A wireless communication system includes a plurality of wireless sensors. A wireless sensor includes a radio frequency (RF) receiving circuit, and a sensing element, where the sensing element affects the resonant frequency of the RF receiving circuit. The wireless sensor further includes a processing module operable to determine a first value for an adjustable element of a plurality of elements for a known environmental condition, a second value for the adjustable element for an unknown environmental condition, a difference between the first and second values that corresponds to a change, and to generate a coded value representative of the change. The wireless communication system further includes one or more sensor computing devices coupled to the plurality of wireless sensors via a network. A sensor computing device includes a second processing module operable to receive the coded value and determine a sensed environmental condition based on the coded value.