Since being acquired by Emerson in 2023, NI has remained a driving force in innovation as the company’s Test and Measurement business group. NI’s dedication to market-leading R&D was on full display this week at NI Connect, their annual test and measurement conference in Texas. The event featured talks from industry leaders, technical workshops, an exhibition area, and plenty of announcements showcasing the best and brightest advancements for both hardware and software. In this post, we will go over the Top 5 announcements from NI Connect 2025 that got us excited for the future of test.
Those familiar with the incredible variety of the modular cDAQ and cRIO platforms are accustomed to dealing with many connector types. These different connectors have a varying level of difficulty when attaching wires, some even requiring tools for a secure connection. During the opening keynote of the conference, Michelle Denny (director of NI DAQ R&D for Emerson) unveiled one of NI’s newest improvements for C Series modules, snap-in style connectors.
This new connector type does not require any special tools and offers both audible and visual cues that a secure connection has been made. As demonstrated in a recent tutorial video, snap-in connectors are incredibly simple to operate. Pulling up on the orange lever coils the spring and prepares it for attachment. Once a wire is inserted, a click will be heard to indicate that the attachment has been successful. In addition, a small green tab will appear, as can be seen in the photo above.
Each snap-in connector has two terminals (positive and negative). For strain relief, the connector can be easily seated into a backshell that features zip tie cutouts. These connectors are designed to accommodate a range of wire types: solid core, stranded, ferrule, and even 14-gauge.
NI Data Acquisition (DAQ) modules are designed to measure electrical or physical phenomena, including sound, voltage, temperature, pressure, or current. These measurement tests necessitate hardware that can reliably handle the environmental conditions, no matter how harsh. With this in mind, NI announced their newest and most rugged DAQ hardware yet, the FieldDAQ. With some of the best measurement specifications in the entire cDAQ catalog, these devices utilize Ethernet communication and are capable of simultaneous sampling across networked devices.
To showcase the durability of the newest members of the DAQ product family, two of the modules were encased in ice (pictured above), measuring both the strain and temperature of their environment. NI Aerospace Defense Director Steve Summers then chipped away at the ice with a hammer to demonstrate the graphical display of the strain gauges. While the demo ran into some technical difficulties displaying the data, the modules themselves worked flawlessly.
Most rugged DAQ devices are made for measuring sensors such as thermocouples, accelerometers, strain gauges, or +/- 10 V sensors. The FieldDAQ takes measurements in extreme environments to another level, with a temperature range of -40 °C to 85 °C (-40 °F to 185 °F) and the ability to withstand up to 100 G of shock. They are rated for both IP65 and IP67 standards, offering some of the strongest protection available across various environments.
Measurement accuracy is undoubtedly one of the most crucial factors in the design of any DAQ system, and FieldDAQ offers optimal accuracy even in the harshest conditions. These modules are ideal for applications such as static rocket tests and outdoor structural test beds. They can even be placed in the same test chambers as the Device Under Test (DUT)! In terms of software, FieldDAQ easily integrates with LabVIEW and comes with FlexLogger Lite- in addition to documented APIs for Python, C++, and C#.
The FieldDAQ modules each have their own sensor type (and unique part number) to make finding the exact one you need easier. The model names of the Voltage and Strain/Bridge FieldDAQ Modules are FD-11601 and FD-11637, respectively. These will be available on May 30th, 2025. The model name for the Sound and Vibration module is FD-11634, while the Temperature model is known as the FD-11614. These FieldDAQ models will be available starting a month later on June 30th, 2025.
Last year, we talked about NI’s latest 3-in-1 PXI instrument that combines the PXIe-5633 Vector Network Analyzer and the PXIe-5842 Vector Signal Transceiver. Used together, these powerful modules combine to form an all-in-one instrument that can be used as a PXI VNA Instrument, an RF Signal Generator, and an RF Signal Analyzer.
In a world rapidly working towards developing 6G as the wireless standard, NI’s flexible platform can grow to match an evolving market. To meet the needs of RF and wireless engineers, Emerson Chief Engineer Sarah LaSelva announced the newest upgrades for VSTs, including an upgrade in instantaneous bandwidth from 2 GHz to 4 GHz for the PXIe-5842. If a 50% increase in the same form factor wasn’t enough, LaSelva also announced new technology that uses spectrum stitching software to connect two VSTs to achieve up to 7 GHz of streaming bandwidth.
An upcoming multichannel VST optimized for cost-effectiveness in production test was also mentioned. This VST will be designed to be especially useful with Wi-Fi 7 and 5G applications.
NI’s incredibly popular LabVIEW software is a graphical programming environment that offers an easy-to-use interface that is trusted by users around the globe. With the recent release of LabVIEW 2025 Q1, the presenters at NI Connect were proud to showcase a wide range of updates and features, including a new debugging window. After listening to user feedback, the engineers at Emerson / NI have brought back perpetual licenses as an additional option for using LabVIEW.
This year, the focus was on community and academia. It will now be easier to get certified in LabVIEW, and there will be more academic workshops and open-source libraries to foster the education and community of users. A long-awaited OS update was also revealed, as LabVIEW and LabVIEW community edition will be coming to Mac / Macbook!
Additional software updates announced include:
• Support for Python 3.12.0
• Running in Linux on Docker containers
• New LabVIEW+ Suite for HIL
Announced back at NI Connect 2023, NIGEL AI has been thoroughly trained on all things NI / test and measurement. Linked to the LabVIEW API and instructed on DAQMX, NIGEL was developed on top of GPT 4.0 and educated on both NI hardware and software. What makes NIGEL unique? It is specifically designed to integrate with test and measurement applications and help programmers solve problems much more quickly.
Before revealing the release date of the highly anticipated AI, the Emerson engineers on stage showed off many of NIGEL’s helpful features through a live demo. Nigel will be available at no extra cost for existing LabVIEW Pro subscriptions and will also be integrated into TestStand. You can chat with NIGEL and ask questions directly about a virtual instrument (VI), but that’s not all. NIGEL can summarize the VI and answer any follow-up questions. What’s more, NIGEL can execute commands and then show you the exact steps it took to accomplish them.
NIGEL AI will be available for both LabVIEW and TestStand in July 2025.
While these announcements from NI Connect 2025 have made us especially excited for the future, Apex Waves is dedicated to keeping the past alive. We bridge the gap between the manufacturer and legacy hardware by stocking, buying, and repairing Legacy Hardware in perpetuity!
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