Systems and methods for resolving a physical cell identity confusion in a heterogeneous network

A serving base station system for resolving physical cell identity confusion, the serving base station comprising:

• receive a handover request from a user equipment,
• wherein
• the handover request includes a first physical cell identity of a first target base station, and
• the user equipment is connected to the serving base station,
• receive at least one identifier of at least one access point from the user equipment,
• transmit the at least one identifier to the first target base station and a second target base station,
• receive a response message from each of the first target base station and the second target base station after transmitting the at least one Identifier, wherein
• the response message comprises one of a positive response and a negative response based on a comparison of the at least one identifier;
• and
• an evaluation module configured to:
• compare the first physical cell identity with a neighbour list of the serving base station, wherein
• the neighbour list comprises the first physical cell identity of the first target base station and a second physical cell identity of the second target base station;
• and
• analyse the response message for performing a handover from the serving base station to one of the first target base station and the second target base station based on the positive response and the negative response received from the first target base station and the second target base station.