In his capacity as UC San Diego director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), Professor Ramesh Rao is also involved on a day-to-day basis with a wide variety of research initiatives, including the development and deployment of sensor networks for civilian, as well as homeland security initiatives.

Ramesh also supervises research on the integration of various wireless standards, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (802.11), CDMA and third-generation (3G) wireless networks (CDMA2000, W-CDMA). As a researcher in the wireless field, Rao's contributions include the development of energy-efficient communication techniques to support mobile multimedia users.

Rao served on a US government panel to review the current status of research, development, and applications in wireless communications in the United States, Japan, and Western Europe, with a view toward evaluating the competitive status of US efforts. In April 2004, Rao was appointed the first holder of the QUALCOMM Endowed Chair in Telecommunications.