ROGER: Robust and rapidly deployable GSM base station and Backhaul for emergency response

The Philippines is beset on a regular basis by natural disasters due to its geographic location, with an average of 20 typhoons crossing the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) yearly. Such natural disasters often cause severe damage to communications infrastructure such as mobile cellular systems. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan damaged approximately 670 cellular sites in the Western Visayas region, making communication with relevant local government agencies and disaster response groups difficult. With majority of Filipinos being dependent on cellular technology, this adds to the challenges in disaster response coordination, relief, rescue and recovery efforts. In the aftermath of such disasters, telecommunication companies often have transport or relocate various equipment to the affected areas. Such a reactive approach is very often met with implementation challenges such as damaged roads, ports and limited transport options. In this paper, we propose a more proactive approach where backup communications infrastructure is instead kept on standby in vulnerable communities — circumventing some of the major challenges in rapid restoration of communication infrastructure during disasters. We describe the development and deployment of ROGER (Robust and Rapidly Deployable GSM Base Stations and Backhaul for Emergency Response), which consists of an open source GSM base station, backhaul radio, antennas, power supply and a collapsible tower. The use of off-the-shelf components, open source software and locally sourced materials helps to bring down the system cost and enables the vision of placing a ROGER system on standby in all disaster-prone areas in the Philippines. We also discuss the deployment of ROGER and stakeholder engagement in Mercedes, Camarines Norte and its surrounding islands — communities on the eastern seaboard of the Philippines that regularly bears the brunt of incoming typhoons.