A method includes receiving a composite signal (R(k)) comprising transmissions from a plurality of cells, and identifying a plurality of candidate cells (Nm) based on a first detection metric (Λm) with respect to the composite signal (R(k)). The method also includes filtering the plurality of candidate cells (Nm) with respect to cell identifiers (m) of the plurality of candidate cells to obtain a plurality of filtered candidate cells (Nm′), and selecting from the plurality of filtered candidate cells (Nm′) a plurality of selected cells according to a selection criterion.