Introduction to raspberry pi 4 hardware and first impression
It's made for beginners to understand the basic raspberry pi - mainly raspberry pi components
Raspberry Pi 4 & Raspberry Pi 5: Detailed Comparison and ROS 2 Compatibility
1. Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
- Release Date: June 2019
- Processor:Broadcom BCM2711
- Quad-core Cortex-A72 (ARM v8, 64-bit)
- Clock speed: 1.5 GHz (can be overclocked to ~2 GHz)
- Memory (RAM) Options:
- 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM
- GPU:VideoCore VI (supports OpenGL ES 3.0)
- Capable of dual 4K output
- Storage:microSD card slot
- USB boot support for external SSD
- Connectivity:2 × USB 3.0, 2 × USB 2.0
- Gigabit Ethernet:Dual-band Wi-Fi (802.11ac) and Bluetooth 5.0
- Power:USB-C (5V/3A)
- GPIO: 40-pin header
2. Raspberry Pi 5
- Release Date: October 2023
- Processor:Broadcom BCM2712
- Quad-core Cortex-A76 (ARM v8.2, 64-bit)
- Clock speed: 2.4 GHz (significantly faster than Pi 4)
- Memory (RAM) Options:4GB and 8GB LPDDR4X-4267
- GPU:VideoCore VII (supports OpenGL ES 3.1, Vulkan 1.2)
- Dual 4K output with HDR
- Storage:microSD slot (faster I/O)
- PCIe 2.0 for SSD support
- Connectivity:2 × USB 3.0, 2 × USB 2.0
- Gigabit Ethernet
- Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0
- Power:USB-C PD (supports higher power peripherals)
- 40-pin GPIO with better power management
Raspberry Pi 4 & 5 Support for ROS 2
1. OS Compatibility
Both support Ubuntu 22.04 (64-bit), which is recommended for ROS 2.
Official Raspberry Pi OS now supports 64-bit, but ROS 2 is better on Ubuntu.
2. ROS 2 Performance on Pi 4 vs. Pi 5
- ROS 2 Packages & Frameworks Supported in both RPis
- ROS 2 Middleware: Fast DDS, Cyclone DDS (best for ARM) works best in Rpi5
Common Packages:
- Navigation2 (Nav2): Works in both, but limited performance on Pi 4
- SLAM (Cartographer, RTAB-Map): Pi 5 is better for real-time SLAM than Pi4
- Depth Cameras: Pi 5 handles depth processing better than Pi 4
- LIDAR (RPLIDAR, YDLIDAR): USB 3.0 support on both, but better stability on Pi 5
- MoveIt2 (Motion Planning): Works in both but struggles on Pi 4
3. Ideal Use Cases
Raspberry Pi 4:
Small robots, low-cost automation, lightweight ROS 2 applications.
Raspberry Pi 5:
More complex robots, AI integration, SLAM, and high-speed sensors.
4. Best ROS 2 Configuration on Raspberry Pi
- OS: Ubuntu Server 22.04 64-bit
- ROS 2 Version: Humble or Iron
Additional Tweaks:
Use an SSD (on Pi 5) for faster ROS 2 build times
Offload heavy processing (like AI inference) to Coral USB Accelerator or Jetson Nano
Conclusion
Pi 4 is still viable for simple ROS 2 projects but may struggle with complex workloads.
Pi 5 is a major upgrade and much better suited for robotics with ROS 2, especially for real-time processing, vision-based applications, and AI.