# Momentrack - Real-Time Tracking of Emergency-Response Resources

URL: https://momentaj.com/case-studies/momentrack/
Updated: 2026-10-09
Client: Department of National Defence (Innovative Solutions Canada)
Momentaj's role: Project lead and solution architect
Years: 2019 - 2020
Duration: 6 months (Dec 2019 - May 2020)
Team: 9
Technologies: Pycom FiPy (BLE / LoRa / LTE-M), MicroPython, C# / .NET Core, RabbitMQ, MongoDB, SignalR, IdentityServer, Vue.js, Google Maps, VMware ESXi
Tags: IoT, Real-time, BLE / LoRa / LTE-M, Public Safety, Federal R&D, Private Cloud

A federal R&D contract to show, in real time, where every vehicle, kit and responder is during a multi-agency incident. Momentaj led a team of nine and delivered the proof of concept in six months, on schedule, taking it from TRL 3 to TRL 4.

Outcomes:
- Five milestones out of five on schedule; TRL 3 to TRL 4
- Four device types on BLE, LoRa and LTE-M; a seven-service private cloud; a live incident map
- 98.7% of road-test location reports delivered; LoRa 95%; gateway to cloud 100%
- Proposal scored 96.5 out of 110; invited to propose Phase 2

## Overview

In 2019 Momentaj won a competitive Innovative Solutions Canada contract from Canada's Department of National Defence, through Defence Research and Development Canada's Centre for Security Science. The challenge: during a major incident, police, fire and paramedics from several agencies work the same scene, and nobody has one live picture of where every truck, kit and responder is and whether it is available. Momentaj was one of six companies awarded a Phase 1 contract, as [Innovative Solutions Canada's list of funded projects](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/innovative-solutions-canada/en/innovative-solutions-canada-awarded-companies) shows. DND's evaluators scored the proposal 96.5 out of 110, with full marks for innovation.

## The challenge

No single radio fits every resource. A first-aid kit needs a tag that is small, cheap and runs for months on a battery; a fire truck has power to spare and has to reach the cloud from anywhere; responders already carry phones. LTE-M, the low-power cellular standard built for devices like these, had only just launched in Canada. Bluetooth Low Energy, LoRa and LTE-M had never been combined with a gateway bridging between them. The picture had to update in seconds and keep flowing if part of the system failed, and the location of responders during an incident is not data to put on a public cloud by default.

## What we built

We matched the radio to the resource with four device types: a Local Tag (BLE + LoRa) for kits and supplies, a Gateway (GPS + LTE-M) in each vehicle that relays what it hears, a Direct Tag (GPS + LTE-M) for assets and people anywhere with coverage, and a responder's phone as a Powered Tag. Behind them, a private cloud of seven services on servers we operated ourselves: an IoT hub accepting HTTP(S) and MQTT(S), a processor decoding payloads, a data access layer doing bulk writes, RabbitMQ between every layer, a MongoDB replica set with geospatial queries, a REST and SignalR API, and a Vue web app with a live incident map, standardised icons, map layers, movement trails, sensor charts, CSV export and resource requests. Every tag and gateway logged what it sent, so we could measure reliability per hop rather than only end to end. The team of nine covered hardware, firmware, cloud, UX and business analysis, and included a University of Waterloo co-op student.

## Results

Five milestones out of five delivered on schedule between December 2019 and May 2020, through the first COVID-19 lockdown. The system moved from TRL 3 to TRL 4 at both system and subsystem level across ten tests, including a road test in a moving vehicle in which 98.7% of 9,989 location reports reached the cloud. LoRa delivered 95% of readings from tag to database and the gateway-to-cloud link delivered 100% of batches. Per-hop measurement showed that almost all BLE loss happened in the air between tag and gateway, which told us exactly where the next design round belonged. Canada invited Momentaj to propose Phase 2, an 18-month plan toward TRL 8. DND did not proceed with Phase 2 for this challenge, so Momentrack ended at the proof-of-concept stage.