A cellular device has a stacked protocol, with an upper layer and a lower layer. The lower layer includes a multiple carrier detection unit, a memory and a digital processing system. The multiple carrier detection unit receives a plurality of wireless carrier signals and provides a respective plurality of output digital streams. The memory is used to store a target cell search list, and the digital processing system processes the digital streams in parallel based upon parameters within the target cell search list. The parameters may include a frequency indicator and a radio access technology (RAT) indicator. The lower layer controls the multiple carrier detection unit to detect the wireless carrier signals based upon the frequencies and RATs in the target cell search list.