ELJ announces the finalists of their second Embedded Linux Journal contest. Projects were based on NIC from The New Internet Company . . .”

• Runner-Up: Shortwave Radio Educational Kiosk, by Jay Sissom — What do you get when you combine the NIC with a Ten-Tec computer controlled RX-320 shortwave radio… and a graphical application that explains the shortwave bands? A cool exhibit for your local science museum, that's what. The NIC provides an easy-to-use front end to hear far-away radio stations for the first time. A well-thought-out project complete with heavy-duty arcade game buttons for intensive public use.

• Runner-Up: NIC-based Adaptive and Efficient Residential HVAC Control, by Phil Zumsteg (URL coming soon; see contest page) — Air conditioning is actually most efficient when the outside air is coolest — but a conventional thermostat just runs it when the house heats up. You can pre-cool the house, but that's a waste when the weather will be cool enough not to need it. That's where this project can help. Using weather forecasts, the “NIC-aerc” can termine the most efficient course of action. You save even more when your utility offers off-peak discounts. The web site includes good docs on interfacing the necessary Dallas Semiconductor MicroLAN devices to monitor internal and external temperatures, and control the thermostat. (The NIC uses its built-in modem to get on-line weather forecasts.) Even with all that capability, this project isn't much more expensive than a 7-day programmable thermostat.

• Winner: CanDetect, by Alexander Perry — William Gibson wrote that “the street finds its own uses for things” and it looks like the runway does too. Far from the NIC's office-bound roots, this project does nondestructive testing for cracks in aircraft and is being presented as a paper to NDE and Health Monitoring of Aerospace Materials and Civil Infrastructures conference in San Diego on March 19th. CanDetect makes innovative and cost-effective use of the NIC's sound hardware to drive a probe and displays results using xoscope oscilloscope utility. The web site gives a thorough explanation of how it's done, along with an abstract of the paper, entitled “Near DC eddy current measurement of aluminum multilayers using MR sensors and commodity low-cost computer technology.”

The grand prize winner will receive an all-expenses paid trip to Costa Rica and the two runners-up will each receive a Lego Mindstorms package. For more information on the winners please visit the Embedded Linux Journal website.

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