Sfera Labs on Industrial Raspberry Pi Systems, Edge Computing & Self-Healing Reliability

In this episode of The Electropages Podcast, host Robin Mitchell speaks with Ulderico Arcidiaco, CEO and Co-Founder of Sfera Labs, about the company's latest industrial Raspberry Pi platform, the Strato Pi Plus. Ulderico explains how Sfera Labs combines Raspberry Pi computing with industrial-grade connectivity, reliability, and edge computing capabilities. The discussion explores the challenges of designing hardware for industrial environments, including isolated RS485 communications, CAN FD networking, power management, long-term availability, and remote deployment. The conversation also covers the current memory and supply chain situation affecting Raspberry Pi products, why pricing uncertainty has become a major challenge for industrial developers, and why availability often matters more than cost for long-life industrial systems. A major focus of the episode is the architecture of the Strato Pi Plus, which combines a Raspberry Pi 5 with an RP2354 microcontroller. Ulderico explains how the microcontroller can manage communications, watchdog functions, power control, failover systems, and storage management independently of the main processor. This allows developers to create highly reliable edge computing systems capable of recovering from faults, switching boot devices, managing power consumption, and maintaining operation in remote installations. Engineers will also hear discussions on CAN bus timing, real-time processing, industrial automation, energy storage systems, environmental monitoring, maritime applications, and the benefits of combining high-performance computing with deterministic microcontroller control.  Whether you're developing industrial automation systems, edge servers, remote monitoring solutions, or Raspberry Pi-based products, this episode provides valuable insight into designing reliable embedded platforms for demanding real-world environments.