The Village Base Station (VBTS) Project

Publications

M.C. Barela, M.S. Blanco, P.A. Martinez, M.C. Purisima, K. Heimerl, M. Podolsky, E. Brewer and C.A. Festin, “Towards Building a Community Cellular Network in the Philippines: Initial Site Survey Observations”, Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD ‘16), June 03 - 06, 2016, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. [link]
M. C. L. Purisima, M. Salvador, S. G. P. Agustin and M. T. Cunanan, "Frequency and pattern reconfigurable antennas for community cellular applications," 2016 IEEE Region 10 Conference (TENCON), Singapore, 2016, pp. 3767-3770. [link]
A. Vidal, M.C. Purisima, M.T. Perez, C.A. Festin, M. Podolsky, and E. Brewer, "GSM Timeslot Detection and Switching for Power Amplifier Duty Cycling in Community Cellular Networks" 2017 International Conference on Computer, Information and Telecommunication Systems. [link]
Bernalyn A. Decena, Joshua Reginal Luzon, Miguel Carlo L. Purisima. 2017. "2.4 GHz Pattern Reconfigurable Corner Reflector Antennas Using Frequency Selective Conductor Loops and Strips." Proceedings of TENCON 2017 - 2017 IEEE Region 10 Conference, Penang, 2017, pp. 2914-2919. [link]
K. Shah, P. Martinez, E. Tepedelenlioglu, S. Hasan, C. Festin, J. Blumenstock, J. Dionisio, and K. Heimerl. 2017. "An Investigation of Phone Upgrades in Remote Community Cellular Networks." Ninth International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD ’17). ACM, November 16 - 19, 2017, Lahore, Pakistan. [link]
E. Jang, M. Barela, M. Johnson, P. Martinez, C. Festin, M. Lynn, J. Dionisio, K. Heimerl. 2018. "Crowdsourcing Rural Network Maintenance and Repair via Network Messaging." ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, April 26-28, 2018, Montreal, Canada. [link]
M. Barela, J. Dionisio, K. Heimerl, M. Sapitula, C. Festin. 2018. “Connecting communities through mobile networks: The VBTS-CoCoMoNets project.” Philippines Country Report/Chapter on APC Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch 2018) on Community Networks. [link]
Josephine C. Dionisio, Cedric Angelo Festin, Jalton Taguibao, Manuel Victor Sapitula, Kurtis Heimerl. 2018. “Village Base Stations (VBTS): The Promise of Community Cellular Networks As a Project for Public Sociology” XIX International Sociological Association World Congress of Sociology. Toronto, Canada [link]
Ronalaine T. Cutillon, Joel Joseph S. Marciano and Steven Matthew Cheng, "Optimal Distance Measurements of Near-Field Antennas for Cellular Frequency Translators." 2018 International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation, Busan, South Korea [link]
Francis Marlon Cabredo, Yna Maria Ignacio, Neil Irwin Bernardo and Steven Matthew Cheng, "Design and Implementation of a Wideband RF Front-end Add-on Module for Improving Spectrum Measurements in TV and Cellular Frequency Bands." 2018 IEEE Region 10 Conference (TENCON), Jeju, South Korea [link]
Greco Gervin Cruz, Leandrew Miguel Guzman, Mar Francis De Guzman and Steven Matthew Cheng, "Compensation of Antenna Misalignment Using Selection Diversity for Maritime Communications." 2018 IEEE Region 10 Conference (TENCON), Jeju, South Korea. [link]
S. Cheng, M. Purisima, M. Podolsky, E. Brewer, C. Festin. “Design of a Mobile Adapter to Address Frequency Regulations for Rural Cellular Operators.” IEEE International RF & Microwave Conference (RFM 2018). Penang, Malaysia. [link]
S. Hasan, M. C. Barela, M. Johnson, E. Brewer, K. Heimerl, "Scaling Community Cellular Networks with CommunityCellularManager", 16th USENIX Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation (NSDI ‘19), Boston, MA. February 26-28, 2019. [link]
S. Ballon, G. Toledo, M. Cunanan, S. Cheng, “Automatic Antenna Beam Selection for Optimal Cellular User Coverage”, International Workshop on Antenna Technology (iWAT) 2019, Miami, FL. March 03-06, 2019. [link]
Esther Jang, Philip Garrison, Mary Claire Barela, Ronel Vincent Vistal, Maria Thessa Cunanan, Philip Martinez, Maria Theresa Perez, Matthew William Johnson, Andoy Evangelista, Ishtiaque Ahmed, Josephine Dionisio, Kurtis Heimerl. ”Trust and Technology Repair Infrastructures in the Remote Rural Philippines: Navigating Urban-Rural Seams” 22nd ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW) 2019 [link]
Mar Francis D. De Guzman, Calvin Artemies G. Hilario, Ronel Vincent P. Vistal, Ian C. Mosquera, Julius M. Judan, Joel Joseph S. Marciano Jr., ”Alternative Backhaul link for Community Cellular Network in Rural Coastal Areas”, Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC) [link]
Mary Claire Barela, Maria Theresa Cunanan, Philip Martinez, Ronel Vincent Vistal, Cedric Angelo Festin, "Community Cellular Networks in the Philippines: Challenges and Opportunities towards Sustainability", IEEE Region 10 Humanitarian Technology Conference (R10 HTC) 2019. [link]
Niall Keleher, Mary Claire Barela, Joshua Blumenstock, Cedric Festin, Matthew Podolsky, Erin Troland, Arman Rezaee, Kurtis Heimerl, "Connecting Isolated Communities: Quantitative Evidence on the Adoption of Community Cellular Networks in the Philippines", International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD ’20). ACM, June 17-19, 2020. Guayaquil, Ecuador. [link]
Calvin Artemies G. Hilario, Mary Claire Barela, Mar Francis D. De Guzman, Rizza T. Loquias, Ramon Vann Cleff B. Raro, Jean Jay J. Quitayen, and Joel Joseph S. Marciano, Jr., "LokaLTE: 600 MHz Community LTE Networks for Rural Areas in the Philippines", IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC 2020). [Accepted for publication]

Meet Our Team

Our team is diverse and combines engineering, wide-area quantitative data collection and qualitative research providing rich local context. Together, our team have deep expertise in wireless communications, circuit design, embedded systems, and rigorous social and economic impact evaluation.