According to one embodiment, a wireless communication device estimates channel response based on a reduced-density common pilot signal comprising a plurality of regularly spaced common pilot symbols when the reduced-density common pilot signal is sufficient for estimating the channel response with a desired accuracy. The wireless communication device estimates the channel response based on the reduced-density common pilot signal and one or more additional pilot symbols adaptively allocated to the wireless communication device when the reduced-density common pilot signal is insufficient for estimating the channel response with the desired accuracy.