Balto Beacon: Loko Hardware Setup

This page walks through configuring your Loko hardware for use with Balto Beacon, from unboxing/charging through confirming everything is reporting correctly. For general app usage after setup, see Balto Beacon User Guide.

What You'll Need

1× Loko Ground unit Note: the Ground unit needs an 18650 battery which isn't included. You can get these from Amazon.
1× Loko Air unit per dog
A phone or tablet with Balto Beacon installed and Bluetooth enabled
USB-C cables for the Ground unit and each Air unit

Step 1: Initial Setup

Before first use, fully charge:

The Loko Ground unit
Every Loko Air unit you plan to use

Note: Do this well before deployment — charging takes time, and you don't want to be waiting on a battery during a callout.

You will probably need to update the firmware in the Loko devices. This can be done on a Mac or Windows computer. You will need Google Chrome installed. Firefox and Safari do not support USB devices. You may also need to install the USB driver.

Windows CH340/341 Driver

MacOS Driver

Driver installation may require enabling and permissions to your OS. (It does on a Mac)

Here's the link to the Nolilabs Loko configuration page: [1]

Perform the firmware updates on both Ground and Air units before proceeding.

Note: IMPORTANT: You MUST set the frequency to 915 MHz to operate legally in the US and 868 MHz in Europe. (For the Ground unit, that's 915000000 and 868000000)

The devices have ID numbers that you should specify particularly if you have multiple Ground and Air units. The Air unit broadcasts its own ID number (which is ID1) and the ID of the Ground unit it wants to listen to it (which is ID2).

The choice of these ID numbers matters for a SAR team with multiple dogs. Each dog should have a specific number for ID1. If you have several Ground stations, they could all use the same ID2 number and each person would be seeing all of the Air units. Or you could give each handler with a Ground unit a different ID2 number so they only see their own dog.

What you need to avoid is more than one Air unit with the same ID1 number. Ground units won't be able to tell them apart and if it worked at all, there would be a lot of conflicting position data.

The Wake-up period is how often the GPS position is reported. The smaller that time is, the more detail you get in the resulting track but the faster the battery gets used. 5 seconds gets you about 3 hours of battery time.

Send Mult should be set to 1.

Save Mult is the interval for how often GPS positions are stored on the Air unit's internal memory. So even if the wireless link fails, the track can be saved and downloaded in GPX format later.

There are several GNSS modes. Normal and Fitness are the useful ones. Normal tends to capture a lot of extra movement when you're standing around due to the way GPS signals work. Fitness mode can filter out a lot of that noise but it might not capture more subtle movement of the dog.

You'll want to leave the Daily Sleep Window off.

Transmit Mode must be on P2P (point-to-point). LoRaWAN Mode is not supported by Balto Beacon.

You MUST set the frequency to 915 MHz to operate legally in the US and 868 MHz in Europe. (For the Ground unit, that's 915000000 and 868000000)

Tx Power at 8 dBM can give you quite a lot of range depending on terrain and vegetation. In tests, we've seen 1 km or more. Increasing the power can help with signal dropouts. But you also reduce the battery time.

If you want the position information to be encrypted, you can enable P2P Encryption and enter a key. Both Air and Ground units need to use the same key.

You can also include Velocity and Altitude in the data. CalTopo can capture the Altitude.

Step 2: Mount the Air Unit on the Collar

Attach the Air unit securely to the dog's collar per the hardware's mounting hardware/strap.
Make sure it's snug and won't spin, catch on brush, or come loose during work.
Power on the Air unit by pressing and holding the power button. The LED will be solid red for about 4 seconds and then it will blink slowly several times. Once it's on, the LED blinks every time a position is transmitted. To power down, press and hold the power button for 5 seconds. The LED will blink rapidly and then turn off.

Step 3: Power On the Ground Unit

Power on the Loko Ground unit by pressing and holding the power button for several seconds. The LED will change from white to green and then turn off. Release the power button. It will then blink blue while it's waiting for a Bluetooth connection.
Keep it within Bluetooth range of the phone that will run Balto Beacon (it will typically be carried by the handler or kept at a base station).

Step 4: Connect the Ground Unit to Balto Beacon

Open Balto Beacon on your phone.
Make sure Bluetooth is turned on.
Open the device scan/connect screen in the app.
Select your Ground unit from the list of nearby devices.
Confirm the connection. The LED will turn solid blue while the connection is active.
To turn the Ground unit off, press and hold the power button for several seconds. The LED will switch between magenta and red. Then release the power button.

Note: When you connect a given Ground unit, you'll need to confirm it manually. If your phone loses Bluetooth connection, it will automatically reconnect as long as the Beacon app is still running. Bluetooth range is about 50 meters.

Step 5: Confirm the Air Unit Is Reporting

Once the Ground unit is connected, check the map screen in Balto Beacon.
Within a short time, you should see a new tracker appear, corresponding to the Air unit on the dog's collar.
If it doesn't appear, see Troubleshooting below.

Step 6: Name the Tracker

Tap the new tracker's entry in the app.
Rename it to something clear — typically the dog's call name — so it's easy to identify on the map and in CalTopo.
Repeat for each additional dog/Air unit.

Step 7: Enable GNSS Fitness Mode

Loko hardware supports a GPS "fitness mode" that reduces position jitter for a moving target, which is the normal case for a working dog. Leave this enabled for field use unless a team lead directs otherwise.

Step 8: Confirm CalTopo Is Receiving Positions

Ask your team lead which CalTopo map your kit is configured to report to (this is typically set up once per team/kit and shouldn't need to change day to day).
With the tracker connected and moving, check that its position is updating on the shared CalTopo map.
If it isn't updating, confirm you have cellular connectivity — Beacon will buffer and backfill automatically once connectivity returns, so a brief gap isn't a problem, but a fully offline phone won't upload until it reconnects.

Adding a New Dog/Air Unit Later

You don't need to redo the whole setup for the whole team — just repeat Steps 1, 2, 5, and 6 for the new dog/Air unit. The Ground unit and phone connection (Steps 3–4) stay the same.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	What to do
Ground unit doesn't show up when scanning	Bluetooth off, unit not powered on, or out of range	Enable Bluetooth on your phone; confirm the Ground unit is powered on and nearby
Ground unit connects but no tracker appears	Air unit not powered on, out of range, or not yet linked to this Ground unit	Confirm the Air unit is powered on; move it closer to the Ground unit; power-cycle the Air unit
Tracker appears but position seems stale	Weak radio link between Air unit and Ground unit (e.g., terrain, distance)	Move the Ground unit/handler closer to the dog if possible; this should recover on its own as range improves
CalTopo map isn't updating	No cellular connectivity on the phone, or wrong CalTopo map configured	Check cellular signal; confirm with your team lead which map the kit should be reporting to
Air unit died mid-assignment	Battery exhausted (current hardware runs roughly 3–4 hours depending on settings)	Swap in a charged spare if available; note the time for the debrief