Systems, methods and devices for opportunistic networking

An enhanced node B (eNB) for cross-carrier transmission comprising:

• a first network interface configured for communicating with a user equipment (UE) over a first set of wireless spectrum;
• a second network interface configured for communicating with network infrastructure that includes an unconventional carrier type (UCT);
• a processor configured to:
• receive a report from the UE including a measurement of a UCT discovery signal sent from the UCT over a second set of wireless spectrum;
• select the UCT for transmission of data to the UE;
• and
• schedule transmission of the data over the UCT and aligning subframes of the secondary second set of wireless spectrum with subframes of the first set of wireless spectrum by forming a first-transmitted reduced length subframe with fewer symbols and a discovery subframe comprising the UCT discovery signal.

A method of transmitting data comprising:

• providing a primary medium of communication with a user equipment (UE) using a first band of frequencies;
• receiving a report describing transmission quality of a secondary base station with the UE over a secondary medium using a second band of frequencies shared with at least one radio access technology (RAT);
• selecting the secondary base station for use in cross-carrier transmission with the UE;
• reserving the secondary medium for communication with the UE by transmitting a channel reservation signal over the secondary medium to reserve the secondary medium;
• scheduling a set of data for transmission over the secondary medium by the secondary base station to the UE;
• and
• causing at least a subset of the set of data to be transmitted over the secondary medium using a third generation partnership project (3GPP) compatible protocol and aligning subframes of the secondary medium with subframes of the primary medium by forming an alignment gap between the channel reservation signal sent over the secondary medium and an aligned subframe of the secondary medium.