diff --git a/src/libcamera/pipeline/raspberrypi/dma_heaps.h b/src/libcamera/pipeline/raspberrypi/dma_heaps.h
index ae6be1135f17..119abd26ed31 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/pipeline/raspberrypi/dma_heaps.h
+++ b/src/libcamera/pipeline/raspberrypi/dma_heaps.h
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ class DmaHeap
 public:
 	DmaHeap();
 	~DmaHeap();
+	int isValid() const { return dmaHeapHandle_ > -1; }
 	FileDescriptor alloc(const char *name, std::size_t size);
 
 private: