Nearly 300 companies are lining up to build President Trump's border wall. Customs and Border Protection is asking each company for designs and a wall prototype. One company out of Sierra Vista is vying for a contract, but its proposal does not include building a physical wall.
The product is called Seidarm, and it uses drones and seismic technology to track people, cars, and small aircraft crossing the border instead of creating a physical barrier.
Here's how it works: instead of a wall, side-arm has solar powered sensors installed along the border deep in the ground. They connect with drones in the air to monitor changes in ground and air vibrations.
The sensors can detect people from about 300 or 400 feet away and a car from about 1,200 feet away. Once a signal is detected, it sends an alarm to the headquarters and a drone is sent to intercept the person or car.
From there, the company is hoping to partner with border patrol and other enforcement agencies to provide this real time data to stop illegal entrance to our country.
Some have been concerned that this could incorrectly send alarms if a large animal was passing through the area, but the company said its working on algorithms to make sure that is not a problem.
The owner of the company said one of the biggest problems this solves is protecting the border in places where the terrain is too treacherous to build a wall.
The Department of Homeland Security expects to award the initial contracts for the wall in April.
