Some aspects include an apparatus, method, and computer program product for beamforming to perform received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurements in a 5G wireless communications system. This beamforming may apply to RSSI measurements in an unlicensed spectrum. In some aspects, user equipment (UE) may use beam sweeping to analyze multiple received beams and to determine an RSSI measurement. When using beam sweeping, network nodes may use scheduling and/or measurement restrictions to avoid data collisions. These restrictions may apply to multiple active serving cells. In some aspects, a UE may use beam selection to determine an RSSI measurement. For example, the UE may select one or more beams from a serving component carrier (CC). In some aspects, a network node may indicate to the UE which beams to use for the RSSI measurement. In some aspects, the UE may use a frequency domain resource to perform the RSSI measurement.