Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for transmitting and processing channel state information (CSI) reference signals (CSI-RS). An exemplary method includes determining a configuration of channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs), wherein the configuration indicates a set of resource elements (REs) to be used for CSI-RSs and a first mapping of CSI-RS ports to the set of REs; sending an indication of the configuration of the CSI-RSs; and transmitting the CSI-RSs according to the determined configuration.