EFFICIENT HANDOVER MEASUREMENTS FOR WIRELESS MULTI-RAT SYSTEMS

A method for scheduling one or more handover measurements to be performed by a user terminal in a communications system using a plurality of radio access technologies (RATs), wherein the user terminal is in communication with a serving network interface device and is in the neighborhood of one or more neighboring network interface devices. The method includes gathering timing information of the one or more neighboring network interface devices, and determining at least one scanning interval using the timing information of the one or more neighboring network interface devices, the at least one scanning interval being a time period during which the user terminal performs the one or more handover measurements by measuring signals of the one or more neighboring network interface devices.