The Raspberry pi 4 is out and it's an absolute delight for the Raspberry Pi Fans! Ever since the release of the first Raspberry Pi 1 Model B in 2012, the Raspberry Pi foundation has continually sort to improve on it releasing one version after the other, each carrying improvements over the previous release, from improvements on storage, to processing speed, to communication options and so on. These releases and updates have established the raspberry pi as one of the leading processor-based development boards serving hobbyist, makers, and all sorts of people as they use it for projects ranging from hobby projects to industrial applications and direct use in consumer electronics.
While the capacity and features of the last version of the board; the Raspberry Pi 3 B+ was powerful and tempting enough. The guys at Pi foundation took it up a notch on Monday by announcing the release of the Raspberry Pi 4.
Amazingly starting at the same official price as the Raspberry 3 B+; $35 (may vary with sellers), the raspberry pi 4 is a credit card sized processing beast with all the modern/latest connectivity features.
Features
Its most popular feature among reviewers is the CPU upgrade, and it’s a no brainer, as the Pi 4 packs Cortex-A72 quad-core processor running at 1.5GHz with memory bumped up to the LPDDR4, in place of the Cortex A53 processor at 1.4GHz, and the LPDDR2 memory on the Raspberry Pi 3 B+. This alone means a 3x better processing performance and speed compared to the Pi 3.
Asides memory upgrades, the Raspberry Pi 4, comes with a VideoCore VI GPU capable of streaming 4K/60fps HEVC Video playback and supports dual monitor setups at 4K resolution courtesy of another new feature; two micro HDMI Ports.
For communications/connectivity, the Raspberry Pi 4 retains two(2) of the USB2.0 on the Pi 3 B+ while the other 2 were upgraded to USB3.0. It also packs other improvements including a gigabit Ethernet interface, Dual-band 802.11ac wireless networking, and Bluetooth improved to 5.0 from 4.2.
The board unlike its predecessors now comes in variations depending on the RAM. It has four versions and users can choose from the 1GB, 2GB, or 4GB RAM variant of the board with the 1GB Ram version costing the same $35 as its predecessors while the 4GB RAM version costs around $55.
Like most recent USB devices, the Pi now makes use of the USB-C interface for power instead of the MicroUSB which was used in previous versions. The interface supports extra 500mA of current, ensuring the availability of a full 1.2A current for connected USB devices, even under heavy CPU load.
Specifications Summary
- 1.5GHz quad-core 64-bit ARM Cortex-A72 CPU (~3× performance)
- 1GB, 2GB, or 4GB of LPDDR4 SDRAM
- Full-throughput Gigabit Ethernet
- Dual-band 802.11ac wireless networking
- Bluetooth 5.0
- Two USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports
- Dual monitor support, at resolutions up to 4K
- VideoCore VI graphics, supporting OpenGL ES 3.x
- 4Kp60 hardware decode of HEVC video
- Complete compatibility with earlier Raspberry Pi products
New OS – Debian 10 Buster
As new hardware probably deserves a new operating system, the raspberry pi foundation made an overhauled operating system based on the forthcoming Debian 10 Buster available. The new OS brings technical improvements along with an improved user interface to ensure the Pi 4 attain its true potential.
The major advancement in the OS is its ability to support OpenGL driver by default. The UI has also been changed with a flatter design with fewer curves giving you a new desktop experience. The default python programmer will be Thonny and the web browser will be Chromium 74. The new OS also brings in numerous behind-the-scenes technical improvements, along with an extensively modernized user interface, and updated applications.
The Raspberry Pi 4 is probably the most powerful credit card size computer in the world currently and according to the foundation, it was developed based on the feedback it received from users, from industrial to consumer electronics startups and hobbyists and as such is able to serve everyone in the frame. What will you build with this? Feel free to share via the comment section.
Interesting!! would like to know how your work does
While it is ture that solar tracking could get as sophisticated as it could possibly get. But why do you need to measure with this percision. Curious to know what you actually trying to get out of it. If you are into increasing effeciancy of pannels then most people add a dish (Fresnel Lens) along with the tracking system to cope up with low accracy measurements and it works fine.
If you are into something more serious then have a look at the big boys like NASA on how they are tracking the sun to measure Coronal Mass Ejaculation (CME) it is really intresting. You can also look into this calculator which i think could ease up few calculation on your side
Dearest Circuitdigest - our God amongst Gods in the Electronics/IT crunch field,
We would like to build a solar concentrator controller with the Raspberry PI 4. This is indeed as much rocket science as it can get. As very few people knows, the orbit of the Earth around the Sun is indeed neither a circular nor an elliptic movement. It is rather erratic, however, for the usual understanding of Sun, Earth, and orbits - this is not important.
However. When it comes to setting up equipment which depends on the exact location of the Sun, suddenly these hundreds if not thousands of small deviations begin to influence your measurements. Well. One would say - why bother with astronomics - put up a Heliostat, which detects where the sun is, and then that's it. However - that is also not easy. Try looking up heliostats - try build like a handful of them - and see where it ends you. They are - to say the least - not precise. The precise ones are up in the thousands of USD, and they may not even be sufficiently precise.
You may need a precision down to fractions of a degree - while the sun itself, occupies somewhere in the vicinity of 1% of the sky, so thereby even the best of the heliostats will shoot your solar concentrator beam way beyond the target, unless you place the target very close to the concentrator.
So, where does that leave you? You simply need to get on with the rocket science and get your calculations right! And this is where this Raspberry PI 4 comes in, with powerful math processor etc., such that the tracking of the sun can be accurate. Did you know that you need more than one formula to pinpoint where the sun is located in the sky? You need some 200 lines of advanced stuff, mathematics, astronomics, angular calculations - ...
Well, that is for another day. For now - that is what we intend to do!
Sincerely
David Svarrer