Streamlining the Development of Test and Measurement Apps

June 20, 2025

Emerson’s Test & Measurement Group CTO talks about the company’s latest hardware and AI LabVIEW software.

Related To:

What you’ll learn:

What new hardware is available from Emerson’s Test and Measurement group?
How the Nigel AI Advisor is changing LabVIEW.

I was able to talk with Kevin Schultz, CTO of the Emerson Test & Measurement Group, at the company’s recent NI Connect 2025 conference (watch the video above). Kevin gave a brief introduction on the Nigel AI Advisor for LabVIEW and discussed some of the new test and measurement hardware platforms.

New Rugged Data-Acquisition Tools

One of the newly announced hardware items at NI Connect was the Rugged FieldDAQ (Fig. 1). Contained in an IP67-rated water-proof housing, it’s designed for field deployment.

Emerson FieldDAQ — 1. Emerson’s new FieldDAQ is designed for rugged, outdoor deployment.

For the lab, developers can take advantage of the cDAQ-9177 USB-C NI CompactDAQ chassis (Fig. 2). This supports the new connector on the C Series Modules that work with other CompactDAQ chassis. The single USB Type-C connection provides power and control from the host PC that’s typically running LabView. It is available in 1-, 4- and 8-slot versions.

Emerson also delivered an updated NI PXIe-5842 Vector Signal Transceiver (VST3) with a 4-GHz bandwidth option (Fig. 3). A pair of VST3 units can be linked to provide bandwidth support up to 7 GHz. It uses spectrum stitching technology developed by the company.

How Nigel AI Advisor is Changing LabView

Emerson’s Nigel AI Advisor was in beta in 2024. It’s now ready for prime time and available to those with a professional LabVIEW license.

The deployed version of Nigel (Fig. 4) is powered by Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI. It’s integrated with NI LabVIEW and NI TestStand. It has the typical chatbot text prompt interface, but it can be initiated from various places while using the software tools. This makes it easier to provide context to Nigel, simplifying the prompts necessary for it to provide feedback.

Nigel was trained with LabVIEW and Emerson hardware information as well as test and measurement information, so it’s more focused than more general chatbots. It can provide tips and information about LabVIEW graphical programming concepts, as well as find and recommend related LabVIEW virtual instruments (VIs), sample programs, and other details.

Nigel knows about the hundreds of settings in LabVIEW; for hardware platforms, it can show users where and why they’re used. It can also make changes upon request. This includes modifications to VIs in addition to explaining the function and operation even if they weren’t written with any comments. It’s able to generate summary documentation for undocumented code or expand upon existing documentation, too.

Kevin Schultz, CTO with the Emerson Test & Measurement Group, gives a brief introduction on the Nigel AI Advisor for LabVIEW and discusses some of the new test and measurement hardware platforms.

About the Author

William G. Wong | Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF

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