Disclosed is a method for requesting data from a set of remote units in a network, the method comprising: defining an Asynchronous Ubiquitous Protocol, the Asynchronous Ubiquitous Protocol comprising a schedule of a plurality of time slots, each time slot defined by a distinct start time and end time pair; broadcasting transmitting instructions to the set of remote units, the transmitting instructions comprising the Asynchronous Ubiquitous Protocol and selection instructions for selecting a time slot from the Asynchronous Ubiquitous Protocol to use for data transmission; and, receiving data transmitted from a remote unit in the set of remote units in accordance with the transmitting instructions.