A method for wireless communication by a transmitting device, comprising: determining a pattern for a set of time-frequency resources that includes a plurality of symbols and a plurality of frequency tones, wherein: the pattern comprises an assignment of reference signals used for positioning to a first set of frequency tones within a first symbol of the set of time-frequency resources and to a second set of frequency tones within a second symbol of the set of time-frequency resources, the first symbol and the second symbol being consecutive, each frequency tone of the first set is separated in frequency from each frequency tone of the second set by at least one frequency tone of the plurality of frequency tones, and wherein determining the pattern comprises determining the pattern based at least in part on referencing a look-up table with a comb level configured for transmitting the reference signals, wherein the pattern is based at least in part on any of a set of sequences of offsets in the look-up table including: {0, 2, 1, 3} for a configured comb level of four, {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5} for a configured comb level of six, {0, 4, 2, 6, 1, 5, 3, 7} for a configured comb level of eight, or {0, 8, 4, 12, 2, 10, 6, 14, 1, 9, 5, 13, 3, 11, 7, 15} for a configured comb level of 16, wherein each offset in a sequence of the set of sequences of offsets is used to assign a reference signal to a frequency tone within a symbol; mapping the reference signals to a subset of the set of time-frequency resources based at least in part on the pattern; and transmitting the reference signals via the subset of the set of time-frequency resources. determining a pattern for a set of time-frequency resources that includes a plurality of symbols and a plurality of frequency tones, wherein: the pattern comprises an assignment of reference signals used for positioning to a first set of frequency tones within a first symbol of the set of time-frequency resources and to a second set of frequency tones within a second symbol of the set of time-frequency resources, the first symbol and the second symbol being consecutive, each frequency tone of the first set is separated in frequency from each frequency tone of the second set by at least one frequency tone of the plurality of frequency tones, and wherein determining the pattern comprises determining the pattern based at least in part on referencing a look-up table with a comb level configured for transmitting the reference signals, wherein the pattern is based at least in part on any of a set of sequences of offsets in the look-up table including: {0, 2, 1, 3} for a configured comb level of four, {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5} for a configured comb level of six, {0, 4, 2, 6, 1, 5, 3, 7} for a configured comb level of eight, or {0, 8, 4, 12, 2, 10, 6, 14, 1, 9, 5, 13, 3, 11, 7, 15} for a configured comb level of 16, wherein each offset in a sequence of the set of sequences of offsets is used to assign a reference signal to a frequency tone within a symbol; the pattern comprises an assignment of reference signals used for positioning to a first set of frequency tones within a first symbol of the set of time-frequency resources and to a second set of frequency tones within a second symbol of the set of time-frequency resources, the first symbol and the second symbol being consecutive, each frequency tone of the first set is separated in frequency from each frequency tone of the second set by at least one frequency tone of the plurality of frequency tones, and wherein determining the pattern comprises determining the pattern based at least in part on referencing a look-up table with a comb level configured for transmitting the reference signals, wherein the pattern is based at least in part on any of a set of sequences of offsets in the look-up table including: {0, 2, 1, 3} for a configured comb level of four, {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5} for a configured comb level of six, {0, 4, 2, 6, 1, 5, 3, 7} for a configured comb level of eight, or {0, 8, 4, 12, 2, 10, 6, 14, 1, 9, 5, 13, 3, 11, 7, 15} for a configured comb level of 16, wherein each offset in a sequence of the set of sequences of offsets is used to assign a reference signal to a frequency tone within a symbol; mapping the reference signals to a subset of the set of time-frequency resources based at least in part on the pattern; and transmitting the reference signals via the subset of the set of time-frequency resources.