Time adjustment during handover

A base station (BS), comprising:

• a transceiver configured to transmit a reference signal (RS);
• and
• a processor operably connected to the transceiver, the processor configured to identify an indication from a neighboring BS about a user equipment (UE) that would start communicating with the BS before completion of a random access procedure,
• wherein the transceiver is further configured to:
• transmit a downlink (DL) UE-dedicated channel to the UE;
• and
• receive an uplink (UL) UE-dedicated channel from the UE.

A method of operating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

• receiving configuration information for a first and a second reference signal (RS);
• receiving the first RS from a first base station (BS) and the second RS from a second BS;
• measuring a time of arrival of the second RS relative to a time of arrival of the first RS;
• determining a differential propagation delay between the first RS and the second RS based on the times of arrival;
• determining a transmission time for an uplink (UL) UE-dedicated channel to the second BS based on the differential propagation delay;
• and
• transmitting the UL UE-dedicated channel to the second BS based on the determined transmission time.