A method for detecting node outage, comprising: during a first time period: detecting, by a first node of a mesh network, a set of signals originating from a second node of the mesh network, the second node being tracked by the first node, wherein the set of signals comprises radio frequency, RF, alive beacons or communication messages transmitted by the second node, the RF alive beacons indicating that the second node is in an operational state, and wherein the first time period corresponds to at least a single alive beacon interval; during a second time period, subsequent to the first time period: determining, at the first node, that a current status of the second node is a suspected outage state if a threshold number of the alive beacon intervals have passed since detecting a most recent signal from the second node, the most recent signal comprising a most recent RF alive beacon or a most recent communication message; in response to determining that the current status of the second node is the suspected outage state, receiving (510, 602), at the first node, an advanced radio frequency, RF, alive beacon from a third node of the mesh network, said advanced RF alive beacon indicating that the third node is in the operational state and comprising an identification of the second node and a status of the second node; updating (510, 608, 610), by the first node, the current status of the second node based, at least in part, upon the advanced RF alive beacon, the updating comprising updating the status of the second node to the suspected outage state if determining that the status of the second node in the advanced RF alive beacon is the suspected outage state or an outage state; in response to determining that the status of the second node is updated to the suspected outage state, outputting, from the first node, a ping to the second node requesting a response to the ping; and when no response to the ping is received from the second node within a response period, transmitting by the first node, an outage alarm message to a next topologically higher layer of the mesh network, the outage alarm message comprising an identification of the second node. during a first time period: detecting, by a first node of a mesh network, a set of signals originating from a second node of the mesh network, the second node being tracked by the first node, wherein the set of signals comprises radio frequency, RF, alive beacons or communication messages transmitted by the second node, the RF alive beacons indicating that the second node is in an operational state, and wherein the first time period corresponds to at least a single alive beacon interval; during a second time period, subsequent to the first time period: determining, at the first node, that a current status of the second node is a suspected outage state if a threshold number of the alive beacon intervals have passed since detecting a most recent signal from the second node, the most recent signal comprising a most recent RF alive beacon or a most recent communication message; in response to determining that the current status of the second node is the suspected outage state, receiving (510, 602), at the first node, an advanced radio frequency, RF, alive beacon from a third node of the mesh network, said advanced RF alive beacon indicating that the third node is in the operational state and comprising an identification of the second node and a status of the second node; updating (510, 608, 610), by the first node, the current status of the second node based, at least in part, upon the advanced RF alive beacon, the updating comprising updating the status of the second node to the suspected outage state if determining that the status of the second node in the advanced RF alive beacon is the suspected outage state or an outage state; determining, at the first node, that a current status of the second node is a suspected outage state if a threshold number of the alive beacon intervals have passed since detecting a most recent signal from the second node, the most recent signal comprising a most recent RF alive beacon or a most recent communication message; in response to determining that the current status of the second node is the suspected outage state, receiving (510, 602), at the first node, an advanced radio frequency, RF, alive beacon from a third node of the mesh network, said advanced RF alive beacon indicating that the third node is in the operational state and comprising an identification of the second node and a status of the second node; updating (510, 608, 610), by the first node, the current status of the second node based, at least in part, upon the advanced RF alive beacon, the updating comprising updating the status of the second node to the suspected outage state if determining that the status of the second node in the advanced RF alive beacon is the suspected outage state or an outage state; in response to determining that the status of the second node is updated to the suspected outage state, outputting, from the first node, a ping to the second node requesting a response to the ping; and when no response to the ping is received from the second node within a response period, transmitting by the first node, an outage alarm message to a next topologically higher layer of the mesh network, the outage alarm message comprising an identification of the second node.