Dual-GbE router board offers PoE, 802.11ax, and an M.2 slot

Wally’s announced a compact “DR-6018-S” router board that runs Linux on a Qualcomm IPQ6010 with 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) and an M.2 slot plus dual GbE ports, including one with active PoE, and optional micro-SD, GPS, and USB 3.0.

Wally’s Communications has followed up on its 5-port DR6018 v2 router board with a smaller DR-6018-S board with the same Qualcomm-Atheros IPQ6010 SoC with 802.11a/n/ac/ax (Wi-Fi 6), but with only 2x GbE ports. The 125 x 105 x 20mm DR-6018-S features 802.3bt-compliant, active and passive, 24-48V Power-over-Ethernet on one of the ports. By comparison, the DR6018 v2 offers a single passive PoE port along with 3x standard GbE and a 2.5GbE port.

DR-6018-S, front and back
(click images to enlarge)

The up to 1.8GHz, quad-core, Cortex-A53 IPQ6010, which has also appeared on 8devices’ Mango module and DVK, features built-in support for dual-band MU-MIMO, 2.4GHz/5GHz 802.11ax. Wi-Fi 6 is faster than 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) and supports concurrency for simultaneous WiFi connections to multiple devices. Wally’s does not list the OS, but has previously informed us its Qualcomm boards run Linux.

Although not listed in the specs, the detail view suggests you can optionally choose to remove the 2.4GHz radio and use only the 5GHz connection. In addition to the built-in 802.11ax, there is an M.2 E-key slot for adding a Qualcomm QCN9074 802.11ax module. Four x U.FL antenna connectors are included along with a Bluetooth 4.2 radio and optional GPS.

DR-6018-S detail view
(click image to enlarge)

The DR-6018-S ships with 256MB to 1GB DDR3L RAM via dual sockets plus 8MB NOR and 256MB NAND flash. A micro-SD and USB 3.0 port are optional. An FFC/FPC connector provides an LCD display output and there is a 12-pin serial interface.

In addition to the PoE port, a DC jack operates at the same 24-48V range. The board has a -40 to 70°C operating range with 5-95% non-condensing humidity resistance. Like Wally’s recent DR6000 mesh router board based on the similar IPQ6000 SoC, the DR-6018-S supports an EasyMeshHotel Wireless application.

Further information

No pricing or availability information was provided for the DR-6018-S, although the board is said to have been “released.” More information may be found on Wally’s Communications’ product page.