Controls overview

Niagara AX is a very powerful and flexible software suite specifically designed real time automation control applications.

Included within its many capabilities are a set of software components and a graphical editing tool called Workplace which uses the well established “function block programming” approach to enable the easy creation of control strategies and associated visualisation graphics. The Workplace tool is designed to be used by building controls specialist engineers with only a 5 day training course to provide the necessary familiarisation. The engineering process is quite similar to many other Building Management System (BMS) but with the advantage that Niagara is more flexible in that one can extend the software components (objects) to create custom types, and their design is more generic so can be more easily used for lighting, refrigeration and security applications as well as HVAC control.

As the Niagara AX software is coded entirely in Java it is cross-platform so can be run equally well on the embedded solid state JACE hardware platforms and on Windows or Linux computer platforms.

When used as a primary control system for HVAC, lighting and other control applications, one or more JACEs, connected on an IP network, are generally used with a one or more types of Input/Output (I/O) modules; either supplied by Tridium or sourced from other suppliers. The great advantage of the Niagara technology is its open nature means that the installer is not limited to one manufacturer’s proprietary modules, but can mix and match if desired, selecting the module type which has the right features and price for each particular project. In some projects consultants prefer the comfort of a single source approach, so Tridium supply a comprehensive range of IOM and ION modules to provide the direct wired connection needed when controlling main plant.