Patent 7516605 was granted and assigned to Makani Power on April, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A fibrous tension member comprises a plurality of structural threads and an indicator thread. The indicator thread modulates one or more electrical properties of the indicator thread based at least in part on the elongation of the indicator thread. A system for sensing elongation of a fibrous tension member comprises a plurality of structural threads, at least one indicator thread, and a sensing-processing device. The sensing-processing device is electrically connected to the at least one indicator thread to determine the elongation of the fibrous tension member.