RFID Journal Glossary of Terms
Modulation:
Changing the radio waves traveling between the
reader and the
transponder in ways that enable the transmission of information. Waves can be changed in a variety of ways that can be picked up by the reader and turned into the ones and zeroes of binary code. Waves can be made higher or lower (
amplitude modulation) or shifted forward (
phase modulation). The
frequency can be varied (frequency modulation), or data can be contained in the duration of pulses (pulse-width modulation).