Optimizing Automation1 Performance

To get real-time controller performance, Automation1 runs on a PC with Windows in the TenAsys® INtime real-time operating system. Thus, controller performance depends on the hardware and software configuration of the PC. Because of the many different PCs and system configurations, it is important for you to optimize your system before you use Automation1. You can also optimize the controller software.

PC Performance

IMPORTANT: Aerotech only supports the PC configurations that are on PC Selection, Configuration, and Optimization for Aerotech Controllers.

The controller installation and the INtime real-time operating system try to configure your system for the best possible performance. But, you might need to manually change some system settings so that your controller has the best possible real-time performance. Aerotech recommends that you change the settings that follow.

In Dedicated mode, INtime uses one core for real-time controller processing and the other cores for Windows processing. Automation1 installation configures INtime to run in Dedicated mode by default.

To Verify that INtime is Running in Dedicated Mode

  1. Click Start > All Programs > INtime, and then select INtime Configuration.
  2. Double-click Node Management. The INtime Node Management dialog comes into view.
  3. Select AerotechNode0.
  4. Click the System tab.
  5. Make sure that Boot mode is set to Dedicated.
  6. Click Save and then click Close.
  7. Restart your computer.

IMPORTANT: Aerotech requires that you do not use Shared mode because it can cause real-time performance problems on some PC platforms and might not be compatible with some Microsoft security updates.

Some software causes problems with the real-time performance of Automation1. If these problems occur, Aerotech recommends that you uninstall this software.

To Uninstall Software That Causes Problems with real-time performance

  1. Open Control Panel
  2. Click View By and then select Large Icons. Then click Programs and Features.
  3. Select and uninstall the software programs that cause problems with the real-time performance of Automation1.
    • All software programs from PC manufacturers such as ASUS, Dell, GIGABYTE, HP, and Lenovo. Programs known to cause problems include:
      • Dell Precision Optimizer
      • Dell OpenManager Client Instrumentation (OCMI)
      • GIGABYTE software programs
    • Some antivirus software can cause problems with the real-time performance.
For some software programs, the uninstaller might cause BIOS settings to change. After you uninstall the software programs that cause problems, Aerotech requires that you change your PC to use the settings in the Change Performance Settings in the BIOS/CMOS Setup section.

Different PC and BIOS manufacturers have different procedures to configure the BIOS/CMOS settings. During startup, press F1, F2, F10, F12, Delete, or Esc to configure the BIOS/CMOS settings.

If you have one of the approved PCs, make sure that you use the settings that are specific to your PC as shown in one of the pages that follow.

PCs Approved by Aerotech

Aerotech supplies support for Automation1 installation if you purchase an Aerotech industrial PC or an approved PC from the supplier list. Refer to PC Selection, Configuration, and Optimization for Aerotech Controllers for a list of approved PCs for your controller. If you have one of these approved PCs, use the BIOS settings specific to your PC.

PCs NOT Approved by Aerotech

If you have a PC that was not configured by Aerotech, use the information that follows to make changes to your PC to help you run the Automation1 software. Aerotech does not guarantee the real-time capabilities of a PC that is not approved for Automation1 installation because BIOS settings and chip sets are different for each motherboard manufacturer.

Table: Recommended Settings for PCs Not Approved by Aerotech

Feature Description Aerotech Recommendations

Active State Power Management (ASPM), Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)

These features are power management features that can decrease the power consumption of the PC.

Disable ASPM, ACPI, or the power management features that apply to the PC. Power management features can decrease real-time performance.

Processor States, Power States, C-States, C2 State, CPU Idle State

These features decrease the power consumption of the PC.

Use the lowest-numbered C-State possible (C0) or use a High Performance mode.

SpeedStep (Intel®), SpeedShift (Intel®), Cool'n'Quiet (AMD), P-States, Hardware P-States (HWP), Power-Performance States

These features balance the power consumption and the performance of the PC.

Disable these features or use the lowest-numbered P-state possible (P0).

