New World Vistas Sensor panel. I started working in microwave systems, but when I was looking for an area to do my PhD at Ohio State there seemed to be many more new and exciting things to work in EO systems at the time, so I ended up doing a laser-related dissertation. For a long time I have really wanted to get rid of the moving parts in optical sensors. I looked at phased array radars and was jealous on behalf of the optical community. We always have these very precise and expensive gimbal-based pointing systems.
Radar has random access pointing with no moving parts.
I have a strong desire to be able to use something like the display in your laptop computer to replace all that expensive moving stuff optics folks use to steer a beam or optical field of view. The biggest challenge to EO sensors for use in the atmosphere is weather. There is a strong desire for all weather operation, and EO sensors have always been strongly affected by weather. As operations move above the weather to high altitude and space I see EO sensors being the sensor of choice because of the superior diffraction limit. Cost of sensors of all types will be increasingly important so more work will be done on low-cost and multifunction sensors.