A method for operating a user equipment, UE (510,615,710,760,805,905,1005,1105,1305), adapted to perform uplink synchronization and beam alignment by beamformed beaconing, the method comprising: beamforming, by the UE (510,615,710,760,805,905,1005,1105,1305), a beacon signal in accordance with at least one transmit beam of a set of transmit beams, thereby producing at least one beamformed beacon signal; transmitting, by the UE (510,615,710,760,805,905,1005,1105,1305), at least one beamformed beacon signal on a first uplink channel to at least one of a plurality of small cell layer transmit-receive points, SC-TRPs; repeating, by the UE (510,615,710,760,805,905,1005,1105,1305), the beamforming and the transmitting for the remaining transmit beams of the set of transmit beams; and receiving, by the UE (510,615,710,760,805,905,1005,1105,1305), downlink reference signals from the SC-TRPs; wherein the set of transmit beams is selected from a plurality of transmit beams in accordance with assistance received by the UE from a macro layer eNB, LeNB, wherein the assistance from the LeNB comprises at least one of an approximate location of the SC-TRPs, network resource information of a beaconing channel, beaconing information about a beaconing sequence, a beaconing frequency, or a beaconing duration, an availability of uplink and downlink data, or uplink or downlink beam information of the SC-TRPs; characterized in that the assistance from the LeNB further comprises position information to identify the SC-TRPs (210,505,610, 705,707,709, 755,757,759, 810,812, 910,912,1010,1012,1110,1112,1310) adjacent to the UE (510,615,710,760,805,905,1005,1105,1305) so that only the adjacent SC-TRPs (210,505,610, 705,707,709, 755,757,759, 810,812, 910,912, 1010,1012,1110,1112,1310) participate in the uplink synchronization and beam alignment process and the UE (510,615,710,760,805,905,1005,1105,1305) using the position information to select only those transmission beams that are oriented in the approximate directions of the adjacent SC-TRPs (210,505,610, 705,707,709, 755,757,759, 810,812, 910,912, 1010,1012, 1110,1112, 1310). beamforming, by the UE (510,615,710,760,805,905,1005,1105,1305), a beacon signal in accordance with at least one transmit beam of a set of transmit beams, thereby producing at least one beamformed beacon signal; transmitting, by the UE (510,615,710,760,805,905,1005,1105,1305), at least one beamformed beacon signal on a first uplink channel to at least one of a plurality of small cell layer transmit-receive points, SC-TRPs; repeating, by the UE (510,615,710,760,805,905,1005,1105,1305), the beamforming and the transmitting for the remaining transmit beams of the set of transmit beams; and receiving, by the UE (510,615,710,760,805,905,1005,1105,1305), downlink reference signals from the SC-TRPs; characterized in that the assistance from the LeNB further comprises position information to identify the SC-TRPs (210,505,610, 705,707,709, 755,757,759, 810,812, 910,912,1010,1012,1110,1112,1310) adjacent to the UE (510,615,710,760,805,905,1005,1105,1305) so that only the adjacent SC-TRPs (210,505,610, 705,707,709, 755,757,759, 810,812, 910,912, 1010,1012,1110,1112,1310) participate in the uplink synchronization and beam alignment process and the UE (510,615,710,760,805,905,1005,1105,1305) using the position information to select only those transmission beams that are oriented in the approximate directions of the adjacent SC-TRPs (210,505,610, 705,707,709, 755,757,759, 810,812, 910,912, 1010,1012, 1110,1112, 1310).