According to an embodiment, an active access point covering a large area (e.g., a macro eNodeB in the related art LTE system) and experiencing high traffic load transmits a sensing control signal to instruct any, some or all mobile stations in its coverage area to transmit a sensing signal. The sensing signals received by inactive access points are used to decide which access point to activate for offloading the active access point with high traffic.

The following embodiments relate to the design of the individual signals of the present invention, namely: the sensing signal; the sensing response signal; the sensing control signal; the coordination request message; and the coordination control message.

A sensing signal, a sensing response signal, and a sensing control signal, may be transmitted using each a set of predefined radio resources known at both the transmitter and the receiver, the sets of resources comprising at least a set of signal sequences and a set of time-frequency radio resources.