A radio frequency (RF) addressable sensor includes one or more sensor elements, a sensor interface having an analog to digital converter coupled to the one or more sensor elements, at least one antenna, an RF power and communications interface coupled to the at least one antenna and the sensor interface, a controller coupled to the RF power and communications interface and the sensor interface, and a memory coupled to the controller and the sensor interface, wherein the memory is configured to store a tag identification number. The RF addressable sensor communicates with a wireless device that is coupled to a communications network. The wireless device communicates with the RF addressable sensor to obtain sensor data for transmission over the communications network. At least one of the one or more sensor elements is an antenna. The RF addressable sensor is configured for common designation network communications.