A user equipment, UE, comprising: a transceiver configured to wirelessly communicate with a base station through a channel between the UE and the base station; and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to: send, using the transceiver and to the base station, a coherence bandwidth of the channel, a coherence time of the channel, a preference associated with channel status information reference signal, CSI-RS, or a preference associated with demodulation reference signal, DMRS, for the UE; receive, using the transceiver and from the base station, a configuration of resource elements to carry reference signals for the UE, wherein the configuration is based on the coherence bandwidth of the channel, the coherence time of the channel, the preference associated with CSI-RS, or the preference associated with DMRS sent from the UE to the base station, and the configuration indicates a set of resource elements, and one or more orthogonal cover codes, OCCs, comprising a frequency domain, FD, OCC or a time domain, TD, OCC applied to at least a subset of the set of resource elements to carry a CSI-RS or DMRS for one or more antenna ports of the UE, wherein the configuration is determined by trading off a number of antenna ports of the UE to increase reliability of the FD-OCC or the TD-OCC; and perform DMRS or CSI-RS reference signal processing based on the configuration of resource elements to carry reference signals for the UE. a transceiver configured to wirelessly communicate with a base station through a channel between the UE and the base station; and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to: send, using the transceiver and to the base station, a coherence bandwidth of the channel, a coherence time of the channel, a preference associated with channel status information reference signal, CSI-RS, or a preference associated with demodulation reference signal, DMRS, for the UE; receive, using the transceiver and from the base station, a configuration of resource elements to carry reference signals for the UE, wherein the configuration is based on the coherence bandwidth of the channel, the coherence time of the channel, the preference associated with CSI-RS, or the preference associated with DMRS sent from the UE to the base station, and the configuration indicates a set of resource elements, and one or more orthogonal cover codes, OCCs, comprising a frequency domain, FD, OCC or a time domain, TD, OCC applied to at least a subset of the set of resource elements to carry a CSI-RS or DMRS for one or more antenna ports of the UE, wherein the configuration is determined by trading off a number of antenna ports of the UE to increase reliability of the FD-OCC or the TD-OCC; and perform DMRS or CSI-RS reference signal processing based on the configuration of resource elements to carry reference signals for the UE. send, using the transceiver and to the base station, a coherence bandwidth of the channel, a coherence time of the channel, a preference associated with channel status information reference signal, CSI-RS, or a preference associated with demodulation reference signal, DMRS, for the UE; receive, using the transceiver and from the base station, a configuration of resource elements to carry reference signals for the UE, wherein the configuration is based on the coherence bandwidth of the channel, the coherence time of the channel, the preference associated with CSI-RS, or the preference associated with DMRS sent from the UE to the base station, and the configuration indicates a set of resource elements, and one or more orthogonal cover codes, OCCs, comprising a frequency domain, FD, OCC or a time domain, TD, OCC applied to at least a subset of the set of resource elements to carry a CSI-RS or DMRS for one or more antenna ports of the UE, wherein the configuration is determined by trading off a number of antenna ports of the UE to increase reliability of the FD-OCC or the TD-OCC; and perform DMRS or CSI-RS reference signal processing based on the configuration of resource elements to carry reference signals for the UE.