CPC Class H04W

In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving, by a network device in a deterministic data network, one or more deterministic schedules for reaching a destination network device along one or more deterministic paths in the deterministic data network; generating, by the network device, a deterministic source-route path for reaching the destination network device based on the deterministic schedules allocated for the deterministic paths, the deterministic source-route path comprising, for each specified hop, a corresponding deterministic start time; and outputting, by the network device, a source routed deterministic packet comprising the deterministic source-route path for deterministic forwarding of the source routed deterministic packet to the destination network device.

A communication device (10) includes a communication IF (11) transmits and receives, in a layer 2, a packet having a structure that does not include a MAC address; a TCP/IP processing unit (12) transmits and receives a packet in a TCP/IP layer; and a switch (13) performs processing on the packet received by the communication IF (11) and the TCP/IP processing unit (12). When the switch (13) performs processing for transmitting, from the TCP/IP processing unit (12), the packet received by the communication IF (11), a pseudo MAC header is added to the packet and the packet is output to the TCP/IP processing unit (12). When the switch (13) performs processing for transmitting, from the communication IF (11), the packet received by the TCP/IP processing unit (12), the pseudo MAC header is deleted from the packet and the packet is output to the communication IF (11).

A first communication device generates a physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit having a beginning portion and an ending portion, where the beginning portion includes a PHY protocol header having a PHY protocol preamble, and the ending portion includes a reference signal. The PHY protocol data unit prompts a second communication device to record a first time corresponding to reception of the reference signal by the second communication device. The first communication device transmits the PHY protocol data unit, records a second time corresponding to transmission of the reference signal by the first communication device. The first communication device calculates a time of flight of the PHY protocol data unit using the second time, and/or transmits the second time to the second communication device, a third communication device, or both, to facilitate calculation of the time of flight of the PHY protocol data unit using the second time.

Aspects of the present disclosure provide mechanisms for count synchronization in a wireless communication network. A respective count value may be maintained for each packet transmitted over a wireless connection, where each count value includes a respective hyper frame number and a respective sequence number. To synchronize a current count value associated with a current packet, a count synchronization may be initiated to transmit at least a current hyper frame number of the current count value over the wireless connection.