invention describe a format and procedure for a wireless communication device to request a network controller to transmit a synchronization frame so that the device may synchronize its communication activities with the network controller this operation may be used in various types of wireless networks such as but not limited to those conforming to ieee standard 802 11ah application_number US 201314125636 A description in the following description numerous specific details are set forth however it is understood that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details in other instances well known circuits structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of this description references to u201c one embodiment u201d u201c an embodiment u201d u201c example embodiment u201d u201c various embodiments u201d etc indicate that the embodiment s of the invention so described may include particular features structures or characteristics but not every embodiment necessarily includes the particular features structures or characteristics further some embodiments may have some all or none of the features described for other embodiments in the following description and claims the terms u201c coupled u201d and u201c connected u201d along with their derivatives may be used it should be understood that these terms are not intended as synonyms for each other rather in particular embodiments u201c connected u201d is used to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other u201c coupled u201d is used to indicate that two or more elements co operate or interact with each other but they may or may not have intervening physical or electrical components between them as used in the claims unless otherwise specified.