What is one common use for infrared waves radio and microwaves?

Infrared waves, radio waves, and microwaves are all part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and they share some common uses. One common use for all three types of waves is remote sensing. Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without being in direct contact with it.

For example, satellites use infrared waves and microwaves to sense the temperature and emissivity of the Earth's surface. This information can be used to create images of the Earth's surface, monitor vegetation growth, detect weather patterns, and even measure sea levels. Radio waves are used in a variety of remote sensing applications, such as radar, cell phones, and the television remote control. RADAR sends out a short burst of radio waves (microwaves) and detects waves reflected back from an object back to the transmitter. These reflected waves tell us many things about the original radio waves sent out. If there were no waves detected we may conclude that a solid object was nearby; but if these signals were detected (reflected), these reflected frequencies can indicate the material the object is made of and how far away an object is because waves travel at 196,000 miles per second (300 million meters per second), or 1 ft every nanosecond in free space