Donald Melton, a longtime electrical engineer at BI Incorporated, who was the driving force in the creation of many BI electronic monitoring hardware for more than two decades, passed away in May 2024. Don retired from BI in 2016 as Principal Research and Development (R&D) Hardware Engineer, but his work at BI is still influential for the company and industry today.
Don was the inventor of many of the foundational technologies used in the electronic monitoring industry today. As an electrical engineer at BI for more than 25 years, he was involved in all aspects of some of the original BI electronic monitoring systems, including design, product development, testing, and supervision of the manufacturing of devices.
Don had his hands in many BI legacy electronic monitoring systems from the 1990s to his retirement in 2016. He was involved in the launch of the BI Home Escort 9000 system introduced in 1992; the BI Juris Monitor system for individuals charged with domestic violence in 1995; and a cellular version of the BI Home Escort 6000 system in 1995. In the 2000s, Don helped lead development of the next generation of electronic monitoring systems, including BI HomeGuard 200 and BI HomeGuard 205 (cellular), and the introduction of tracking equipment that incorporated use of GPS, Wi-Fi, and cellular location technology to offer officers detailed information about a client’s movement in the community. These systems included BI LOC8 and BI LOC8 XT. He was also instrumental in the innovative design of BI TAD, a device that continuously monitors individuals for alcohol consumption through a noninvasive skin sensor but also includes radio frequency monitoring capabilities. His primary focus was on design and development, working on the electrical circuits, including microchips, microcontrollers, and other electronics, the overall system design to meet safety and performance standards and prototype development to evaluate design concepts and functionality.
Electronic monitoring in the application of the criminal justice system began to be commercialized in the 1980s, following a judge in New Mexico dreaming up the idea for the tracking of individuals from a comic strip series. BI Incorporated was founded in 1978 and taken public in 1983, and it was less than a decade later that Melton joined BI and helped greatly expand and advance the company’s efforts to bring devices to market to support criminal justice agencies.
“He was a bright guy and very focused on ensuring that the products were fit for the corrections market before they were introduced,” said Joe Newell, R&D Senior Director, BI Incorporated. “The EM industry has lost a legend.”
