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This week is NI Connect (April 28–30, 2025) at the Fort Worth Convention Center, "for the test leaders of tomorrow". NI Connect, organized by Emerson (which acquired NI in 2023 ), focuses on Emerson’s NI high-performance test and measurement (T&M) systems used throughout all industries. This year, the event will showcase integrated hardware and software T&M systems for increasingly complex products.
Emerson NI USB-C CompactDAQ center stage on a lab desk.
The yearly conference features industry leaders as speakers, expert-led technical sessions, product announcements, and exhibition space showing off the latest in NI T&M. This year at the show, Emerson NI is showing off updates to its tools, including improved bandwidth, feature enhancements, and AI assistance.
New Capabilities to Data Acquisition Portfolio
Emerson delivered three announcements in its data acquisition (DAQ) product line. First, NI FieldDAQ now comes in an IP67-rated waterproof housing with operating specifications rated for extreme environments. Emerson designed the data acquisition device for a wide range of weather and outdoor conditions.
The Emerson NI FieldDAQ is ready for cold environments.
Next up, the company's NI CompactDAQ is also getting a connectivity upgrade with USB-C. It is available in three options—one slot, four slot, and eight slot—all at a lower price point than the previous version of the product.
Finally, the C-Series Modules also now come with an entirely new connector type, the "snap-in-connector." The new connector enables tool-free signal connection to Compact DAQ and CompactRIO products.
NI DAQ products cover a wide range of lab and outdoor applications. They come with free data logging software, documented APIs for LabVIEW, Python, C/C , and VB.NET, and support for a wide variety of communications protocols.
Major AI Updates to Flagship Software
NI’s longtime stalwarts, LabVIEW and TestStand software applications, now have AI capability with the Nigel AI Advisor add-in. Nigel AI Advisor is built around Emerson’s secure cloud network. The AI assistance tool can help developers improve their code by analyzing it and giving suggestions based on plain language questions.
Nidel AI Advisor at work in LabVIEW.
Nigel can search from a library of more than 700 available functions to find the correct tool for the request. Nigel integration with LabVIEW and TestStand software is slated for release by July 2025. It will be included for no extra cost in most license tiers.
LabVIEW also features new workflow improvements for debugging wires and probes, support for .NET 8.0 and Python 3.12 versions, connectivity to Docker containers, and macOS support for the free community edition.
Improved Software-Defined RF Vector Signal Transceiver Platform
RF signal and protocol engineers now have a more effective tool at their disposal thanks to improvements in the software-defined RF platform, NI PXI Vector Signal Transceiver (VST). The improved system combines an RF and baseband vector signal analyzer and generator with a user-programmable FPGA. Alongside these improvements are high-speed serial and parallel digital interfaces for real-time signal processing and control from baseband to mmWave.
The system has a new 4-GHz bandwidth option that can be doubled up for up to 7-GHz performance. Emerson also announced improvements to the companion 5660 Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) and RFmx measurements software.
PXI RF Vector Signal Transceiver.
The expanded bandwidth and other improvements may better support challenging test cases, such as ultra-wideband (UWB), 5G/6G wireless, and next-generation radar systems. RFmx adds Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 7 test and analysis capability to the series.
Continuing the NI Legacy
If NI Connect 2025 is any indication, the more than 50-year history of NI test and measurement expertise will continue unabated. Along with the product announcements, Emerson added to community resources with the launch of an open-source GitHub repository, plug-ins for NI FlexLogger, and support for more than 80 user groups across the globe.