Sleep States, S-States, Suspend States

These features manage the sleep, suspend, and standby modes of the PC.

Use the lowest-numbered S-state possible (S0 or S1) or use a High Performance mode. If there is a section to Block Sleep, select this option.

Turbo Mode, Turbo Boost, Boost Performance

Features that use the word "turbo" usually change the CPU clock rate during operation.

Disable all features that dynamically change the processor clock rate during execution. Changing this rate during execution can decrease real-time performance.

Hyper-Threading, HT, HTT

This Intel® feature allows a physical processor core to be virtualized into 2 logical cores.

Disable hyper-threading. Windows executing on one logical core can change the performance of INtime executing on another logical core.

SMM (System Management Mode), SMI (System Management Interrupt)

This is an operating mode of the PC that includes error handling, safety functions, security functions, power management, hardware emulation, and system configuration.

Disable SMM and SMI. They can take processing time from the CPU and can make INtime performance worse.

UEFI, EFI, UEFI/EFI partitions/booting/storage

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is a firmware interface for PCs designed to replace BIOS. It supplies services that are available to the OS.

Change this setting only if you have problems with INtime performance. In the BIOS, disable UEFI/EFI partitions and booting. Then, configure the BIOS to use legacy BIOS or legacy boot mode. UEFI booting can cause Windows to use System Management Mode to access the BIOS. This takes processing time from the CPU and makes INtime performance worse. If Windows is installed and is using a UEFI/EFI partition, you might have to reinstall Windows after you change the BIOS configuration.

TPM 2.0 Security, Trusted Platform Module, Trusted Computing

This is a security feature that is available only on some PCs.

Disable the Trusted Platform Module feature. Access to this feature can cause a System Management Interrupt to occur, which gets processing time from the CPU and makes INtime performance worse.

Intel® Virtualization, VT, VT-d, Directed I/O

This is a virtualization technology that gives virtual machines full access to the hardware.

Disable virtualization features that can cause problems with INtime performance or with HyperWire card interrupts.

Secure Boot

Secure Boot is a security feature of the UEFI specification

Disable Secure Boot. INtime 6.4 is not compatible with Secure Boot in Windows 10. If Secure Boot is enabled, an error will occur during Automation1 installation.

Aerotech recommends that you change some of the power management settings in Microsoft Windows. Some of the options in this procedure might not be available on your PC.

To Configure Power Options for Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, AND Windows 11.

  1. Open Control Panel.
  2. Click View By and then select Large Icons. Then click Power Options.
  3. Select High performance. You might have to expand Show additional plans and then select High Performance.
  4. Click Change plan settings. The Edit Plan Settings dialog comes into view.
  5. Configure the settings that follow.
    1. Set Turn off the display to Never.
    2. Set Put the computer to sleep to Never
    3. Click Save Changes.
  6. Click Change advanced power settings. The Power Options dialog comes into view.
  7. Configure the Windows Power Options features as follows.
    • Hard Disk: Set Turn off hard disk after to Never.
    • Sleep:
      • Set Sleep after to Never.
      • Set Allow hybrid sleep to Off.
      • Set Hibernate after to Never.
      • Set Allow wake timers to Disable.
    • USB settings: Set USB selective suspend setting to Disabled.
    • Power buttons/Sleep buttons: Set all hibernate buttons, power buttons, and sleep buttons to Shutdown or Do Nothing.
    • PCI Express: Set Link State Power Management to Off.
    • Processor Power Management
      • Set Minimum processor state to 100%.
      • Set Maximum processor state to 100%.
    • Display: Set Turn off display after to Never.
    • Disable all other Sleep, Standby, Hibernation, or Lower Power Mode settings that are shown.
  8. Click Apply and then click OK.

Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Windows 11 use a boot mode called Fast Startup, which is enabled by default. When this boot mode is enabled, it can cause problems with INtime. Aerotech strongly recommends that you disable this setting. Some of the options in this procedure might not be available on your PC.

