MettleSense Beacon · Personal Location Intelligence
An independently developed, zero-telemetry location intelligence engine running continuously 24x7 on a private Amazon Lightsail instance. Beacon turns raw, intermittent GPS updates from mobile devices into structured family safety insights, integrating Google Maps, environmental indices, and an automated Telegram bot interface.
A demonstration of MettleSense Beacon's live travel engine in operation, showcasing geofencing crossings, active cron watcher dispatches, and automated Telegram bot messages.
Rather than cluttering the screen with static dots, Beacon clusters GPS coordinates into discrete transits (legs) split at 25-minute gaps. Paths leading toward Home are dashed, while outbound paths remain solid. High-uncertainty metro coordinates are filtered to terminate cleanly at subway entrances, resuming at surfacing.
Beacon avoids constant animations or radar sweeps. It tracks transit state using a minimalist holding position interface ("Hold Short"), prioritizing active alerts over battery-draining visual loops. Opening the panel automatically focuses on the active traveler by selecting the device with the most recent open journey.
Beacon queries localized ambient conditions server-side. It reports the Indian CPCB Air Quality Index, PM2.5/PM10, temperature, and Route congestion indices directly on the target's marker card. All integrations are cached server-side to protect API quotas.
Beacon operates entirely without a public app portal or accessible APIs. The system outputs notifications to `@Mbeaconbot` over Telegram, secured for allowed chat IDs. To prevent name leakages or configuration anomalies, device ID to human name translation happens exclusively inside the notify.send() chokepoint.
The Telegram bot automatically dispatches warnings for device silences, battery drain thresholds, fence departures, and transitions. Allowed chat IDs can query historic intervals and name roads on the fly.
Quick actions let family members request immediate logs or updates without executing complex dashboard lookups. The entire interface runs on low-cost messaging callbacks.
| Layer | Technology | Implementation Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Host Server | AWS Lightsail | Ubuntu 24.04 virtual private server hosted in ap-south-1a |
| Routing & Proxy | Nginx + Gunicorn | Strict route proxying with TLS encryption via Let's Encrypt |
| Application Layer | Flask Web Engine | Fails-safe localized sessions with 10-minute idle activity logout |
| Client Integration | OwnTracks iOS | HTTP telemetry reporting utilizing regional geofences |
| Datastore | Excel Sheet Data Model | Raw coordinate storage utilizing file locking for data safety |
Remote configuration updates operate within the HTTP response body of incoming device check-in blips. The lack of a direct push channel requires active report check-ins before settings take effect.