Farnell is widening access to NI Nigel™ AI from Emerson, an AI technology designed specifically for test and measurement. The new enhancements, now available through Farnell, evolve the technology from a simple AI assistant into a true AI author, thanks to new code generation and automated test development capabilities across the entire NI software portfolio. These improvements help make Emerson’s AI-driven test capabilities accessible to even more engineers worldwide, accelerating development without compromising the rigour, control and validation that modern test and measurement environments demand.
The challenge of modern test environments
As increasingly software-defined and connected engineering systems become more widespread, test engineers face growing pressure to manage ever more complex development and validation flows without sacrificing quality or extending development times. Unlike general-purpose AI tools, NI Nigel AI was developed by Emerson specifically for engineering test environments and offers contextual assistance able to understand code and engineering workflows, existing test systems and application data.
AI-assisted authoring features
Integrated directly into NI software, Nigel AI helps engineers speed up tasks such as code generation, debugging, sequence development and system comprehension. With the latest updates introduced by Emerson, Nigel AI moves beyond simple operational support to offer AI-assisted authoring features, including prompt-based code generation in NI LabVIEW™ and automatic sequence generation in NI TestStand™. This lets engineers move more quickly from design to validation while retaining full control over the review, validation and deployment of their work.
A concrete demonstration at NI Connect 2026
During NI Connect 2026, Emerson engineers demonstrated the concrete impact of Nigel AI by reducing a task that, using conventional AI coding tools, had taken around 20 hours of work spread over two weeks, to a workflow completed in about 20 minutes, with working results on the very first attempt.
Statements
Andy Weatherill, Global Head of Product and Technology at Farnell, said: “AI has enormous potential to improve engineering productivity, but its real value emerges when it integrates naturally with the way engineers work every day. By making Emerson’s NI Nigel AI available through Farnell, we help customers adopt an artificial intelligence designed specifically for the sector, capable of enhancing engineering expertise, accelerating development and supporting the high standards of quality and validation required by modern test environments.”
Siddarth Sethi, Vice President and General Manager, NI Test and Analytics Software, Test & Measurement, Emerson, added: “The future of AI in engineering is not about replacing engineers, but about improving the way they work. Nigel brings artificial intelligence directly into the systems, workflows and data engineers rely on every day, combining speed and rigour and helping teams confidently tackle increasingly complex challenges.”
An AI-ready NI platform
Built on the AI-ready NI platform, Nigel AI connects hardware, software, data and engineering workflows to provide intelligent assistance across the entire test lifecycle. Rather than operating as a standalone AI tool, Nigel AI integrates into existing engineering environments, supporting development, validation, troubleshooting and deployment, while helping to reduce repetitive tasks and simplify the most complex workflows.
Global access through Farnell
Through Farnell’s global distribution network, engineers can more easily access the latest NI innovations and products, enabling organisations of any size to adopt AI-based test technologies within the workflows and tools they already use and trust. (https://uk.farnell.com/sc/ni-emerson/software-campaign?ICID=I-SF-NI-QUARTERLY-SOFTWARE-FEB26-WF4836310)
