Some aspects of this disclosure relate to apparatuses and methods for implementing downlink transmission and interlace uplink transmission. For example, some aspects of this disclosure relate to a base station including a transceiver configured to communicate over a wireless network with a user equipment (UE) and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver. The processor divides a plurality of candidate Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) positions in a time window into a plurality of groups and communicates, using the transceiver, information associated with the plurality of groups of candidate SSB positions to the UE. The processor further performs a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure. In response to the LBT procedure being successful, the processor determines a first group of the plurality of groups and transmits, using the transceiver, one or more SSBs on one or more candidate SSB positions of the first group to the UE.