John Thomas Pryor
Land Surveyors in San Diego, CA

6222899, Apr 24, 2001

Jul 30, 1998

9/126298

John T. Pryor - San Diego CA
William H. Marn - San Diego CA
Christopher M. Young - San Diego CA

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy - Washington DC

G01B 700

377 24

The present invention provides a system for determining the deployed length of a flexible tension element such as cable which is wrapped in a pack and fed through a funnel. The element may be sensed using different types of sensors such as optical, acoustical or magnetic sensors. A sensor is mounted in a funnel flush with the inside funnel surface. As wraps of the flexible tension element are deployed, or pulled off from the pack, individual wraps of the flexible tension element pass across the face of a detector as the flexible tension element is displaced in a generally circular pattern around the inside of the funnel. Signal processing circuitry produces a signal indicating the presence of the flexible tension element within a predetermined distance of the sensor. For example, when a wrap of the flexible tension element is within a predetermined range of the sensor, head a signal representing a first logic level, such as a logic 1, generally in the form of a pulse, is produced; when the flexible tension element is beyond a predetermined range of the sensor head, a signal representing a second logic level, such as a logic zero is produced. A computer counts the pulses and a software program implemented in the computer calculates information about the pack status, such as the deployed length of the flexible tension element.