Measurement design

Make every parallel response readable, directional, and useful before closing the loop.

A target near a response maximum or minimum can look nearly unchanged when the control moves in either direction. The monitor then loses the directional information required for a reliable next configuration.

Place operating targets away from response extrema. On an interferometric device, use a quadrature monitor, balanced tap, or reference arm so the measured response changes clearly across the qualified control span.

In the registered photonic comparison, changing measurement design moved application uptime from 20 percent to 74 percent without changing the runtime. That before-and-after is why measurement design is a preflight requirement.

Before evaluation, sweep each monitor through its safe control range, identify flat or saturated regions, choose a reachable target inside the informative region, and confirm repeated reads resolve the expected motion before drift makes the previous read stale.

opt = SWCOptimizer(key, n=len(x0), mode="regulation", target=target)
x = opt.start(x0)
for _ in range(rounds):
    x = opt.step(measure(x), target=target)
opt.end()