Engineering news
Drayson Technologies, wireless technology developer, has announced plans to build the world’s most advanced air pollution map for Greater London.
The start-up, founded by former UK science minister Lord Paul Drayson, has partnered with courier company Gophr and global mobile satellite communications services provider Immarsat to carry out the project.
Gophr will equip 50 of its bicycle couriers with CleanSpace Tags – portable air pollution sensors created by Drayson Technologies that are powered by its Freevolt technology. Freevolt recycles wasted radio frequency energy from the carrier waveform of radio transmission networks in order to power low energy electrical devices such as sensors, beacons and wearable devices so their batteries never need changing. Users can access the data via an app.
The couriers, all based in London, will map pollution levels on their journeys across the capital, collecting data that will help to build a real-time map of London’s air pollution as they carry out their same-day deliveries. The couriers will also be equipped with Long Range (LoRa) trackers by Inmarsat, enabling highly accurate, real time location and height data to be collected on the move.
The carbon monoxide data collected from the CleanSpace Tags will feed into the Air Map, an interactive map that will show the pollution levels at the location of each courier, in real time. With the couriers predicted to travel more than 17,000 miles each month, Drayson Technologies said the amount of indoor and outdoor air pollution data collected will be on a scale that has never been achieved previously. The collected data is anonymised and fed into the CleanSpace mobile application, alongside other Tag users’ data, to provide users with personal air pollution data.
The LoRa trackers will track the location of the Gophr couriers via satellite without having to use mobile Location Based Services, which drain battery life. This provides more accurate readings on the move, with the need for fewer access points to cover the whole area of a city.
Further organisations, groups and individuals will be equipped with CleanSpace Tags in the coming weeks and months in order to collect data, gather insights and help address the issue of air pollution in the capital.
Lord Paul Drayson, chief excecutive of Drayson Technologies, said: “This partnership brings together the combined expertise and commitment of Drayson Technologies, Gophr and Inmarsat so that people in London can see the air they breathe and help to create, not just a smart city – but a smarter society.”
Greg Ewert, president for enterprise markets at Inmarsat, said: “Air pollution is a global problem, contributing to about 40,000 early deaths a year in the UK alone. Creating an accurate air pollution map at breathing height will contribute to the better understanding of how to combat this issue and improve air quality in London.”