Petros CH32H417M Alef Breakout - Dual RISC-V Core & USB3.0 MCU Board

1. Overview

CH32H417 is a 32-bit microcontroller developed by Nanjing Qinheng Microelectronics, designed for embedded product development. It features USB3.0 high-speed interface and dual-core RISC-V architecture. Leveraging these advantages, XPU Labs has launched the Petros CH32H417M Alef development board.

This board adopts the CH32H417MEU6 microcontroller packaged in QFN88 form factor. Measuring 52mm × 21mm, it boasts a compact size and pin-compatible layout with Raspberry Pi RP2040 Pico. Equipped with a USB3.0 Type-A female port, it supports the development of high-speed USB3.0 devices. Actual tests show its downstream transmission speed reaches 430MB/s, making it ideal for high-speed data acquisition. On-board board-to-board connectors bring out DVP, I2C, SPI and ADC interfaces for convenient connection with various sensor modules.

2. Chip Features

  • Dual-core architecture: Qingke RISC-V5F and RISC-V3F
  • V5F maximum frequency: 400MHz, V3F maximum frequency: 144MHz
  • 896KB SRAM, 960KB Flash
  • System supply voltage: rated 3.3V
  • Conventional GPIO supply voltage: rated 3.3V, supports 1.8V
  • High-speed GPIO supply voltage: selectable 1.2/1.8/2.5/3.3V
  • 2 groups of 16-channel universal DMA controllers
  • 2 groups of 12-bit analog-to-digital converters (ADC), sampling rate up to 5Msps, supporting dual ADC conversion mode
  • 1 group of 10-bit high-speed analog-to-digital converter (HSADC), sampling rate up to 20Msps
  • 16-channel TouchKey detection
  • 2 groups of 12-bit digital-to-analog converters (DAC)
  • 32-bit wide 125MHz universal high-speed interface (UHSIF)
  • 144MHz digital image interface (DVP)
  • 200MHz dual-edge SD/EMMC controller (SDMMC)
  • SDIO host/slave interface: supports SD/SDIO/MMC
  • Single-wire protocol master interface (SWPMI)
  • Programmable protocol I/O controller (PIOC)
  • Ethernet controller MAC and 10M/100M PHY
  • 5Gbps ultra-high-speed USB 3.0 controller and PHY
  • 480Mbps high-speed USB 2.0 controller and PHY
  • Full-speed USB 2.0 controller and PHY
  • Long-distance SerDes controller and PHY, supporting kilovolt-level high-voltage signal isolation transmission
  • USB PD and Type-C controller and PHY

3. Board Specifications

  • Main Chip: CH32H417MEU6, QFN88 package, dual-core RISC-V with USB3.0
  • 100% form-factor compatible with Raspberry Pi Pico
  • Board-to-board connector supports expansion of camera modules such as OV2640
  • All GPIO pins are accessible for convenient development
  • DVP, SPI, I2C and ADC interfaces led out via board-to-board connector
  • On-board reset button
  • Firmware downloadable via USB3.0 Type-A port
  • Built-in SWD and UART6 debugging interfaces
  • Comes with multi-interface Link-E debugger, plug-and-play
  • Dimensions: 52mm × 21mm

4. Hardware

Interfaces

Pins

The pin definition of the 40-pin board-to-board connector is as follows. The adopted connector model is HRS DF12NB(3.0)-40DP-0.5V(51).

This interface currently supports connection with the Phos Ayin OV2640 module.

  • Phos Ayin OV2640 Module

5. Software

CH32H417M uses MounRiver II IDE for development development. It supports Windows & Linux.

The debugger is WCH Link-E 1V3, XPU Labs also developed a debugger for this board. It uses the 1.27mm spacing of the CH32H417M board-to-board headers

Another approach is to use a standard USB2.0 Type‑A port with externally connected pin headers to interface with Link‑E. Simply plug the USB2.0 Type‑A connector into the board’s USB3.0 Type‑A port.

6. Tutorials

TBD

7. Resources

  • 原理图

  • 例程

8. Exapmles

TBD

9. FAQ

TBD