About the Edge 10 ACE

The Edge 10 ACE Driver is an autonomous control engine that comes with the Niagara 4.8 installation, and runs in parallel with Niagara. The ACE driver provides fast start-up times and deterministic control. ACE's ability to start-up quickly allows an application to quickly assume control over the I/O to perform critical functions. Deterministic control ensures that your application will always run in the specific order and timeframe as specified upon application creation.

The ACE driver runs only on a Niagara Edge 10 device, and is comprised of an ACE network, and a catalog of ACE components. Just like programming a standard Niagara application, you drag ACE components onto a wire sheet which provides a familiar way to create applications. The ACE App is composed of a set of linked components, similar to kitControl components which run in a Niagara station.

The ACE App runs in parallel with a Niagara station and both are able to communicate and share data with each other. While the two engines can collaborate, the application developer must choose if they want to control onboard Edge 10 I/Os and remote I/Os in the ACE App or in the station.

 
NOTE: If you try to run both the AceEdgeNetwork and the EdgeIONetwork one or both of the networks will be in fault. If you add the second network it will be in fault. If you restart the station they will both be in fault.
 

Another feature of the ACE driver is that it is fully compatible with application templates, which are the primary means of sharing solutions that are built for Edge devices. As long as the ACE executable files (*.ace) are in the /ace folder in the station’s file space, they will be picked up by any application template that is created from that station and then installed to the same location in the target station. Complete details on application templates are available in the Niagara Templates Guide.