Discontinuous reception (DRX) operations for wireless communications implementing carrier aggregation are disclosed. Physical downlink control channel implementation for carrier aggregation is also disclosed. DRX methods are disclosed including a common DRX protocol that may be applied across all component carriers, an individual/independent DRX protocol that is applied on each component carrier, and hybrid approaches that are applied across affected component carriers. Methods for addressing the effects of loss of synchronization on DRX, impact of scheduling request on DRX, uplink power control during DRX, and DRX operation in measurement gaps are disclosed.