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JAMES DYSON AWARD · GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY WINNER 2024

airXeed

Weather sensing with a return journey.

James Dyson Award Meet the inventors
The airXeed radiosonde held against the sky
2024

JDA Global Sustainability Winner

Reusable

Designed for recovery and redeployment

Nature-inspired

Maple-seed autorotation

airXeed infographic comparing conventional radiosonde waste and costs with a recoverable, reusable design
Rethinking the radiosonde lifecycle: from disposable sensing to recovery and reuse.

Closing the loop.

Weather balloons carry sensors high into the atmosphere. airXeed rethinks what happens next: a nature-inspired radiosonde designed to return to a collection area for reuse.

Instead of treating the sensor as disposable, airXeed uses a maple-seed-inspired descent mechanism to support recovery. It translates autorotating-flight research into a practical response to real-world weather-sensing challenges, with the aim of reducing electronic waste and operating costs in atmospheric monitoring.

Key results

  • Named the global Sustainability Winner of the James Dyson Award in 2024.
  • Also recognised as a Singapore National Runner-up in the 2024 competition.
  • The concept focuses on controlled descent, retrieval, and reuse of weather sensors.
The compact radiosonde design.
The compact radiosonde design.
Prototype development and ground equipment.
Prototype development and ground equipment.
Shane Kyi Hla Win and Danial Sufiyan with airXeed.
Shane Kyi Hla Win and Danial Sufiyan with airXeed.
The airXeed team with James Dyson.
The airXeed team with James Dyson.

Project description and co-inventor attribution are supported by the James Dyson Award and Dyson’s 2024 winner announcement.

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