The History of ADS
Peter Petroff, inventor, scientist
and founder of ADS in 1975
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Peter Petroff established ADS Environmental Services in 1975 after a career with NASA as a lunar guidance system engineer under Dr. Von Braun. From his garage in Huntsville, Mr. Petroff applied his space technology expertise to measuring municipal collection system flows. The result was the introduction of Doppler flow monitoring which Petroff grew into a thriving business by the 1980s. In that decade, ADS flow-monitoring networks had been established in a number of cities throughout the U.S.
The installation of over 400 monitors networked to a central computer in Sydney, Australia in 1990, was an important milestone in the Company’s history. The industry took note of the expertise required to deploy Sydney's sophisticated network.
Throughout the '90s, ADS continued to reinvest in products and services that advanced the use of flow information for client’s management needs. That activity included the acquisition of Accusonic Technologies, a Falmouth, Massachusetts-based manufacturer of multi-path, transit time flow meters. The addition of transit time to the ADS Doppler technology base, not only strengthened product development initiatives and improved Accusonic’s international presence, but it has also opened new growth opportunities for measurement in water, hydroelectric, canals and wastewater markets.
Innovation continues to be a cornerstone for the company. ADS customer's are now using Web-accessible software to capture flow information in real time. Coupled with real-time information, dynamic software recognizes flow pattern changes to alert collection system owners to much earlier detection of poorly performing areas of their system. Our customers benefit through reduced costs and quicker response to potential environmental hazards.
Along the way, ADS has amassed over 40 national and international patents for wastewater measurement technologies. Office expansion has paralleled the growth of patent activity. ADS has blossomed from a small operation in 1975 to over 20 offices in the U.S. and Australia and a network of distributors reaching over 40 countries worldwide.