Method and system to synchronize radio device clusters in a wireless network

A non-transitory, machine-readable medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including one or more processors operating from one or more devices, cause performance of operations by the processing system, the operations comprising:

• identifying a boundary radio device in a second cluster of a wireless network is a neighbor to radio devices in more than one cluster;
• determining whether a first radio device in a first cluster is the neighbor of the boundary radio device;
• sending a first instruction to the first radio device to explicitly initiate transmission of first timestamp information received from the boundary radio device to radio devices in the first cluster responsive to determining that the first radio device is the neighbor of the boundary radio device, wherein the first instruction specifies collision avoidance protocols to ensure reliable transmission of the first timestamp information;
• and
• responsive to the determining that the first radio device is the neighbor of the boundary radio device, causing the boundary radio device to echo the first timestamp information from the second cluster to the first cluster.

A method, comprising:

• determining, by a processing system comprising a processor, a boundary radio device in a second cluster of a wireless network that is a neighbor to radio devices in more than one cluster;
• determining, by the processing system, a first group of radio devices in a first cluster that are neighbors of boundary radio device;
• responsive to the determining that the boundary radio device is the neighbor, causing the boundary radio device to echo first timestamp information from the second cluster to the first cluster;
• sending, by the processing system, a first instruction to the first group of radio devices to explicitly initiate transmission of the first timestamp information received from the radio devices in other clusters to radio devices in the first cluster, wherein the first instruction specifies collision avoidance protocols to ensure reliable transmission of the first timestamp information;
• and
• sending, by the processing system, a second instruction to the radio devices in the other clusters to transmit second timestamp information received from other radio devices in the other clusters to the first group of radio device in the first cluster that are respective neighbors using a defined time-slot-based signaling collision avoidance mechanism.