TUCSON, April 6 (UPI) -- The United States is on track to deploy nine surveillance sensor towers along the Mexican border this spring as part of the Secure Border Initiative.
Boeing said this week it had successfully tested the first of the 98-foot high towers and would deliver it to an assembly center in Tucson in time for deployment this month.
"The tower and its components functioned as expected, and we are confident that the design is repeatable for deployment along the border," said Kirk Evans, program director for the SBInet program for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.
The SBInet tower is packed with cameras, communications gear and even radar that can pick up groups of people traveling on foot. The system can be linked by wireless to Border Patrol stations and vehicles. The information streamed to agents provides them with a more-complete situational picture of their patrol areas, which allows them to respond faster and with the appropriate resources.
The tests validated that the technical infrastructure of the tower and the interfaces of the power, data, camera, radar and tower security components. The plan is to deploy nine such towers in the Southwest region and go operational in June.
