A user equipment, UE, the UE comprising: a transceiver; and at least one processor operably coupled to the transceiver and configured to: receive, from a base station, an indication of a set of possible starting orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM, symbols in a subframe for a downlink transmission in a licensed assisted access, LAA, cell of an unlicensed spectrum, wherein the set of possible starting OFDM symbols includes at least one of the first OFDM symbol of the first slot of the subframe or the first OFDM symbol of the second slot of the subframe; identify a starting OFDM symbol of an enhanced physical downlink control channel, EPDCCH, or a physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH, transmission in the subframe based on the indication of the set of possible starting OFDM symbols and downlink control information, DCI, received in the EPDCCH in the subframe; receive, from the base station, at least one reference signal, RS, based on an RS mapping rule if the starting OFDM symbol is in the second slot of the subframe; and receive, from the base station, at least one RS based on a different RS mapping rule if the starting OFDM symbol is not in the second slot of the subframe, wherein each subframe includes two slots. a transceiver; and at least one processor operably coupled to the transceiver and configured to: receive, from a base station, an indication of a set of possible starting orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM, symbols in a subframe for a downlink transmission in a licensed assisted access, LAA, cell of an unlicensed spectrum, wherein the set of possible starting OFDM symbols includes at least one of the first OFDM symbol of the first slot of the subframe or the first OFDM symbol of the second slot of the subframe; identify a starting OFDM symbol of an enhanced physical downlink control channel, EPDCCH, or a physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH, transmission in the subframe based on the indication of the set of possible starting OFDM symbols and downlink control information, DCI, received in the EPDCCH in the subframe; receive, from the base station, at least one reference signal, RS, based on an RS mapping rule if the starting OFDM symbol is in the second slot of the subframe; and receive, from the base station, at least one RS based on a different RS mapping rule if the starting OFDM symbol is not in the second slot of the subframe, wherein each subframe includes two slots. receive, from a base station, an indication of a set of possible starting orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM, symbols in a subframe for a downlink transmission in a licensed assisted access, LAA, cell of an unlicensed spectrum, wherein the set of possible starting OFDM symbols includes at least one of the first OFDM symbol of the first slot of the subframe or the first OFDM symbol of the second slot of the subframe; identify a starting OFDM symbol of an enhanced physical downlink control channel, EPDCCH, or a physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH, transmission in the subframe based on the indication of the set of possible starting OFDM symbols and downlink control information, DCI, received in the EPDCCH in the subframe; receive, from the base station, at least one reference signal, RS, based on an RS mapping rule if the starting OFDM symbol is in the second slot of the subframe; and receive, from the base station, at least one RS based on a different RS mapping rule if the starting OFDM symbol is not in the second slot of the subframe, wherein each subframe includes two slots.