Methods and systems for beam forming, implemented in a base station used in a communication system, include measuring channel state information (CSI) for a number of active phased-array antennas less than a full number of phased-array antennas. Analog beam forming weights are determined using the measured CSI. An optimal digital precoder is determined from the analog beam forming weights. The analog beam forming weights and optimal digital precoder are applied to one phased-array antenna.