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New tracking technology executed its job perfectly Tuesday, and now a young boy with autism is home safely with his family in Chelsea, Massachusetts.When Chelsea firefighters went looking for the 11-year-old, who went missing Monday morning, it was the first real-life test case for the department’s new tracking system. The system uses antennas that detect signals from bracelets equipped with tiny radio transmitters.Chelsea Fire Chief John Quatieri said he was holding his breath when he realized it would be the first time the system went into effect. “When this call went out yesterday and I realized who it was and that he had the bracelet on, this was the first time this system was put to use,” Quatieri said. The technology has been around for decades to track wildlife, but more recently it’s been adapted to track missing people.Its range is limited to about a quarter mile on the ground, but unlike systems that use WiFi or GPS, it has no dark zones, according to the company that makes it.”They can be in the basement, the second-floor basement of a parking garage in Boston, and pick up the signal,” Ralph Poland of SafetyNet Tracking said. “With GPS or something like that, you wouldn’t.”In the case of the missing 11-year-old, police and firefighters tracked his signal to an MBTA bus bound for Boston.Within 20 minutes the boy was found and reunited with his father.As of Tuesday, Chelsea has provided bracelets to six children and is now offering them free to other families of children and adults with special needs.The Chelsea Fire Department spent around $25,000 on the system. SafetyNet Tracking says the technology is also being used by nearly 100 other public safety agencies in Massachusetts, including state police.