Embodiments of the invention describe a method for antenna selection (AS) in a wireless communication network, the network comprising user equipment (UE), configured to transmit a sounding reference signal (SRS) from a subset of antennas at a time without transmitting user data. The method transmits a first SRS from a first subset of antennas in a first subframe, wherein the first subframe does not include the user data, and transmits a second SRS from a second subset of antennas in a second subframe, wherein the second subframe does not include the user data. After receiving, in response to the transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS, information identifying an optimal subset of antennas from the first subset of antennas and the second subset of antennas, the method selects the optimal set of antennas such that the optimal subset of antennas is selected without transmitting the user data.