Rajesh Rasalkar is a seasoned entrepreneur, technology executive, and wireless AI/ML architect with more than 25 years of experience building and scaling transformative technologies across wireless networking, cloud computing, edge computing, artificial intelligence, and telecommunications. He is Head of AI at SEMPRE.ai and Co-Founder of PhoenixAI Technologies.
Over the course of his career, Rajesh has worked with leading technology organizations including Meta, Oracle, and Bell Labs, where he has contributed to the development of advanced networking and computing technologies and gained deep expertise spanning wireless systems, distributed computing, cloud infrastructure, and AI/ML. He has been instrumental in driving multiple technology startups and ventures from early-stage innovation through significant commercial outcomes, including businesses that reached unicorn-scale valuations.
Rajesh's technical expertise sits at the intersection of wireless communications, AI/ML, edge computing, and autonomous systems. He has spent decades working on complex systems where real-time intelligence must operate under stringent requirements for latency, reliability, scalability, security, and constrained compute environments. His work increasingly focuses on bringing AI from the cloud into the physical world—enabling intelligent systems to perceive, reason, and act in real time.
As an entrepreneur and technology leader, Rajesh has founded and led teams developing AI-native platforms and physical AI systems for autonomous operations. His current work focuses on applying AI to telecommunications, private 5G, autonomous robots, multi-sensor fusion, Counter-UAS, and mission-critical edge computing. His vision is to build AI systems that can operate autonomously at the edge while integrating heterogeneous sensors, communications networks, and domain-specific intelligence.
Rajesh is particularly focused on the evolution from traditional software-defined systems toward AI-native architectures. He believes the next generation of intelligent infrastructure will combine foundation models, contextual intelligence, domain-specific knowledge, real-time sensor data, and explicit decision policies to enable autonomous systems to reason and act within complex operational environments.
At SEMPRE.ai, Rajesh leads AI research on sovereign edge AI and private 5G infrastructure for defense and critical infrastructure operators. The work covers AI-native network architecture and agentic AI running on ruggedized edge hardware in contested environments.
As Co-Founder of PhoenixAI, Rajesh has led the development of Physical AI and autonomous intelligence technologies designed for real-world deployment. The company's work spans autonomous drones, multi-sensor fusion, GPS-denied navigation, Detect-and-Avoid, anti-jamming, route optimization, geofencing, Counter-UAS, and AI-driven edge computing. These capabilities are designed to operate across heterogeneous sensing modalities, including vision, EO/IR, RF, LiDAR, acoustic sensing, and wireless infrastructure.
A major area of Rajesh's work is the convergence of AI and wireless communications. He is exploring how 5G/6G networks can evolve beyond connectivity into distributed sensing and intelligence platforms. His work includes AI-native RAN architectures, Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC), multi-vendor network intelligence, and edge AI capable of supporting real-time autonomous decision-making.
Rajesh also has significant experience in building technology ecosystems and partnerships across industry, academia, and government. His work has involved collaborations across telecommunications, semiconductor, cloud, aerospace, defense, and AI organizations, with a focus on taking advanced research concepts and translating them into deployable systems.
He is an inventor and author. He holds multiple patents and publications covering areas including Physical AI, edge computing, cloud computing, wireless communications, and intelligent distributed systems. His technical interests include AI-native architectures, foundation models, context engineering, agentic AI, autonomous systems, multi-sensor fusion, 5G/6G, ISAC, edge intelligence, and distributed AI.
Rajesh's broader vision is to help transition AI from systems that simply generate information to systems that understand context, reason over operational environments, and take actions within defined policies. He believes that the combination of AI, wireless networks, edge computing, and physical-world sensing will form a foundational technology platform for the next generation of autonomous infrastructure.
With a career spanning more than two decades across major technology companies, startups, and emerging AI ventures, Rajesh brings a combination of deep technical expertise, entrepreneurial experience, and a strong track record of translating advanced technologies into practical, real-world solutions.