Emerson Reveals Strong Product Investments at NI Connect
Today at the annual NI Connect conference, Emerson revealed significant hardware and software enhancements to its portfolio that address the growing complexity in validation and testing.
During the opening keynote, Test & Measurement Group President Ritu Favre announced that the company will release its anticipated Nigel AI Advisor for LabVIEW and TestStand by July 2025. A single intelligence trained across the NI software suite and built on Emerson’s secure cloud network, the Nigel AI Advisor is able to analyze code, offer suggestions for changes, and allow users to ask questions in plain language to surface the correct tools across more than 700 functions.
Comments
“NI has always been at the forefront of test,” said Favre. “But this year, it’s clear that our software-centric, modular hardware approach is breaking new ground thanks to the support of Emerson’s broad resources. We will continue to provide engineers with the latest expert-led tools they need today and into the future at an unprecedented scale.”
The expansion of its data acquisition (DAQ) portfolio
Providing engineers with a wider selection of hardware, the company announced the expansion of its robust data acquisition (DAQ) portfolio with the introduction of three new solutions: NI FieldDAQ for extreme environments, USB-C NI CompactDAQ chassis for greater flexibility, and an entirely new connector for C Series Modules to make signal connection even easier.
Emerson also announced an update to its 3rd Generation PXIe-5842 Vector Signal Transceiver (VST3) with a new 4 GHz bandwidth option and the ability to combine the bandwidth of two VST3s for up to 7 GHz instantaneous bandwidth via its proprietary spectrum stitching. The company is continuing its investment in radio frequency test and validation with feature enhancements to its 5660 Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) and continual updates to its RFmx measurement application software.
Software enhancements
At the conference, Emerson unveiled numerous software enhancements, such as an upcoming broad base version of SystemLink, third-party signal source support for InstrumentStudio via custom plugins, and many new LabVIEW features. These include improved debugging workflow for wires and probes, support for .NET 8.0 and Python 3.12, better VI comparison, connectivity to Docker containers, and more. The online, user-driven “ideas exchange” also featured heavily with more than a dozen user suggested features entering the product, prioritized by public vote.
The commitment to the community continues, with the launches of an open-source GitHub repository for FlexLogger plugins, expansion of its free LabVIEW Community Edition to macOS for university students, and dedicated support for over 80 user groups worldwide.
The conference itself featured several demonstrations of the new products, two days of technical panel sessions led by Emerson experts and customers, and a renewed focus on technology development with the inclusion of a special section inside the convention center where visiting researchers presented and discussed academic papers.