A unified frame structure for filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC) and orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) waveforms may allow FBMC and OFDM frames to be communicated over a common channel without significant inter-frame gaps. The unified frame structure may set an FBMC frame duration to an integer multiple of an OFDM frame element duration to enable alignment of FBMC frames and OFDM frames in the time domain. The unified frame structure may also map control channels in the FBMC and OFDM frames to common resource locations so that the respective control channels are aligned in the time and/or frequency domains. The unified frame structure may also share synchronization channels between FBMC and OFDM frames. Additionally, overhead in an FBMC time division duplexed (TDD) communications channel can be reduced by overlapping time windows appended to FBMC blocks.