TO DISABLE FAST STARTUP FOR WINDOWS 8.1, WINDOWS 10, and WINDOWS 11

  1. Open Control Panel.
  2. Click View by and select Large icons. Then click Power Options.
  3. On the left in the Power Options dialog, click Choose what the power button does. The System Settings dialog comes into view.
  4. Click Change settings that are currently unavailable.
  5. In the Shutdown settings section of the dialog, configure the settings that follow:
    • Clear the Turn on fast startup (recommended) box.
    • Clear the Sleep box.
    • Clear the Hibernate box.
  6. Click Save changes.

To prevent problems, you must configure Windows 10 or Windows 11 updates to work with your Automation1 and INtime system. Refer to Windows Updates and Your PC.

Disable your audio hardware if you do not need to use it. If you know how to change BIOS settings, disable your audio hardware from the BIOS. Then, do the procedure that follows to disable all audio devices from within Windows.

To Disable Audio Hardware from Device Manager in Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Windows 11

  1. Open Control Panel.
  2. Click View by and select Large icons. Then click Device Manager.
  3. In Device Manager, expand the Sound, video and game controllers category.
  4. For all audio devices in the list, right-click each device and select Disable. In the warning dialog, click Yes to disable each audio device.
  5. Close Device Manager.

Problems with real-time performance can be caused by the graphics card or the graphics driver. Try one or more of these possible solutions.

Change the settings in the Graphics Card Configuration Utility

Open the configuration utility for your graphics card. Typically, you can right-click on the Desktop and select the item to configure the display or graphics properties. Aerotech recommends these settings.

  • Configure the card to use a Performance mode as an alternative to a Quality mode.
  • Disable the power management features of the card.
  • Disable all hardware acceleration modes (also called turbo modes).

Use a medium-performance modern graphics card

Aerotech recommends that you do not use high-end display adapters because they can cause interference with Automation1. Use a medium-performance onboard integrated graphics adapter or a medium-performance PCI Express dedicated graphics card. If your graphics card causes problems with the performance of Automation1, try a different graphics adapter.

Change the display adapter to use basic graphics

Some graphics cards can decrease the real-time performance of your PC because they use advanced graphics features. Standard display drivers decrease the workload of the card and improve the performance of the PC. If your graphics card is causing problems with real-time performance, change the display adapter to Standard VGA Graphic Adapter or Microsoft Basic Display Adapter. Then, if your screen resolution is not satisfactory you can change it to a better resolution. This option should be a last resort because most displayed adapters are intended to run with a manufacturer supplied driver.

Some third-party software programs, device drivers, and hardware devices can cause jitter and latency on a PC. This has an effect on the real-time performance of Automation1 and INtime.

Devices that require too much PCI Express bus bandwidth can cause communication errors or motion dropouts when the controller accesses the PCI Express bus. Here are some examples.

  • Vision or frame grabber software
  • Frame grabber PCI Express devices
  • Other high-bandwith PCI Express devices

To help real-time performance, remove all third-party software and hardware devices. If you must have one or more of these items in your system and you have real-time performance problems, use a dual PC (client/server) configuration. On a dual PC solution, the controller and INtime run on a server PC and all other software programs run on a client PC. For more information for Automation1, refer to Connecting to a Drive-Based Controller or a Controller on a Remote PC.

Controller Performance

The Automation1 installations try to configure your system for the best possible performance. But, you might need to change some controller settings so that the controller performance on your PC is satisfactory. To change controller settings, use these recommendations for your AeroScript program.

  • Change the value of the EnabledTasks parameter to disable unused tasks. For Automation1, change the parameter from the Configure workspace in Studio.
  • Decrease the number of task programs that run at the same time.
  • Decrease how much you use the critical sections as these cause the controller to execute program lines at a fast rate and can decrease real-time performance.

    • Automation1 has CriticalSectionStart() and CriticalSectionEnd() to create critical sections of code.

  • If the MotionUpdateRate parameter is set to a value greater than 1.0 and you have motion problems or bad controller performance, change the MotionUpdateRate to 1.0 to decrease the workload of the controller.