Muhammad "Azlan" Shah's Argo Is an Ultra-Compact Carrier for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5

Undergraduate engineering student Muhammad "Azlan" Shah has designed an ultra-compact yet feature-rich carrier board for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 computer-on-module, dubbed the Argo — and is releasing it under an open hardware license.

"This is Argo, an opensource carrier board for the [Raspberry Pi] CM5. I've been working on this for a few months and recently got my first prototypes," Shah explains. "Unlike traditional carrier PCBs, this one is tiny, inspired by the CM5 Minima by Pierluigi and the Waveshare Nano series. However, my board also adds another feature which I've been struggling to find: on board battery management!"

Like its inspiration, the Argo is designed to take up no bigger a footprint than the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 itself — a computer-on-module device based on the Raspberry Pi 5 and powered by the same Broadcom BCM2712 system-on-chip, though now with the option of on-board eMMC storage too. There's a single micro-HDMI output plus a flat flexible circuit (FFC) connector for a second HDMI on a breakout board, MIPI D-PHY connectors for Camera Serial Interface and Display Serial Interface (CSI/DSI) devices, an FFC connector for the module's PCI Express Gen. 2 lane compatible with Raspberry Pi 5 PCIe accessories, and two USB Type-C ports — one for power and one for peripherals.

The board's biggest feature, though: an integrated Texas Instruments BQ25895 switch-mode battery charge management system, which allows the whole thing to be powered — and charge — an optional battery. "Using the BQ25895, the board can provide solid 5V at up to 3A to the [Raspberry Pi] CM5 over either battery or USB [Type]-C," Shah says. "This is enough for overclocking the CM5 as at peak power consumption at 3GHz, tests show around 8-11W of power draw. This leaves around 5W which can be allocated to the PCIe 16pin connector. In fact, I've also developed a low profile SSD carrier in the same footprint which works great so far!"

More information on the project is available in Shah's Reddit post, while design files are available on GitHub under the strongly reciprocal version of the CERN Open Hardware License 2.0; those looking to make their own Argo, though, are advised that it's a work-in-progress. "There are some issues with the USB [Type]-C 3.0 on the power end of things," the maker admits, "however the data itself should theoretically work but that again awaits the next revision."