The present disclosure relates to a method for generating reference signals in a cellular wireless communication system having a set of resource blocks. Each resource block includes a plurality of resource elements. Each reference signal is associated with an antenna port in a cell. At least one reference signal in a cell is transmitted on at least one resource element only in resource blocks belonging to a subset of said set of resource blocks. The method includes shifting frequency in the resource blocks in the subset of resource blocks. The frequency shifting of the resource blocks belonging to said subset of resource blocks is cell-specific and is determined from an integer sequence having a length less than or equal to a total number of cell identities in said cellular wireless communication system. The disclosure also relates to methods and devices for transmitting and receiving such reference signals; and to a device for generating reference signals.