Discovery of neighbors during wireless network joining

1. A system comprising:

a first wireless network node;

a second wireless network node; and

a third wireless network node,

wherein the first, second, and third wireless network nodes are part of a plurality of wireless network nodes,

wherein the first wireless network node is configured to:

listen for a communication from the third wireless network node, wherein the listening is performed based at least in part on information received in a communication from the second wireless network node;

receive, in at least one of the communication from the second wireless network node and the communication from the third wireless network node, information indicative of a time to send a join packet for enabling the first wireless network node to join a wireless network; and

in response to receiving the communication from the third wireless network node, generate a join packet for enabling the first wireless network node to join the wireless network and transmit the join packet at the indicated time to send the join packet, and

wherein the join packet generated and transmitted by the first wireless network node includes a report identifying neighboring wireless network nodes from which the first wireless network node has received communications and including a measure of path stability to each neighboring wireless network node.

2. A system as in claim 1 , wherein a time and a frequency channel of listening is dependent on information received during the communication with the second wireless network node.

3. A system as in claim 1 , wherein hearing the third wireless network node allows the first wireless network node to augment its neighbor list.

4. A system as in claim 1 , wherein the first wireless network node is joining a wireless network comprising the second wireless network node and the third wireless network node.

5. A system as in claim 1 , wherein the communications comprise advertisement packets.

6. A system as in claim 5 , wherein the advertisement packet is transmitted on one of a constant offset or a non-constant offset determined based on a deterministic function of a slot number.

7. A system as in claim 6 , wherein the first wireless network node calculates the offset for any subsequent slot having heard the advertisement packet.

8. A system as in claim 6 , wherein the advertisement packet is one of a plurality of advertisement packets, wherein all of the plurality of advertisement packets are scheduled on a single superframe.

9. A system as in claim 6 , wherein the packet is one of a plurality of advertisement packets, wherein the plurality of advertisement packets are scheduled on a plurality of superframes.

10. A system as in claim 5 , wherein at most one advertisement packet is transmitted in a single timeslot.

11. A system as in claim 1 , wherein the first wireless network node is further configured to listen for communications from network nodes of the plurality of wireless network nodes other than the second and third wireless network nodes.

12. A system as in claim 11 , wherein the first wireless network node transmits the join packet to a fourth wireless network node other than the second or third wireless network node from which the information indicative of a time to send the join packet was received.

13. A system as in claim 12 , wherein the report is used to calculate new wireless connections for a wireless network with the first wireless network node as an endpoint of the wireless network.

14. A system as in claim 12 , wherein the fourth wireless network node comprises an access point.

15. A system as in claim 11 , wherein the plurality of other wireless network nodes are guaranteed to communicate once per superframe length.

16. A system as in claim 15 , wherein the first wireless network node listens to a calculated offset for a superframe length to hear one of the wireless network nodes in its vicinity.

17. A system as in claim 1 , wherein the first wireless network node listens to a calculated offset for multiple superframe lengths to measure the path stability to each one of the neighboring wireless network nodes in its vicinity.

18. A system as in claim 1 , wherein a wireless network manager initiates the communications using a wireless access point.

19. A system as in claim 18 , wherein the network manager uses information reported by the first wireless network node to choose one or more best connections into the network.

20. A system as in claim 1 , wherein the first wireless network node is further configured to:

identify a list of neighboring nodes to the first wireless network node based on the received communications from the second and third wireless networks nodes.

21. A system as in claim 20 , wherein the first wireless network node is further configured to:

count a number of communications received from each of the second and third wireless network nodes,

wherein the generating and transmitting of the join packet comprises generating and transmitting the join packet including the count of the number of communications received from each of the second and third wireless network nodes.

22. A system as in claim 1 , wherein the first wireless network node is further configured to:

in response to transmitting the join packet, receiving an assignment of a timeslot and an offset of a superframe for the first wireless network node to transmit advertisement packets during the assigned timeslot on the assigned offset of the superframe.

23. A system as in claim 22 , wherein:

the join packet generated and transmitted by the first wireless network node is addressed to a manager of the wireless network including the second and third wireless network nodes; and

the assignment of the timeslot and of the offset of the superframe is received by the first wireless network node from the manager of the wireless network.

24. A method comprising:

receiving information at a first wireless network node in a communication from a second wireless network node;

listening at the first wireless network node for a communication from a third wireless network node, wherein the listening is performed based at least in part on the information received in the communication from the second wireless network node;

receiving, in at least one of the communication from the second wireless network node and the communication from the third wireless network node, information indicative of a time to send a join packet for enabling the first wireless network node to join a wireless network; and

in response to receiving the communication from the third wireless network node, generating a join packet for enabling the first wireless network node to join the wireless network and transmitting the join packet at the indicated time to send the join packet,

wherein the join packet generated and transmitted by the first wireless network node includes a report identifying neighboring wireless network nodes from which the first wireless network node has received communications and including a measure of path stability to each neighboring wireless network node.