Carrier Wave

A carrier wave is a transmission wave of a specific frequency that is modulated to carry information. Tag antennas are designed to resonate with the carrier frequency used by the interrogator. The carrier signal is given mathematically by

C(t) = A_ccos(2πf_ct+θ_c)

Where

• A_c is the amplitude. Variation of A_c gives amplitude modulation (AM).
• f_c is the frequency. Variation of f_c gives amplitude modulation (FM).
• θ_c is the phase. Variation of θ_c gives phase modulation (PM).
• t is time (sec).
• π is pi (3.14159...).