In accordance with an embodiment, a method of operating a base station configured to communicate with at least one user device includes transmitting a first group of resource elements that include a time and a frequency. At least one of the first group's resource elements includes a reference element. It is determined if the at least one user device will decode a further resource element using the reference element of the at least one of the resource elements of the first group of resource elements. Based on the determining, if the user device will decode the further resource element, a second group of resource elements is transmitted, where at least one of the resource elements of the second group of resource elements corresponding with the at least one of the resource elements of the first group does not include a reference element.