A method comprising: generating a beacon signal at a first radio of a group of radios, said beacon signal comprising group beacon data, wherein each radio of the group is associated to a node of a plurality of nodes, said plurality of nodes further comprising an unassociated node that is not associated to any radio of the group; transmitting the beacon signal from the first radio during a beacon pipe of a timeslot of a frame, said frame comprising a plurality of timeslots, including a first timeslot, wherein each of the plurality of timeslots has a timeslot node identifier, and wherein each timeslot node identifier is assigned to one of the plurality of nodes; and wherein each of the plurality of timeslots of the frame comprises a slow pipe , a fast pipe and the beacon pipe , said slow pipe being dedicated to one node of the plurality of nodes in the group of radios, said fast pipe comprising a plurality of slices, each of the plurality of nodes corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of slices; receiving the beacon signal at a second radio outside the group of radios; identifying a first timeslot node identifier for the unassociated node based on the group beacon data at the second radio; communicating data from the second radio to the group of radios during the slow pipe of the first timeslot; assigning to the second radio, by the first radio, the first timeslot node identifier of the unassociated node to form a first node corresponding to the first timeslot, based on receiving the data communicated by the second radio; and communicating fast pipe data to the group of radios, by one or more radios of the group, during their slice of the plurality of slices of the fast pipe of the first timeslot. generating a beacon signal at a first radio of a group of radios, said beacon signal comprising group beacon data, wherein each radio of the group is associated to a node of a plurality of nodes, said plurality of nodes further comprising an unassociated node that is not associated to any radio of the group; transmitting the beacon signal from the first radio during a beacon pipe of a timeslot of a frame, said frame comprising a plurality of timeslots, including a first timeslot, wherein each of the plurality of timeslots has a timeslot node identifier, and wherein each timeslot node identifier is assigned to one of the plurality of nodes; and wherein each of the plurality of timeslots of the frame comprises a slow pipe , a fast pipe and the beacon pipe , said slow pipe being dedicated to one node of the plurality of nodes in the group of radios, said fast pipe comprising a plurality of slices, each of the plurality of nodes corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of slices; receiving the beacon signal at a second radio outside the group of radios; identifying a first timeslot node identifier for the unassociated node based on the group beacon data at the second radio; communicating data from the second radio to the group of radios during the slow pipe of the first timeslot; assigning to the second radio, by the first radio, the first timeslot node identifier of the unassociated node to form a first node corresponding to the first timeslot, based on receiving the data communicated by the second radio; and communicating fast pipe data to the group of radios, by one or more radios of the group, during their slice of the plurality of slices of the fast pipe of the first timeslot. <EOS>