Systems and methods for communication system control utilizing corrected forward error correction error location identifiers

A receiver control method utilizing corrected forward error location identifiers, comprising:

• powering up a receiver;
• initializing control parameters for one or more control loops;
• performing one or more control loops;
• monitoring forward error correction on a composite received signal;
• adjusting the control parameters with a coarse adjustment if the forward error correction is not framed locked;
• acquiring sub-rate bit error correction information from the monitored forward error correction;
• and
• adjusting the control parameters with an adjustment responsive to the sub-rate bit error correction information.

An optical communication system with a multi-level modulation format, wherein the optical communication system is configured to utilize corrected forward error location identifiers for system control, comprising:

• a forward error correction encoder;
• modulation scheme adaptation configured to receive an output from the forward error correction encoder and to format the output according to the multi-level modulation format;
• an optical modulator configured to modulate an optical signal with an output from the modulation scheme adaptation;
• a composite optical compensation block receiving the optical signal from a fiber optic link;
• a demodulator configured to receive a compensated optical signal from the composite optical compensation block, wherein the demodulator is configured to demodulate the compensated optical signal responsive to the multi-level modulation format;
• a forward error correction decoder receiving a demodulated signal from the demodulator, wherein the forward error correction decoder is configured to identify error locations and correct errors in the demodulated signal;
• and
• a controller configured to adjust parameters associated with the composite optical compensation block and the demodulator responsive to identified error locations and corrected errors.