# PFES-ENG-016 — Firmware Calibration Data

**Status:** Reserved engineering domain; not yet explored in depth  
**Knowledge Cycle Stages:** Discover Structure, Observe, Understand, Validate

## Purpose

Firmware Calibration Data covers drive-specific and mechanism-specific parameters used to make optical hardware operate correctly.

This chapter reserves a permanent home for calibration engineering before the project has accumulated enough evidence to describe the subject authoritatively.

## Engineering Problem

Optical-drive firmware must operate physical mechanisms whose characteristics vary by drive design, optical pickup, servo system, motor, analog front end, manufacturing tolerance, media type, and individual unit.

Calibration data may influence behavior such as:

- focus and tracking control;
- laser power and write strategy;
- spindle and sled behavior;
- optical pickup alignment;
- media recognition;
- error correction and signal thresholds;
- manufacturing adjustment;
- persistent per-drive configuration.

The exact structures, storage locations, formats, and update procedures used by the currently studied firmware families have not yet been systematically mapped.

## Current Engineering State

Calibration data is recognized as a distinct firmware engineering domain, but Project Frankenstein has not yet performed a focused calibration-data investigation.

No detailed claim should be treated as established merely because similar optical drives commonly use calibration tables or manufacturing parameters.

## Architectural Decisions

- Reserve calibration data as a first-class firmware subject.
- Do not speculate beyond available evidence.
- Distinguish factory calibration, runtime adaptation, persistent configuration, and generic firmware tables when evidence permits.
- Treat calibration values as potentially hardware-specific and safety-critical.
- Require real-hardware validation before modifying calibration-related data.

## Knowledge Expected to Be Produced

Future work may produce:

- calibration-region maps;
- parameter and table inventories;
- storage and checksum models;
- factory-adjustment workflows;
- per-drive versus per-model distinctions;
- relationships among firmware, servo hardware, optical pickup, and media behavior.

## Related Chapters

- Firmware Resources
- Firmware Interfaces
- Firmware Behavior
- Firmware Compatibility Engineering
- Firmware Modification
- Engineering Validation

## Open Questions

- Where is calibration data stored?
- Which values are firmware-family defaults and which are unit-specific?
- Which parameters are created or changed during manufacturing?
- Which calibration values constrain cross-flashing or capability transplantation?
- How are calibration data integrity and version compatibility enforced?
- Can calibration be read safely without modification?

## Why This Chapter Exists

Calibration is likely to become important when engineering moves deeper into servo, optical, write-strategy, mechanism, or cross-hardware compatibility work.

PFES reserves the subject now so future discoveries have a correct permanent home without pretending that the project already understands it.
