Abstract: A communications system (1800) is disclosed in which remote stations (119, 1808, 1803, 1809) are coupled to a central station (104) by a network. The system (1800) comprises the network, the central station (104) which comprises means for establishing a list of information about available network resources and means for publishing the list for said remote stations (119, 1808, 1803, 1809). The system (1800) also comprises the remote stations (119, 1808, 1803, 1809) which comprise means for identifying a set of said published resources needed to establish the connection, means for notifying the central station (104) about the identified resources, and means for seizing the set of identified resources to thereby establish the connection. The central station (104) further comprises means for updating said list of available resources to thereby reflect the seizing of said set, and means for communicating the updated list to said remote stations (119, 1808, 1803, 1809).

Abstract: A system for communicating data among a plurality of ships is disclosed. The system comprises means for sending an inbound message from one of said plurality ships (501), via at least one geostationary satellite (503) and base station (505) to a control centre (507). Spatial information obtained from the control messages is consolidated by the control centre (507) to reduce traffic volume of outbound messages associated with inbound messages. Consolidated messages are then sent via base station (505) and at least one geostationary satellite (503), to a sub-set of said plurality of ships, wherein sub-set of ships are in at least one of the same (a) geographic region, and (b) adjacent region(s), as said one ship.