Appliances
Many companies, institutions and private people implemented the Ethernut Design in their projects. If you like your project being included in this list, please send an email to info@egnite.de.
NutDAC
José Vallet, Petri Hyötylä, Timo Keränen, Kaj Nikiforow and Mikko Elomaa developed a flexible layered software system that helps to easily and quickly create generic embedded real time data acquisition and control applications that can be remotely controlled from a PC, using, for example, a nice GUI. They call it NutDAC (NutOS based Data Acquisition and Control).
NutDAC has been used to created the control applications of several fuel cell based power sources, the last two of them being an 8kW one with 100 I/O channels and a 16kW one with 188 I/0 channels (the later was used in the forklift).
In the web pages you can find, among other things:
- The NutDAC source code, including some examples
- Extensive documentation and a hands on demo
- The control software for 8 and 16kW fuel cells
- The HW design and drivers of the instrumentation boards used (can be used as generic IO cards)
Fischertechnik Factory
For the ElektorLive! event 2010 a model of a simple Fischertechnik Factory had been created, using an Ethernut 2.1 and 2 CMI8848 boards.
FS20Nut & FHTNut
Thomas Stollberg's open source project FS20Nut & FHTNut connects ELV FS20 components (868 MHz wireless sensors and actuators) and an FHT80b heater regulator to the Ethernet, using an Ethernut 1.3 board. He plans even more, like the attaching a KeyMatic® door lock.
Zoinks
The Zoinks Open Interface Networked Kontrol System was proposed by Dr.Kirk Madison and Dr.Dan Steck as a series of open source, reusable, and scalable experimental control/data acquisition systems for the Atom Optics research community around the world.
Sun Follower
Nicosia Tommaso created a sun follower with 8 actuators, web interface and lcd control panel using Nut/OS 4.7.4. The hardware is based on Ethernut 1.3.
Nicosia works for a public research society, which operates a solar panel plant of about 60kW, located in Rotondella (MT), Basilicata, Italy.
Universal Ethernet Module
Module Gateway-X is a universal programmable ethernet module offered by Trakce, a.s.. It is used for general protocol conversion tasks like interfacing security systems and fire systems to remote control and supervisory systems. In addition it can be used for remote monitoring of contoller modules placed on LAN/WAN networks.
The module is also available to developers as a NUT/OS platform.
Professional Internet Radio Receiver
Having started with the Lukas Radio (see below), Streamit now offers the SIR series professional IP-audio receivers based on Nut/OS. The SIR 120 supports MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WMA, ASX, PLS and AAC+ audio streams, either plain or encrypted. (Click on the image to view the PDF brochure.)
MIDI over LAN
Wolfram Sang and Christian Wiesner had to control a MIDI device, which was located far away from the controller. They decided to use the existing Ethernet network and got very good results with Ethernut 1.3 and a custom built daughterboard. It was possible to transmit all MIDI-Commands, even NoteOns, play MIDI-Files over these devices, use midiclock and controllers and to program a MicroModular via sysex. Read more...
Home Automation
Piotr Szlachta had been involved in electronic projects much earlier in his life than anyone else. No wonder his flat in Warsaw is controlled by a home automation system. We are proud that he selected Nut/OS as a web server, not only to control his environment, but also to present his project online.
Robot Contest
Gert-Jan Kruizinga, Jan-Rinze Peterzon and Peter Kunst took the Ethernut to a robot contest at the Melexis Trophy Contest. The Ethernut Board is mounted on the second stage platform, delivering sensor data to a NetWinder System . Camera, sensors, LCD and switches will be mounted on a third stage.
Well, to make it short, the robot failed miserably. Here's Peter's report:
The robot was working fine and we managed to get to the contest in Belgium. The night before the game, we were still building and redesigning the robot (in the hotel!) and were confident that everything was working fine.
On the big day we had everything working but when the robot had to do its tricks it failed after several meters :(!! There were problems with the Netwinder: "Kernel panic!" shit happened and we were unable to find the problem on time.
Later(several days after) we found a bug in the Linux kernel: interrupt conflicts between the network interface and the on-board audio DSP which we used for connecting the microphones. Duh! we inserted a kernel update e voila it worked like a charm.
Update: Well, tough guys don't give up. One year later, in April 2004, they tried again. This time the Melexis Safety Trophy Robot Competition was held at the Brabanthal in Leuven, Belgium. Here's Peter's report:
We were very succesful; the robot performed like a charm and was very persistent. We have won the Melexis Innovation Award, a trip to the USA for 4 persons.
Here's the related link:
www.darc.nl/news/news.html
XNUT-100 Programmable Gateway
proconX has developed a Nut/OS based programmable Protocol Converter and Industrial Gateway device which is aimed at industrial communication and process control applications. The device has two software configurable serial ports with RS-232, RS-485 and RS-422, an optional CAN interface, a 24 VDC (10-30 V) switch mode power supply and is housed in a DIN-rail enclosure.
