A real-time data communication system comprising a plurality of stations communicatively interconnected by a set of physical links forming a ring, operating at a base symbol rate, such that each of said stations has a physical upstream link and a physical downstream link and is configured to relay symbols received on its upstream link and originating from a different station to its downstream link; wherein a plurality of logical links are provided on said ring, each of said logical links being associated with a symbol rate divisor from among a set of symbol rate divisors and a link index, wherein said set of symbol rate divisors comprises only powers of 2; wherein each of said stations is configured to transmit a message represented by a first string of symbols on a selected logical link from among said plurality of logical links by: - transmitting said message on its downstream link at said base symbol rate divided by the symbol rate divisor associated with said selected logical link, and offset by the link index of said selected logical link; wherein at least one of said stations is configured to generate a first synchronizing sequence by transmitting a predetermined repetitive sequence of symbols on its downstream link at said base symbol rate divided by the symbol rate divisor associated with a first logical link not used for data transmission, and offset by the link index of said first logical link not used for data transmission, and to generate a second synchronizing sequence by transmitting encoded representations of a running symbol counter value on its downstream link at said base symbol rate divided by the symbol rate divisor associated with a second logical link not used for data transmission, and offset by the link index of said second logical link not used for data transmission; and wherein each of said stations is further configured to retrieve symbols belonging to a specific logical link from among a stream of symbols received on its upstream physical link by determining using the first and second synchronizing sequences, a link symbol index for each of said received symbols and then selecting only those symbols for which said determined link symbol index has a remainder equal to the link index of said desired logical link when divided by the symbol rate divisor associated with said desired logical link. wherein a plurality of logical links are provided on said ring, each of said logical links being associated with a symbol rate divisor from among a set of symbol rate divisors and a link index, wherein said set of symbol rate divisors comprises only powers of 2; wherein each of said stations is configured to transmit a message represented by a first string of symbols on a selected logical link from among said plurality of logical links by: - transmitting said message on its downstream link at said base symbol rate divided by the symbol rate divisor associated with said selected logical link, and offset by the link index of said selected logical link; - transmitting said message on its downstream link at said base symbol rate divided by the symbol rate divisor associated with said selected logical link, and offset by the link index of said selected logical link; wherein at least one of said stations is configured to generate a first synchronizing sequence by transmitting a predetermined repetitive sequence of symbols on its downstream link at said base symbol rate divided by the symbol rate divisor associated with a first logical link not used for data transmission, and offset by the link index of said first logical link not used for data transmission, and to generate a second synchronizing sequence by transmitting encoded representations of a running symbol counter value on its downstream link at said base symbol rate divided by the symbol rate divisor associated with a second logical link not used for data transmission, and offset by the link index of said second logical link not used for data transmission; and wherein each of said stations is further configured to retrieve symbols belonging to a specific logical link from among a stream of symbols received on its upstream physical link by determining using the first and second synchronizing sequences, a link symbol index for each of said received symbols and then selecting only those symbols for which said determined link symbol index has a remainder equal to the link index of said desired logical link when divided by the symbol rate divisor associated with said desired logical link.