A Cellular System for Rural Off-Grid Locations
The Challenge
Over one billion people in rural areas worldwide lack access to the transformative technology of cellular phones.
The Technology Approach
The Village Base Station (VBTS) cellular tower is optimized for rural, off-grid deployments by drastically reducing the cost of cellular coverage through decreased required power, especially when not in active use.
2013 Updates
The VBTS is deploying three towers in rural Papua, Indonesia, aiming to serve between 1,000 and 10,000 people.
Lead Researchers
Prof. Eric Brewer, Computer Science
Prof. Tapan Parikh, School of Information
Field Location
Indonesia
[button link=”http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~kheimerl/pubs/vbts_nsdr10.pdf” text=”White Paper”]
