A central node of a MIMO system may transmit, to one or more communication terminals of the MIMO system, a long-duration downlink pilot signal carrying a pilot sequence having a first duration. The first duration may be equal to or greater than a quantity of antennas of the central node. The central node may receive retransmitted long-duration downlink pilot signals from the communication terminals. The central node may further transmit, to one or more communication terminals, a short-duration downlink pilot signal carrying a pilot sequence having a second duration. The second duration may be less than or equal to the quantity of antennas. The central node may receive a retransmitted short-duration downlink pilot signal from the one or more communication terminals. An uplink and downlink between the central node and one or more communication terminals may be estimated based on the received signals.