Lord Drayson's CleanSpace Tag is a personal pollution tracker

22 Oct 2015


WIRED: Lord Drayson -- you have such a rich varied history with a PhD in Robotics, numerous ministerial positions, as well as racing car driving amongst other things; and now CEO and Chairman of Drayson Technologies. Can you tell me what your biggest success has been along the way and why?

Lord Paul Drayson: The thing that means the most to me are the three world land speed records for electric cars that we set a few years ago. It was scary and exhilarating -- and we changed people's perceptions of what an electric car can do -- so it was memorable on many levels. As a tech entrepreneur and a politician over the past 25 years -- I've been lucky enough to work on some pretty cool projects like that, but I've never before worked on something that was truly revolutionary.

That's why I'm so excited to be working on Freevolt -- it's a world-first technology that has the potential to make a big difference. Firstly in powering CleanSpace -- a new wireless sensor network for air quality.

Drayson Technologies has just launched Freevolt -- what is it and why is it so important?

Freevolt™ is a new, patented technology that turns ambient RF energy from wireless data (2G, 3G, 4G and WiFi) and broadcast networks into usable electricity to charge low power devices, such as sensors, beacons and wearables. It is the first technology of its kind to become commercially available.

When a device is fitted with a Freevolt harvester -- the device can be powered from these wireless and broadcast networks; trickle charging the batteries within the device -- so many of them will never need a battery change or plug in charge. We call this Perpetual Power™.

Freevolt is important because we are at the start of the third wave of internet connectivity, the so called "internet of things" made up of billions of small devices connected by data networks. Freevolt is important because it offers the potential to power these devices from the wireless network itself -- avoiding the need for batteries to be changed or the devices to be hard wired.

Having developed Freevolt -- we asked ourselves a question. What should we use it for first? Air pollution in London -- like all major cities in the world -- is causing serious health problems.

So, we developed the CleanSpace Tag, a personal, portable air pollution sensor completely powered by Freevolt; meaning that you never have to plug it in or change its batteries. Smaller, thinner -- and a lot lighter -- than a modern smartphone, it easily slips into your pocket or bag so you can take it with you everywhere and keep track of the air you are breathing.

It constantly measures levels of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere. It has on board processing power and memory that stores the data on the device and then sends it to your phone via Bluetooth. And because it's powered by Freevolt, you never have to plug it in or change its batteries.

For me, the coolest thing is that it is continually being charged by the energy in the air around us: recycling free wasted energy in the air to measure the quality of the air you are breathing. A technology that is both revolutionary in the science it uses to work, and even more revolutionary in the effect it can have.

How can we as individuals get involved with Freevolt?

The easiest way to see Freevolt in action is to pledge towards our Crowdfunder campaign and receive the first commercial application of Freevolt: the CleanSpace Tag.

Many individuals -- and companies as part of their CSR initiative -- are pledging to help build the world’s first crowd-sourced map of air pollution. The more Tags, the better the data, the better the understanding of the problem, the better the quality of the solution. Its also a great way to get your hands on some breakthrough technology.

Alternatively people can pre-order one of our developer kits available from our website at getfreevolt.com or contact our business development team to discuss implementing Freevolt with their own products.

What in your opinion does the future hold for Energy companies -- once perpetual power is harnessed further?

The energy that can be harvested by ambient RF waves is very small and can only be used to power low-energy devices. While it is absolutely scalable and perhaps demonstrable of how there are many renewable energy innovations yet to be realised; the Freevolt market strategy is much more geared towards how it can benefit the next generation of small, low energy devices that will help shape and inform our lives as part of the internet of things.

As the number of connected devices grows; so the opportunities for Freevolt expand. Imagine a smoke detector charged by Freevolt from the WiFi network in your home so that you never need to change the battery and your home is always protected.

A motion detecting security camera that can be placed anywhere in the room. No need to wire it up or change its batteries either. Beacons can be powered by Freevolt and located almost anywhere even outdoors because, with no battery change needed, devices can be hermetically sealed. It also overcomes the physical demand to change batteries: in the long term, many sectors of business can achieve a substantial return on investment.

Sensors that can be integrated into the very fabric of a building, providing temperature, stress and movements, useful for architects and for building management, as well as other sensors to monitor airflow and temperature to validate building design criteria.

Freevolt integrated into fitness bands and straps as well as wearable clothing so that these devices benefit from ambient RF energy harvesting and in many cases will be Perpetually Powered -- providing us with continuous information on our health and well being.

What does the future look like at Drayson Technologies and how will this impact the way we live in the world?

In the short term we are focused on establishing CleanSpace as the leading air quality sensor network in the UK, powered by Freevolt technology. Next year we plan to roll out CleanSpace internationally while working with developers and companies to design and build more products produced with inbuilt Freevolt technology.