Optical Module Telemetry

Overview

Optical Module Telemetry refers to the instrumentation and data collection capabilities built into optical transceiver DSPs, providing visibility into link health, signal quality, and failure precursors. Traditional optical module telemetry exposes only two monitoring points per link (the two transceiver endpoints), giving operators like OCI effectively one monitoring point per host link when the customer controls the host side. This gap means no real-time visibility into in-flight link degradation.

ZeroFlap's advanced DSP-level telemetry addresses this by providing real-time collection of I-height, SNR, FEC histogram bins, and multipath interference indicators across all six segments of a link path. This enables a "check engine light" model — proactive detection of link degradation before a flap event. Credo's PILOT firmware extends this with a "telemetry time machine" capability: historical optical data retained in the transceiver enabling post-failure forensics to attribute failures to the host, optics, or fiber plant, and generate actionable service tickets. The goal is to replace the current "bucket of undiagnosable optics" problem with root-cause clarity.