In accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention, a method comprises receiving a plurality of reference signals (RS) from a plurality of nearby cells over a positioning time window comprising a plurality of positioning occasions; grouping the received reference signals into a set of RS groups based on a time difference between a minimum expected RS time difference (RSTD) and a maximum expected RS time difference of the received signals; buffering a subset of the set of RS groups of the received reference signals in a RS buffer whose size is based at least in part on a buffering margin and is smaller than a maximum possible time difference; measuring the buffered reference signals; and generating an observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) report based on the buffered subset of the set of RS groups of the received reference signals.