An airship includes a ballonet, a ballonet tracking system, and a vehicle management system. The ballonet is disposed within the airship and includes a ballonet surface. The ballonet tracking system includes one or more light emitters disposed within the ballonet at one or more fixed locations and one or more light detectors disposed within the ballonet at the one or more fixed locations. The ballonet tracking system measures a plurality of distances between one or more fixed locations and one or more locations on the ballonet surface. The ballonet tracking system also calculates differences between a predetermined set of expected distances and the plurality of measured distances. Based on the calculated differences, the ballonet tracking system calculates a volume of the ballonet. The vehicle management system is communicatively coupled to the ballonet tracking system and controls the operation of the airship using the calculated volume of the ballonet.


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    Title :

    Ballonet Measurement Systems and Methods


    Contributors:

    Publication date :

    2020-10-22


    Type of media :

    Patent


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English


    Classification :

    IPC:    B64B LIGHTER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT , Luftfahrzeuge leichter als Luft



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