In a communication network (100) comprising a plurality of devices (110) communicating using a reservation-based data transfer protocol having a superframe (600) comprising a plurality of slots (610), a method (400) of reserving X slots (610) for transmitting data from a source device (110A) to a destination device (110D) via multi-hop relay, the method comprising:
- sending (410) a first hop reservation request from the source device (110A), addressed to a second device (110) different from the destination device (110D), for transmitting data from the source device (110A) to the destination device (110D), the first hop reservation request identifying the source device (110A), the destination device (110D), and X proposed slots (610) to be reserved for a first hop between the source device (110A) and the second device (110);
- at the source device (110A) receiving (425) a first message, addressed to the source device (110A) from the second device (110), indicating that the first hop reservation request is pending and that the X slots (610) proposed by the source device (110A) have been reserved by the second device (110);
- and
- at the source device (110A) receiving (455) a subsequent message, addressed to the source device (110A) from the second device (110), indicating that a final hop reservation request has been accepted by the destination device (110D), corresponding to the first hop reservation request of the source device (110A).