I'm thinking along the lines of a "homebrewed" solution, maybe multiple glow plugs mounted on a screw in pre-combustion chamber of sorts. The military is probably testing these things now, since they desire the one fuel (JP) concept. I also like the "smart" glow driver concept submitted earlier. I beleive the guy is using off the shelf hardware here, since the grants are relatively low figures...$70,000 etc.
Problem is, whose shelf did it come off of? Lots of work has been done in related combustion/ignitor fields.....tanks, fighters etc. The common (and fragile) dryer igniter is ceramic, is it also platinum?