Aspects of the disclosure relate to a new radio (NR) single symbol design in which reference signals and data tones are frequency division multiplexed (FDM). In a particular aspect of the disclosure, a different encoding sequence is assigned to each possible value of an information element (IE) such that a minimum distance between encoding sequences corresponding to any pair of possible values is maximized. A symbol corresponding to a particular value of the IE is then transmitted. Here, the symbol is configured according to a sequence selected from a set of sequences corresponding to the particular value of the IE, such that the symbol comprises a plurality of reference signals FDM with a plurality of FDM resource elements.