Systems and methods for clock synchronization using special physical layer clock sync symbols

A method of clock synchronization, comprising:

• entering, by the primary node, into a first operating mode with respect to a secondary node;
• generating, by a primary node, a clock sync symbol based on an output of a reference clock of the primary node;
• generating, by the primary node, a symbol stream for transmission over a data connection to the secondary node, wherein the generated symbol stream includes a plurality of symbol encoded frames, the generated symbol stream further including one or more control symbols located between any two consecutive symbol encoded frames;
• inserting, by the primary node operating in the first operating mode, the clock sync symbol at any arbitrary symbol location between any two consecutive symbol encoded frames within the generated symbol stream;
• and
• transmitting, by the primary node operating in the first operating mode, the generated symbol stream including the inserted clock sync symbol over the data connection to the secondary node;
• receiving, by the primary node operating in the first operating mode, a positive acknowledgment of the clock sync symbol from the secondary node;
• switching, by the primary node, from the first operating mode into a second operating mode in response to receiving the positive acknowledgment of the clock sync symbol from the secondary node;
• generating and inserting, by the primary node operating in the second operating mode, further clock sync symbols at arbitrary symbol locations within further symbol streams for transmission over the data connection to the secondary node.