A communications method, wherein the method comprises: receiving (S 1420), by a terminal device, first indication information that is sent by a network device, wherein the first indication information is used to indicate M pilot ports; and determining (S 1430), by the terminal device, according to the first indication information M pilot ports that are used to transmit one data stream, wherein M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2 and wherein one pilot port is in one-to-one correspondence with one antenna port; and sending, by the terminal device to a network device, M pilot signals and the data stream that have been subject to same precoding processing, wherein the M pilot signals are respectively generated based on the M pilot ports; wherein that a pilot signal is generated based on a pilot port means that a pilot sequence is generated using a preset sequence generation formula based on a parameter that is used to generate a sequence and that corresponds to the pilot port, and the generated pilot sequence is mapped to a time-frequency resource determined based on a parameter that is used to determine a time-frequency resource and that corresponds to the pilot port to form the pilot signal; wherein a first pilot port in the M pilot ports belongs to a first pilot port set and the first pilot port set is a code division multiplexing group and the number of pilot ports in the first pilot port set is equal or greater than two; a second pilot port in the M pilot ports belongs to a second pilot port set and the second pilot port set is a code division multiplexing group and the number of pilot ports in the second pilot port set is equal or greater than two; pilot signals corresponding to any two pilot ports in the first pilot port set occupy a same time-frequency resource; any two pilot ports in the second pilot port set correspond to a same time-frequency resource; and a time-frequency resource corresponding to any pilot port in the first pilot port set is orthogonal to a time-frequency resource corresponding to any pilot port in the second pilot port set; characterized in that the terminal device sends the M pilot signals corresponding to the M pilot ports from the first and second pilot port sets and the data stream, and a quantity of time-frequency resources corresponding to the M pilot ports is greater than a quantity of time-frequency resources corresponding to one pilot port. receiving (S 1420), by a terminal device, first indication information that is sent by a network device, wherein the first indication information is used to indicate M pilot ports; and determining (S 1430), by the terminal device, according to the first indication information M pilot ports that are used to transmit one data stream, wherein M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2 and wherein one pilot port is in one-to-one correspondence with one antenna port; and sending, by the terminal device to a network device, M pilot signals and the data stream that have been subject to same precoding processing, wherein the M pilot signals are respectively generated based on the M pilot ports; wherein that a pilot signal is generated based on a pilot port means that a pilot sequence is generated using a preset sequence generation formula based on a parameter that is used to generate a sequence and that corresponds to the pilot port, and the generated pilot sequence is mapped to a time-frequency resource determined based on a parameter that is used to determine a time-frequency resource and that corresponds to the pilot port to form the pilot signal; wherein a first pilot port in the M pilot ports belongs to a first pilot port set and the first pilot port set is a code division multiplexing group and the number of pilot ports in the first pilot port set is equal or greater than two; a second pilot port in the M pilot ports belongs to a second pilot port set and the second pilot port set is a code division multiplexing group and the number of pilot ports in the second pilot port set is equal or greater than two; pilot signals corresponding to any two pilot ports in the first pilot port set occupy a same time-frequency resource; any two pilot ports in the second pilot port set correspond to a same time-frequency resource; and a time-frequency resource corresponding to any pilot port in the first pilot port set is orthogonal to a time-frequency resource corresponding to any pilot port in the second pilot port set; characterized in that the terminal device sends the M pilot signals corresponding to the M pilot ports from the first and second pilot port sets and the data stream, and a quantity of time-frequency resources corresponding to the M pilot ports is greater than a quantity of time-frequency resources corresponding to one pilot port.