSD, PCIe expansion, SSD X1, WiFi7
I. Introduction
The Raspberry Pi 5 has a built-in 16-pin PCIe port for connecting external PCIe devices. "The MPSW7 is an expansion board for the Raspberry Pi 5 that supports both NVMe SSDs and WiFi 7 modules, though they cannot be used at the same time. This expansion board supports SSDs in 2230, 2242, and 2280 sizes, the SSD can be used as a bootable OS or solely for data storage purposes (with the OS booting from a TF card). The WiFi7 module requires driver installation to work on Raspberry Pi OS, while it is plug-and-play on Ubuntu OS. This module also supports WiFi5 and WiFi6(E) with M.2 A & E interfaces.
II. Hardware Spec
1) Utilize the PCIe interface of the Raspberry Pi 5, employ a PCIe Switch chip to split one PCIe into two, and connect using a 0.5mm pitch 16-pin PCIe 2.0 x1 interface.
2) The design uses a 1.5A high-efficiency DC-DC circuit, supporting most SSDs (the x1 interface limits actual peak power to 1/3 of the rated value).
3) 1*PCIe M.2 M-key slot, supporting NVMe protocol SSDs in 2230/2242/2280 sizes (2280 mounting standoff pre-installed by default).
4) 1*PCIe M.2 E-key slot, supports WiFi7 modules (BE200), and is also compatible with WiFi6 and WiFi5, such as AX210, AX200, MT7922, MT7925, Intel 8265C, etc.
5) 1*1.25mm 4Pin USB Bluetooth interface (included with the WiFi module). To use the Bluetooth function, this USB must be connected to a USB 2.0 port on the Raspberry Pi 5, and it requires drivers and a profile to work properly.
6) 3*LEDs, including one 5V power indicator ("PWR"), one SSD activity indicator, and one WiFi operation indicator ("ACT").
7) The expansion board features an inward recessed slot design, with the 40Pin connector unobstructed on top to ensure unimpeded Dupont wire connections.
8) Reserve 2*SMA antenna connectors
9) 4*M2.5 mounting holes, aligned with the Raspberry Pi 5 positioning holes.
10) Immersion gold process, lead-free production, PCB complies with UL and RoHS certifications, flammability rating 94V-0.
11) Optional aluminum alloy casing.
Notes:
1) The SSD does not support solid-state drives with NGFF and SATA protocols.
2) An NVMe SSD can be used for data storage purposes, it can also serve as a boot device for the OS, provided that the Raspberry Pi 5's firmware is version 2024.5.13 or later.
3) The SSD only supports Gen2 mode and does not support Gen3 mode because a PCIe Switch chip is used.
III. Work with Raspberry Pi OS
We use the Raspberry Pi OS, the OS version is 2024-07-04-raspios-bookworm-arm64.img.xz
You can download it in:
https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/operating-systems/#raspberry-pi-os-64-bit
The OS is flashed onto a TF card or SSD.
For the flashing method, please refer to:
3.1 Install WiFi7 (BE200) driver
Note 1: Once the WiFi7 driver is successfully installed, the original WiFi module of the Raspberry Pi 5 will no longer be usable!
Note 2: On the MPSW7, the WiFi7 module and the SSD cannot be used simultaneously, only one can be operational at a time. When both the WiFi7 module and the SSD are inserted into the expansion board, the SSD will take priority in recognition.
Note 3: If the Raspberry Pi OS is booted from an SSD and the WiFi7 driver is installed, both WiFi modules will be unavailable.
Note 4: The steps for installing the driver apply to both the AX210 and AX200.
3.1.1 Update the OS and header files
Execute in the terminal:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt install -y raspberrypi-kernel-headers firmware-iwlwifi flex yacc
3.1.2 Download and extract the source code
Execute in the terminal:
mkdir wifi && cd wifi
wget http://www.mcuzone.com/wiki/0011_MPW7/backport-iwlwifi-20231029.tar.bz2
sudo tar -xvf backport-iwlwifi-20231029.tar.bz2
3.1.3 Prepare the compilation environment
Execute in the terminal:
sudo make defconfig-iwlwifi-public
sudo sed -i 's/CPTCFG_IWLMVM_VENDOR_CMDS=y/# CPTCFG_IWLMVM_VENDOR_CMDS is not set/' .config
3.1.4 Compile source code
Execute in the terminal:
sudo make -j 4
sudo make install
The OS is now prompting a restart. Please hold off on restarting for now.
