When Jim Drewett started out working in his garage in 1996, his company, Applied Digital Security, Inc (ADSI) of Chula Vista, California was poised to grow quickly. His homemade tracking device got into the hands of the Chula Vista police department and the device showed its worth early on when the equipment became an important part of a high-stakes surveillance operation. "We had gotten some information from a 'tested and reliable' informant that an individual was planning to purchase grenades," recalled former Chula Vista police agent Michael Cuellar. "This individual had a long criminal rap sheet."
Drewett installed the device in the informant's vehicle and then returned the vehicle to the informant to begin the operation. Once the police were able to pull the vehicle over under the guise of a routine traffic stop, they searched both the vehicle and the individual suspect. They didn't find grenades, but they did find that the suspect had concealed a loaded weapon. Because he was on parole, this offense landed him in state prison.
This activity caught the attention of the U.S. Border Patrol and, using their guidelines, ADSI designed technology that could track individual Border Patrol vehicles in remote locations. This success of this technology led the Border Patrol to ask ADSI to create a system of sensors that remotely tracked aliens crossing the border illegally.
Assistance from CCAT allowed ADSI to move forward with the IDS design which included seismic, magnetic and passive infrared sensors. These highly perceptive sensors were sensitive enough to distinguish between humans and animals. The system was the perfect technology to detect and track humans trespassing or illegally crossing the U.S. border.
The first IDS system was purchased and installed in the spring of 2003, but, ironically, NOT by the U.S. Border Patrol. The U.S. Fish and Game Department had also heard of ADSI and they purchased the first IDS system used to catch marijuana growers on public lands. In fact, the system led to the apprehension of several growers shortly after the system's installation. Then, U.S. Border Patrol installed IDS in the spring of 2003 near the U.S. border town of Campo, CA for surveillance of illegal immigrants crossing the border the U.S./Mexico border.
In March of 2004, a deal was struck between ADSI and a software engineering firm, Abaris Technologies to form a joint venture called AIRSIS, LLC. AIRSIS LLC, combined ADSI's engineering proficiency and Abaris' management expertise into one organization. In March, 2005, the company formally combined the two entities and formulated a new business strategy.
Now known as AIRSIS, Inc, the company's first directive was to stop building small, customized orders and concentrate on large contracts. Two of these contracts, U.S. Forest Service and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, purchased IDS systems to detect and track loggers illegally cutting old growth forests and individuals growing marijuana in the Northwestern United States (in 2005, the U.S. Forest Service also apprehended several marijuana growers with IDS).
After one difficult IDS installation where rocky soil prevented cables from being buried, AIRSIS applied for a CCAT Follow-On award late 2004 to develop a wireless system. That December, Drewett was awarded a $75,000 product development award with an additional market study. The wireless technology was developed shortly thereafter and is currently on the market.
For more information, please contact:
Tom Sheffer, CCAT Program Director
SDSU Research Foundation
E-mail: tsheffer@foundation.sdsu.edu
Phone: (619) 594-4135 / Fax: (619) 594-5774