The Open-Blimp: An Open-Source Blimp Platform for Lighter-Than-Air Research

Abstract

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2023-0695.vid In aerial flight, lighter-than-air vehicles are an under-utilized form of flight that trades agility and speed for longevity and safety. In this paper, we introduce the Open-Blimp, a lighter-than-air vehicle capable of achieving autonomous navigation using an onboard camera, altitude sensor, and IMU and has wide utility in supporting mobile robotics research. We demonstrate the platform's utility in a wind-field station-keeping problem in which the blimp leverages its onboard camera to perform position estimation and maintain a desired position. State estimates are provided via fiduciary tags in the environment which are observed using our onboard camera. Experimental results using the Open-Blimp are included.