A radar display is an electronic device to present radar data to the operator. The radar system transmits pulses or continuous waves of electromagnetic radiation, a small portion of which backscatter off targets (intended or otherwise) and return to the radar system. The receiver converts all received electromagnetic radiation into a continuous electronic analog signal of varying (or oscillating) voltage that can be converted then to a screen display.

Modern systems typically use some sort of raster scan display to produce a map-like image. Early in radar development, however, numerous circumstances made such displays difficult to produce. People ultimately developed several different display types.