HARDWARE

Three tiers. Same binary.

Pick a Linux SBC that matches the capability tier you need. Start at the bench, move to Lite when you ship, step up to Pro when you need diversity receive or long-range work. The agent binary is the same on every tier.

Hardware docs Install walkthrough

The ground station dashboard on a touch panel wired to the node

COMPARISON

Pick the tier that matches the mission.

The agent is board-agnostic. Any Linux SBC that meets the capability bar for a tier runs it. The boards in the reference row are what the bench and production rigs run on.

	Bench	Lite	Pro
Reference board	Raspberry Pi 4B	Radxa CM3 (RK3566)	Radxa CM4 (RK3588S2)
CPU class	Quad-core ARM64	Quad-core ARM64	Octa-core ARM64
RAM	2 or 4 GB	2 GB	4 GB
Radio card	1x RTL8812EU	1x RTL8812EU	2x RTL8812EU
Diversity receive			✓
OLED and buttons	✓	✓	✓
HDMI out	✓	✓	✓
4G modem	Optional USB	Optional USB	Internal M.2
Typical use	Bench, first build, contributor rig	Field pilot, single-site work	Long-range work, distributed-receive hubs

Reference board

BenchRaspberry Pi 4B

LiteRadxa CM3 (RK3566)

ProRadxa CM4 (RK3588S2)

CPU class

BenchQuad-core ARM64

LiteQuad-core ARM64

ProOcta-core ARM64

RAM

Bench2 or 4 GB

Lite2 GB

Pro4 GB

Radio card

Bench1x RTL8812EU

Lite1x RTL8812EU

Pro2x RTL8812EU

Diversity receive

Bench

Lite

Pro✓

OLED and buttons

Bench✓

Lite✓

Pro✓

HDMI out

Bench✓

Lite✓

Pro✓

4G modem

BenchOptional USB

LiteOptional USB

ProInternal M.2

Typical use

BenchBench, first build, contributor rig

LiteField pilot, single-site work

ProLong-range work, distributed-receive hubs

REFERENCE BENCH RIG

The verified bench build.

This is the rig the team and contributors build on. Every part is commodity hardware available worldwide. Any board that meets the bench tier spec swaps in for the reference SBC.

Quad-core ARM64 SBC, 2 or 4 GBRaspberry Pi 4B is the reference. Any equivalent board works.

RTL8812EU USB adapterThe same radio chip the air unit runs. Dual band, external antenna.

2x 5 dBi dual-band antennasSMA pigtails. General field default.

SSD1306 OLED, 128 x 640.96 inch I2C panel at address 0x3C.

4x tactile buttonsWired to GPIO 5, 6, 13, 19, active low.

32 GB A2 micro-SD cardA2 class matters for boot time and log writes.

4G LTE modem (optional)Add only when a cellular uplink is in scope.

The bench rig: one board, one radio, two antennas, an OLED and four buttons.

RADIO CARD

RTL8812EU on every tier, on purpose.

Running one radio chipset on the air side and the ground side removes an entire class of driver and FEC calibration mismatch.

WFB-ng works best when both ends of the link run the same driver path on the same chipset. The RTL8812EU is stable, documented, dual band, and widely stocked. Every hardware tier uses it. Your drone and your ground station share one radio code path.

The reference card carries two SMA connectors and 29 dBm of transmit power in about 25 grams. Any RTL8812EU-based USB adapter with an external antenna will work. The reference part is what the bench and production builds are verified on.

Why not another chipset

▶Driver maturity. The RTL88XX family has years of WFB-ng tuning in the open-source kernel tree.
▶Monitor-mode stability under sustained multicast, where other chips drop packets.
▶Regulatory reach. 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz on one card covers most civilian jurisdictions.
▶Spares cost. The drone and the ground share one radio SKU. Two inventory lines become one.

ANTENNAS

Pick the gain that matches the mission.

Higher gain buys range but narrows the beam. Diversity receive on the Pro tier softens beam loss by adding a second independent path.

Antenna range guide

Rubber duck, 2 dBi: 1 to 3 km
Dual-band omni, 5 dBi: 3 to 8 km
Panel, 8 to 12 dBi: 10 to 20 km

A dual-band 5 dBi omni is the default for most sites. A directional panel earns its beam narrowing on long corridors, mapping missions, and fixed installations. A rubber duck is a bench and close-range testing tool.

Obstructed terrain typically cuts these ranges by 30 to 60 percent. Distributed receive across two or three nodes restores coverage the terrain takes away.

DISTRIBUTED RX ADD-ON

A second radio for the mesh.

Relay and receiver roles carry a second adapter for the batman-adv mesh between nodes, on 2.4 GHz so it stays clear of the 5 GHz video link. The default is a second RTL8812EU, matched at 29 dBm on both radios. MT7612U or MT7921AU adapters work as alternatives when a mainline kernel driver is preferred on the mesh side.

Mesh carrier adapters, node-to-node line-of-sight range
Item	TX power	Stock omni	13 dBi panel	Driver
RTL8812EU (default)	29 dBm	~1.5 to 2.5 km	~5 to 8 km	Vendored DKMS
MT7612U	20 dBm	~500 to 800 m	~1.5 to 2.5 km	Mainline mt76
MT7921AU	20 to 23 dBm	~500 to 900 m	~1.5 to 3 km	Mainline mt7921u

RTL8812EU (default)
TX power (29 dBm), Stock omni (~1.5 to 2.5 km), 13 dBi panel (~5 to 8 km), Driver (Vendored DKMS)
MT7612U
TX power (20 dBm), Stock omni (~500 to 800 m), 13 dBi panel (~1.5 to 2.5 km), Driver (Mainline mt76)
MT7921AU
TX power (20 to 23 dBm), Stock omni (~500 to 900 m), 13 dBi panel (~1.5 to 3 km), Driver (Mainline mt7921u)

Planning figures for stock 6 dBi omnis on both radios. A direct-role node needs no second adapter.

Take it further.

Distributed RXThree roles, self-healing mesh, cloud gateway electionLearn more NetworkingUplink matrix: WiFi AP, WiFi client, Ethernet, USB, LTELearn more SetupOne install command, captive portal on first bootLearn more

One binary. Three tiers. Order the parts and start building.

The public docs carry the full bill of materials, install walkthrough, and bringup checklist.

Hardware docs