  Data rates in an interstellar communication network suffer from the inverse
square law due to the vast distances between the stars. To achieve high
(Gbits/s) data rates, some combination of large apertures and high power is
required. Alternatively, signals can be focused by the gravitational lenses of
stars to yield gains of order $10^{9}$, compared to the direct path.
Gravitational lens physics imposes a set of constraints on the sizes and
locations of receivers and apertures. These characteristics include the minimum
and maximum receiver size, the maximum transmitter size, and the heliocentric
receiver distance. Optimal sizes of receivers and transmitters are of order
meters. Such small devices allow for the capture of the main lobe in the beam
while avoiding the temporal smearing which affects larger apertures. These and
other properties can be used to describe the most likely parameters of a lensed
communication network, and to determine exact position of communication nodes
in the heliocentric reference frame.
