Multi-state reference signaling and single-state data techniques

A method of wireless communication at a base station (BS), comprising:

• transmitting a first signal indicative of a plurality of demodulation reference signal (DMRS) ports, wherein a first subset of the plurality of DMRS ports correspond to a first spatial state of a physical channel, and wherein a second subset of the plurality of DMRS ports correspond to a second spatial state of the physical channel;
• transmitting a second signal indicative of the second subset of the plurality of DMRS ports;
• and
• communicating data over the second subset and not the first subset.

A user equipment (UE), comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to:
• receive, from a base station (BS), a first signal indicative of a plurality of demodulation reference signal (DMRS) ports;
• receive, from the BS, a second signal indicative of a first spatial state of a physical channel and a second spatial state of the physical channel, wherein the first spatial state corresponds to a first subset of the plurality of DMRS ports, and wherein the second spatial state corresponds to a second subset of the plurality of DMRS ports;
• and
• communicate data over the second subset and not the first subset, based on which of the plurality of DMRS ports are part of the first subset and which of the plurality of DMRS ports are part of the second subset.

A base station, comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to:
• transmit a first signal indicative of a plurality of demodulation reference signal (DMRS) ports, wherein a first subset of the plurality of DMRS ports correspond to a first spatial state of a physical channel, and wherein a second subset of the plurality of DMRS ports correspond to a second spatial state of the physical channel;
• transmit a second signal indicative of the second subset of the plurality of DMRS ports;
• and
• communicate data over the second subset and not the first subset.