Channel estimation enhancement

An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

• a processor;
• a transceiver communicatively coupled to the processor;
• and
• a memory communicatively coupled to the processor,
• wherein the processor is configured to:
• measure a downlink path loss to produce a measured downlink path loss;
• multiply the measured downlink path loss by a predetermined factor to produce an increased downlink path loss having a value greater than the measured downlink path loss when the measured downlink path loss is greater than a threshold;
• calculate an uplink transmit power using the increased downlink path loss;
• and
• transmit an uplink reference signal with the uplink transmit power to enable an uplink channel estimation.

A method for channel estimation in a wireless communication network, the method comprising:

• measuring an uplink path loss for a scheduled entity of a set of scheduled entities;
• generating a downlink reference signal including a plurality of tones;
• assigning each of the plurality of tones to a respective scheduled entity of the set of scheduled entities, wherein a number of the plurality of tones assigned to the scheduled entity of the set of scheduled entities is different than the number of the plurality of tones assigned to at least one other scheduled entity of the set of scheduled entities based on the uplink path loss;
• and
• transmitting the downlink reference signal including the plurality of tones to the set of scheduled entities to enable downlink channel estimations at each of the scheduled entities of the set of scheduled entities.

An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

• a processor;
• a transceiver communicatively coupled to the processor;
• and
• a memory communicatively coupled to the processor,
• wherein the processor is configured to:
• measure an uplink path loss for a scheduled entity of a set of scheduled entities;
• generate a downlink reference signal including a plurality of tones;
• assign each of the plurality of tones to a respective scheduled entity of the set of scheduled entities, wherein a number of the plurality of tones assigned to the scheduled entity of the set of scheduled entities is different than the number of the plurality of tones assigned to at least one other scheduled entity of the set of scheduled entities based on the uplink path loss;
• and
• transmit the downlink reference signal including the plurality of tones to the set of scheduled entities to enable downlink channel estimations at each of the scheduled entities of the set of scheduled entities.