Ultrasonics Cleaning Machine
Soniclean Pty Ltd has developed a Machine Reporting System (MRS) for their range of ultrasonic cleaning machines used by the medical industry for cleaning surgical instruments before being sterilized. The MRS consists of the Ethernut, Nut/OS and a daughterboard developed in house to provide up to 512K EEPROM and a battery-backed Real Time Clock (RTC). The additional EEPROM and RTC are used to log data associated with the machine's operation. This data is then used to generate HTML reports of cleaning operations and machine status when accessed using a standard web browser. The MRS also caters for low level remote troubleshooting of the machine if problems arise. The MRS is now being used on a wide range of Soniclean products.
SiMSoN - SMS over Networks
Sascha Jensen and Jan Nabbefeld, two students at the FHTW-Berlin , created this gateway for Short Message Service (SMS). They used an Ethernut board with the Siemens TC35i GSM-Modem.
Industrial Local Positioning Radar
The Industrial Local Positioning Radar (LPR) is a system that consists of two essential components: The base station and the transponder. Those two elements make it possible to measure the position of moving targets by transmitting frequency-modulated signals. It is especially suited for wireless positioning tasks with an essential accuracy of less than 1 metre. The photo shows the base station, which uses the Ethernut Board for communication with a Siemens S7 and for remote maintenance via TCP/IP.
Telematics
Telogis Technology provides reliable, tested technology for GIS applications. The vCORE-G3 is an advanced vehicle tracking and communications device. The company offers an SDK including an emulator, which allows developers to write and debug their own Nut/OS based applications on a Windows PC.
KerkWebRadios
You/Com Telecommunicatie announced their new KerkWebRadio (left). It's an Internet Radio based on the Ethernut design with 512 kByte RAM and an integrated modem. The KerkWebRadio is an alternative to the existing church telephone service, which is used in the Netherlands by about 80,000 housebound people.
It is indeed one of the most interesting Nut/OS based projects. What makes it so special for us is the fact, that even one of You/Com's competitors, Streamit , announced their LUKAS Radio (right), which is based on, you guessed it, Nut/OS.
Mechatronics at Linköping University
The student project named Evolve has been formulated together with Volvo Cars AB in Gothenburg and spans three years. The project goal is to analyse, implement and rebuild a Volvo V70 T5 so that it is four wheel steered. This year the whole development chain for a mechatronical project have been studied. The project includes Ethernut Hardware and Nut/OS. The project team recently applied for a contest, "Student Embedded Award", and received an honours award for "A Truly Embedded System". Congratulations.
Contiki
Adam Dunkels did something with Ethernut, which would not even had appeared in our wildest dreams. He implemented a VNC Server, which provides a desktop environment including the world's smallest web browser.
Adam is well known for his embedded TCP/IP stacks named lwIP and uIP . For the Ethernut board he ported Contiki , a graphical operating system for smallish systems such as the Commodore 64 and the 8-bit Ataris. It provides graphical user interface primitives such as windows, dialog boxes, buttons and text editing. The source code of the Contiki Ethernut port is available at Sourceforge .
If you are lucky, Adam's Ethernut is online and you can try Contiki by using the VNC Client Java Applet, which can be downloaded from the Ethernut WebServer ,
Sens-O-Nuts
Beside demonstrating what not to do with an Ethernut Board, students at the FHTW Berlin are using it to transfer sensor data to a PC running LabView. The name of the project is Sens-O-Nuts .
Unfortunately the project had been hit by bad luck. Beside hardware problems , the students struggled with "freezing" of their Nut/OS application. Well, they didn't give up and finally managed to finish the project successfully.
Smart Kitchen
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft presented a smart kitchen at the international furniture fair Cuisinale 2002. It is equipped with three Ethernuts. The one in the letterbox pillar (click on the second photo) uses a transponder to detect the contents of a Home Supply Box. Two other Ethernuts are used to monitor the fill level of the fridge and a food cabinet. At http://www.inhaus-duisburg.de/ you can visit the intelligent house.
Motion Control
CDS Modules is specialized in the design and production of modular automated motion control systems. In a first step Ethernuts are used to connect their RS232 and RS485 interfaces to LAN. One of the new products is a stepper motor controller add-on to be plugged on top of the Ethernut board.
Point of Sale Terminal
The base unit contains an Ethernut board and a contactless smart card reader. One serial port is used to drive the smart card reader and the printer, whilst the other one connects the pin pad.
Internet Radio
Looks like Peter Kunst (a.k.a. Pete Art) is one of our greatest fans. Beside the robot (see above) he also developed an Ethernut based Internet Radio.
Music Shop System
FORS offers a revolutionary system for CD shops, which is based on Ethernut. Customers can listen to the tracks on a CD before they buy, while there is no need to open the CD package.