3.1.5 Install the firmware
(If using AX200 or AX210, skip this step.)
Execute in the terminal:
cd ..
cd Downloads
wget http://www.mcuzone.com/wiki/0011_MPW7/firmware_wifi7.zip
unzip firmware_wifi7.zip
sudo cp iwlwifi-gl-c0-fm-c0-86.ucode /lib/firmware
sudo cp iwlwifi-gl-c0-fm-c0.pnvm /lib/firmware
Restart the OS:
sudo reboot
3.1.6 Test WiFi7
After restarting the OS, we can use the WiFi7 module to connect to the wireless AP:
In the network connection information, we can also see that this connection uses the iwlwifi driver (if it's the wireless network card integrated on the core board, the driver will be displayed as brcmfmac):
The speed test results when connected to the external network (200M broadband) via the WiFi7 module are as follows:
Note: Network speed tests are affected by the network environment and testing methods. Please refer to the actual speed, as this test is for reference only.
3.2 SSD testing
An SSD can be used both for data storage and as a OS boot drive.
Below are the test operations for using an SSD for data storage.
3.2.1 The basic operations of SSD
For reference, see the following link:
Use the SSD for storage expansion (Raspberry Pi OS)
Perform partitioning and other operations on the SSD
Change the peripheral boot order
3.2.2 SSD interface speed test
Install hdparm, a tool for measuring hard disk speed. Execute it in the terminal:
sudo apt install hdparm
Since the MPSW7 cannot operate in PCIe Gen3 mode, we do not need to change the PCIe mode and can directly test the interface speed using hdparm.
In the terminal, execute df to check that the SSD partition name is nvme0n1p1:
Execute the command, which can be executed multiple times to test the SSD interface speed repeatedly:
sudo hdparm -t /dev/nvme0n1p1
It can be seen that the interface speed of this SSD is approximately 395Mbps.
Note: The operational speed of the SSD is influenced by various factors such as the quality of the SSD and the file storage conditions on the SSD. The above test results are for reference only and do not serve as the final parameters for the actual product.
VI. Work with Ubuntu OS
We use the Ubuntu OS, the OS version is ubuntu-24.04-preinstalled-desktop-arm64+raspi.img.xz
You can download it in:
https://ubuntu.com/download/raspberry-pi
Note: Under MPSW7, the WiFi7 module and SSD cannot be used simultaneously, only one can be operational. When both the WiFi7 module and SSD are inserted into the expansion board, the SSD will take priority and be recognized first.
4.1 WiFi7 (BE200) testing
The WiFi7 module is plug-and-play on the Ubuntu OS. After the OS boots up, there will be a "PCI Wi-Fi" option in the "Wi-Fi" section at the top-right corner of the screen, this is the WiFi7 module:
After connecting to the wireless AP using this "PCI Wi-Fi", you can see a WiFi network named "Intel" under "All Networks". This is the WiFi7 module:
The speed test results when connected to the external network (200M broadband) via the WiFi7 module are as follows:
Note: Network speed tests are affected by the network environment and testing methods. Please refer to the actual speed, as this test is for reference only.
If the built-in Firefox browser in Ubuntu OS runs very slowly or frequently becomes unresponsive, it is recommended to install the lightweight browser Falkon:
sudo apt install falkon
4.2 SSD Testing
4.2.1 The basic operations of SSD
We can refer to the following link. Apart from the slight differences in using an SSD as storage expansion under the Raspberry Pi OS, the rest is basically the same:
Use the SSD for storage expansion (Ubuntu OS)
Perform partitioning and other operations on the SSD
Change the peripheral boot order
4.2.2 SSD interface speed test
Install hdparm, a tool for measuring hard disk speed. The method can be found in Section 3.2.2.
Since the MPSW7 cannot operate in PCIe Gen3 mode, we do not need to change the PCIe mode and can directly test the interface speed using hdparm.
In the OS, execute df to check that the SSD partition name is nvme0n1p1:
Execute the command, which can be executed multiple times to test the SSD interface speed repeatedly:
sudo hdparm -t /dev/nvme0n1p1
It can be seen that the interface speed of this SSD is approximately 394Mbps.
Note: The operational speed of the SSD is influenced by various factors such as the quality of the SSD and the file storage conditions on the SSD. The above test results are for reference only and do not serve as the final parameters for the actual product.
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