Systems and methods for measuring lift of a gas cell
AssigneeLTA Research and Exploration, LLC
InventorsKyle Vernyi, Dennis L. Carter, Jonathan Wittmer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The disclosed invention describes a method for determining a lift of a gas cell of an airship. A computing device receives depth measurements of an interior surface of the gas cell comprising a lifting gas using a lidar sensor positioned outside at the top of the gas cell. The computing device performs a particular integration on the depth measurements and estimates a volume of the gas cell based on performing the particular integration. The computing device determines the lift of the gas cell comprising the lifting gas using estimated volume of the gas cell. The computing device sends the lift of the gas cell comprising the lifting gas to a control module of the airship.
Claims20
A method for determining a lift of a gas cell of an airship, comprising:
- receiving, by a computing device of the airship, depth measurements of an interior surface of the gas cell of the airship, the gas cell comprising a lifting gas, wherein the depth measurements are measured by a lidar sensor positioned outside at the top of the gas cell and pointed toward the interior surface of the gas cell through a transparent window of the gas cell;
- performing, by the computing device, an integration on the depth measurements measured using the lidar sensor positioned at the top of the gas cell of the airship;
- estimating, by the computing device, a volume of the gas cell based on the integration performed on the depth measurements;
- determining, by the computing device, the lift of the gas cell comprising the lifting gas using the estimated volume of the gas cell;
- and
- sending, by the computing device, the lift of the gas cell to a control module of the airship.
A system for determining a lift of a gas cell of an airship, comprising:
- at least one onboard computing device, the at least one onboarding computing device being connected to a lidar sensor, the lidar sensor being positioned on a transparent window on an outside of the gas cell;
- and
- at least one memory device for storing machine readable instructions, the machine readable instructions, when executed performing the steps of:
- receiving, by the computing device of the airship, depth measurements of an interior surface of the gas cell of the airship, the gas cell comprising a lifting gas, wherein the depth measurements are measured by the lidar sensor positioned outside at the top of the gas cell and pointed toward the interior surface of the gas cell through the transparent window of the gas cell;
- performing, by the computing device, an integration on the depth measurements measured using the lidar sensor positioned at the top of the gas cell of the airship;
- estimating, by the computing device, a volume of the gas cell based on the integration performed on the depth measurements;
- determining, by the computing device, the lift of the gas cell comprising the lifting gas using estimated volume of the gas cell;
- and
- sending, by the computing device, the lift of the gas cell to a control module of the airship.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.