Methods and apparatus for synchronizing clock signals in a wireless system

A method for testing master and slave network equipment, the master network equipment comprising a transmitter and a master reference clock, the slave network equipment comprising a receiver and a slave reference clock, the method comprising:

• receiving a synchronization packet comprising first control signals from the transmitter;
• intermittently receiving a timestamp packet comprising a predetermined number of accumulated master timestamp samples;
• generating and storing at least one master timestamp sample of the predetermined number of accumulated master timestamp samples;
• in response to the receiving the synchronization packet from the transmitter, generating second control signals in slave control circuitry;
• generating and storing at least one slave timestamp sample based on the second control signals with the slave control circuitry;
• comparing the at least one stored master timestamp sample to the at least one stored slave timestamp sample to determine whether the master and slave reference clocks are properly synchronized.

A method for testing master and slave network equipment, the master network equipment comprising a transmitter and a master reference clock, the slave network equipment comprising a receiver and a slave reference clock, the method comprising:

• receiving a synchronization packet comprising first control signals from the transmitter;
• generating and storing at least one master timestamp sample;
• in response to the receiving the synchronization packet from the transmitter, generating second control signals in slave control circuitry;
• generating and storing at least one slave timestamp sample based on the second control signals with the slave control circuitry;
• and
• comparing the at least one stored master timestamp sample to the at least one stored slave timestamp sample to determine whether the master and slave reference clocks are properly synchronized;
• wherein:
• the at least one stored master timestamp sample comprises a master timestamp value and a master index value;
• the at least one stored slave timestamp sample includes a slave timestamp value and a slave index value, the slave index value corresponding to the master index value;
• and
• the comparing the at least one stored master timestamp sample to the at least one stored slave timestamp sample comprises computing a difference between the master timestamp value and the slave timestamp value.

A method for testing master and slave network equipment, the master network equipment comprising a transmitter and a master reference clock, the slave network equipment comprising a receiver and a slave reference clock, the method comprising:

• receiving a synchronization packet comprising first control signals from the transmitter;
• generating and storing at least one master timestamp sample;
• in response to the receiving the synchronization packet from the transmitter, generating second control signals in slave control circuitry;
• generating and storing at least one slave timestamp sample based on the second control signals with the slave control circuitry;
• comparing the at least one stored master timestamp sample to the at least one stored slave timestamp sample to determine whether the master and slave reference clocks are properly synchronized;
• generating and storing additional slave timestamp samples;
• and
• in response to the receiving the synchronization packet, comparing the at least one stored master timestamp sample in the synchronization packet to the stored additional slave timestamp samples to determine whether the receiver has failed to receive any synchronization packets from the transmitter.

A method for operating master and slave network equipment, the master network equipment comprising a transmitter and the slave network equipment comprising a receiver, the method comprising:

• receiving a timestamp packet from the receiver with a second control logic in the slave network equipment, the slave network equipment comprising a slave reference clock;
• in response to receiving a synchronization packet at the receiver, generating and storing slave timestamp samples with the second control logic;
• in response to the receiving the timestamp packet from the receiver, comparing the stored slave timestamp samples with at least one master timestamp sample in the received timestamp packet to determine whether a master reference clock and the slave reference clock are properly synchronized;
• and
• receiving synchronization control signals from the transmitter with a first control logic;
• wherein the synchronization control signals include a trigger signal and an index signal.