His work in the field of transponder design and development led to a boost in India's communication satellite technology.

He did his post-graduation in Physics and received his Doctorate in Electrical Communication Engineering from Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore in 1972.

[citation needed] Shankara joined Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad in 1971 to work on the design and development of communication payloads.

As Group Director at SAC until 1996, he contributed extensively to organise the work in the area of microwave technology and spacecraft electronics.

[citation needed] He has also served as Honorary Professor at the Gujarat University and has large number of publications in national and international journals.