Surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonator used as wireless sensor was characterized and the parameters of its MBVD ((Modified Butterworth-Van Dyke) model were extracted versus temperature. The extracted parameters lead to evaluate the resonator performances in terms of Temperature coefficient of frequency (TCF) and quality factor (Q). An antenna was then associated with the SAW resonator and the entire system has been characterized and modeled. The good agreement experiment-simulation allows to define the optimum operating conditions of the wireless sensor.