A method for wireless network communication is provided. The method comprises determining, by a transmitter including a quantity of antennas, a quantity of transmitted layers; mapping a quantity of data symbols to the antennas using a quantity of precoders; generating a quantity of demodulation reference signal (DMRS) antenna ports based on the quantities of the antennas, the transmitted layers, and the precoders; and determining whether to precode at least one of the DMRS antenna ports with the precoders. The method further maps the precoded data symbols and the DMRS antenna ports to a quantity of resource elements. The method then modulates a signal comprising the resource elements and transmits the modulated signal to a receiver. Subsequently, the method estimates a channel received by the receiver over the DMRS antenna ports.