A method of managing an ad hoc communications network of wireless devices or nodes. The network is connected if all nodes can communicate with each other and otherwise partitioned. Partitions are identified by recursively applying a connectivity function to a connectivity matrix representative of the network. The number of times the connectivity function is recursively applied is determined by the network diameter. If the result of the recursive application is a unity matrix, the network is connected; otherwise it is disconnected. Also, if the network diameter exceeds a selected maximum length, the network may be voluntarily partitioned into connected sub-networks by recursively applying the connectivity function a lesser number of times to the connectivity matrix. The lesser number of times is determined by the selected maximum length or maximum allowable number of hops.