Radars could be a prerequisite for other technologies

[pepciorek]

With the additions of radar coverage for some buildings (roboports and cargo landing pads), radars could be a prerequisite for those technologies or even be part of their recipe

[ferrybig]

A radar not only shows nearby tiles, but also scans nearby sectors and allows access to the surface and universe circuit networks.

There is a lot of behaviour radars have that things like landing pads and robo ports do not have

[Hurkyl]

Note other entities that give vision -- spidertrons and artillery shells -- already do what the OP proposes.