Frequency diverse array (FDA) radar has been studied for more than 15 years and has attracted a lot of attention due to its potential advantages over the well-known phased array radar. The representative feature of FDA is range-angle-time-dependent transmit beampattern and its underlying properties are continuously revealed in the research. The formulation and exploitation of the transmit diversity with a frequency increment is the fundamental principle, which brings extra degrees-of-freedom (DOFs) in the transmit dimension. As the FDA radar carries additional information in range, it provides more flexibility in signal processing and also brings in new technical issues. This article overviews the state-of-the-art in FDA radar area and its applications, mainly based on the progress in our group. There are two main catalogs in FDA radar area, namely coherent FDA and FDA-MIMO(multiple-input multiple-output) radars. Potential applications including target parameter estimation, ambiguous clutter suppression, and deceptive jammer suppression are discussed.