Collision mitigation of reference signals and a direct current subcarrier in wireless communication systems

A method wireless communications at a network entity, comprising:

• determining an upcoming occurrence of a collision between a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) and a direct current (DC) subcarrier, the occurrence of the collision being that both the DMRS and the DC subcarrier occupy at least a same resource element within a resource block in a scheduled uplink transmission from a user equipment (UE);
• determining that the UE should transmit the DMRS according to an adjusted DMRS pattern;
• and
• transmitting the adjusted DMRS pattern to the UE on a downlink communication channel.

An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a processor coupled to the memory and configured to:
• determine an upcoming occurrence of a collision between a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) and a direct current (DC) subcarrier, the occurrence of the collision being that both the DMRS and the DC subcarrier occupy at least a same resource element within a resource block in a scheduled uplink transmission;
• and
• adjust a DMRS pattern within at least the resource block based on determining the upcoming occurrence of the collision.

An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a processor coupled to the memory and configured to:
• determine an upcoming occurrence of a collision between a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) and a direct current (DC) subcarrier, the occurrence of the collision being that both the DMRS and the DC subcarrier occupy at least a same resource element within a resource block in a scheduled uplink transmission from a user equipment (UE);
• determine that the UE should transmit the DMRS according to an adjusted DMRS pattern;
• and
• transmit the adjusted DMRS pattern to the UE on a downlink communication channel.