Introduction to Raspberry Pi 3 B+ - The Engineering Projects (2023)

Introduction to Raspberry Pi 3 B+

• Raspberry Pi 3 B+ was introduced by Raspberry Pi foundation on 14th March 2018. It is an advanced version of Raspberry Pi 3 B model that was introduced in 2016.
• It is a tiny computer board that comes with CPU, GPU, USB ports, I/O pins, WiFi, Bluetooth, USB and network boot and is capable of doing some functions like a regular computer.

• Features of the B+ version are almost same as B model; however, USB and Network Boot and Power over Ethernet facility only come with B+ model. Also, two extra USB ports are added to this device.
• The SoC (system on chip) combines both CPU and GPU on a single package and turns out to be faster than Pi 2 and Pi 3 models.

• The model B+ stays ahead in terms of processing speed and comes with an improved wireless capability.
• The dual-band WiFi 802.11ac runs at 2.4GHz and 5GHz and provides a better range in wireless challenging environments and Bluetooth 4.2 is available with BLE support.
• The top side is painted with metal shielding, instead of plastic in the earlier models, that acts as a heat sink and drains the excessive amount of heat if the board is subjected to the high temperature or pressure.
• This B+ model is three times faster than Pi 2 and 3 which is a major development in terms of speed, capable of executing different functions at a decent pace.
• The ethernet port comes with 300 Mbit/s which is much faster than earlier version with 100 Mbit/s speed. It is known as gigabit ethernet based on USB 2.0 interface.
• Four pin header is added on the board that resides near 40 pin header. This allows the Power over Ethernet (PoE) i.e. provides the necessary electrical current to the device using data cables instead of power cords. It is very useful and reduces the number of cables required for the installation of a device in the relevant project.
• PoE works only in the presence of PoE hat.

Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Pinout

• 40 Pin header is used to develop an external connection with the electronic device. This is the same as the previous versions, making it compatible with all the devices where older versions can be used.
• Out of 40 pins, 26 are used as a digital I/O pins and 9 of the remaining 14 pins are termed as dedicated I/O pins which indicate they don't come with alternative function.
• Pin 3 and 5 comes with an onboard pull up resistor which 1.8 kO and Pin 27 and 28 are dedicated to ID EEPROM. In B+ model the GPIO header is slightly repositioned to allow more space for the additional mounting hole. The devices that are compatible with the B model may work with the B+ version; however, they may not sit identically to the previous version.

Hardware Specifications

Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Technical Specifications

• CPU is 64 bit with 1GB RAM (random access memory)
• Contains Broadcom BCM2837B0 chipset
• Comes with 1.4GHz Quad-Core ARM Cortex-A53, 4 cores
• Consists of 40 pin header (26 GPIOs)
• Stereo audio and composite video is supported by 3.5mm jack connector
• 4 USB 2.0 ports
• Gigabit Ethernet
• PoE (power over Ethernet) is a major feature incorporated in this device that lacks in B model
• 2-pin reset header
• Micro SD socket, used to enhance the memory capacity of the board
• MicroUSB power connector, used for transferring power to the device
• HDMI
• CSI camera interface
• Comes with WiFi and Bluetooth facility that were not present in previous Raspberry Pi 1 and 2 versions
• DSI connector for official screen

Mechanical Dimensions

• The mechanical dimensions of this B+ are same as B version i.e. 85mm x 56mm. (Width x Height)

Applications

• Tablet Computer
• Home Automation
• Controlling Robots
• Coffee Projects
• Arcade Machine
• Media Streamer
• Internet Radio
• Cosmic Computer