0031 MPULoRa EN

Keywords

Raspberry Pi 5, Raspberry Pi OS, Ubuntu, LoRa, PCIe expansion, 4G LTE, Driver-free, Plug and play

I. Introduction

MPULoRa is a LoRa module driver board specifically designed for Raspberry Pi 5. The PCIe interface of the Raspberry Pi 5 is converted to 4 USB ports via a PCIe-to-USB chip, with one of the ports connected to a mini PCIe slot for interfacing with a LoRa module. The PCIe interface provides both power and communication. It is automatically recognized and supports plug-and-play functionality on both the Raspberry Pi OS and Ubuntu OS, requiring no additional drivers. Additionally, three USB 2.0 interfaces are provided in a 1.25mm-4Pin connector. These three USB ports can be used to connect 4G or GPS modules, other USB devices, or can be used in conjunction with LoRa modules. This expansion board comes with an onboard 2.54mm-2P auxiliary power port. If insufficient power supply is encountered during use, the auxiliary power supply can be utilized. The 4G modules compatible with the expansion boards are all driver-free and support plug-and-play without dial-up. They are automatically recognized in both the Raspberry Pi OS and Ubuntu OS, requiring no additional driver installation.

II. Hardware Spec

1. Onboard uses high-efficiency imported DC-DC chips.

2. 1*PCIe interface, 0.5mm-16P, used to connect to the PCIe interface of Raspberry Pi 5; expands PCIe into 4*USB ports.

3. 1*USB MiniPCIe interface, suitable for LoRa modules with USB port.

4. 3*USB 2.0 ports, 1.25mm-4P.

5. 1*Power LED.

6. Reserve 1*SMA antenna connector.

7. Size: 85*56mm. Fully compatible with the Raspberry Pi 5 in terms of size. The board features a grooved design that does not interfere with the GPIO of the Raspberry Pi 5.

8. Aluminum alloy casing(OPT.)

When using LoRa and 4G modules together, if insufficient power supply is detected, external power can be provided through the onboard auxiliary power interface or via the power connection method shown in the figure above.

(Note: If LoRa and 4G are used together, they cannot be installed into the housing simultaneously.)

III. LoRa module test

▶ The LoRa model for used: E22 400T30E

Hardware: Raspberry Pi 5 + MPU LoRa expansion board and CM4_LoRa expansion board (note that the corresponding LoRa jumpers (M0 and M1) must be short-circuited).

During testing, the Raspberry Pi 5 is referred to as Device A, and the CM4_LoRa expansion board is referred to as Device B.

3.1 Test in Raspberry Pi OS

Raspberry Pi 5 and the CM4_LoRa expansion board are both running Raspberry Pi OS, with the OS version is: 2025-05-13-raspios-bookworm-arm64.img.xz.

In the Raspberry Pi 5 and CM4_LoRa expansion board, execute ls /dev/tty* in the terminal respectively to check the serial port device of the LoRa module, both of which are ttyUSB0:

Raspberry Pi 5:

CM4_LoRa expansion board:

Install the graphical serial port software CuteCom:

sudo apt install cutecom

In the OSs of both Raspberry Pi 5 and CM4_LoRa expansion boards, open CuteCom, select ttyUSB0 for the Device, keep the rest as default, and then open this device.

When information (Mcuzone_Lora_A_RP5) is entered and sent in the CuteCom window on Raspberry Pi 5 (Device A), it is received in the CuteCom window of the CM4_LoRa expansion board (Device B).

When information (Mcuzone_Lora_B_CM4) is entered and sent in the CuteCom window on CM4_LoRa expansion board (Device B), it is received in the CuteCom window of the Raspberry Pi 5 (Device A):

RPi5■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■CM4

3.2 Test in Ubuntu OS

The Raspberry Pi 5 runs the Ubuntu OS, with the OS version is: ubuntu-25.04-preinstalled-desktop-arm64+raspi.img.xz.

The CM4 LoRa expansion board still runs the original Raspberry Pi OS.

Under Raspberry Pi 5, execute ls /dev/tty* in the terminal to check the serial port device of the LoRa module, which is ttyUSB0:

If you are unable to input information after double-clicking to open CuteCom on Ubuntu, please execute the command in the terminal to open it:

sudo apt cutecom

In the OSs of both Raspberry Pi 5 and CM4_LoRa expansion boards, open CuteCom, select ttyUSB0 for the Device, keep the rest as default, and then open this device.

When information (Mcuzone_Lora_A_RP5) is entered and sent in the CuteCom window on Raspberry Pi 5 (Device A), it is received in the CuteCom window of the CM4_LoRa expansion board (Device B).

When information (Mcuzone_Lora_B_CM4) is entered and sent in the CuteCom window on CM4_LoRa expansion board (Device B), it is received in the CuteCom window of the Raspberry Pi 5 (Device A):

RPi5■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■CM4

IV. 4G module test

The MPULoRa expansion board can also be connected to a 4G LTE module via the USB2.0-1.25mm-4P port. The test uses the CM4 Qualcomm 4G module as an example, as shown in the figure below:

4.1 Test in Raspberry Pi OS

Execute ifconfig -a in the terminal without connecting an Ethernet cable to the Gigabit Ethernet of Raspberry Pi 5:

We can see that the 4G module (usb0) has successfully obtained an IP address.

Note: CAT4 4G and ZTE CAT4 4G are recognized as eth devices in the OS, while Qualcomm 4G and EC20 are recognized as usb0 devices in the OS.

After the 4G module successfully obtains an IP address, it can ping external IP addresses and domain names:

The results are all successful, indicating that the 4G module is functioning properly.

Open https://test.ustc.edu.cn/ to conduct a speed test, and the results 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.

4.2 Test in Ubuntu OS

By default, the net-tools software is not installed in the Ubuntu OS, so the ifconfig command cannot be executed. Therefore, after the OS starts, the net-tools software needs to be installed first. The steps are as follows:

Execute the following in the terminal:

sudo apt install net-tools

After the installation is complete, execute ifconfig -a in the terminal, and we can see that the 4G module (the network interface starting with enx) has successfully obtained an IP address:

Note: The 4G module is automatically recognized as a device starting with "enx" in the OS.

After the 4G module successfully obtains an IP address, it can ping external IP addresses and domain names:

The results are all successful, indicating that the 4G module is functioning properly.

Open https://test.ustc.edu.cn/ to conduct a speed test, and the results 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.

4.3 Other tests for the 4G module

For other operations of the 4G module, please refer to: 0020_MPU4G.

Contact Us

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Email: mcuzone@vip.qq.com

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