Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, conducting blind learning of correction parameters for non-linear (NL) distortion associated with one or more components of a system, resulting in learned correction parameters, wherein the conducting is performed without a need to identify or estimate a reference input associated with the one or more components, and causing the learned correction parameters to be applied to an output signal associated with the one or more components to compensate for the NL distortion. Other embodiments are disclosed.

A pilot-assisted fiber length estimation (FLE) technique estimates chromatic dispersion for optical signals. The pilot-assisted FLE technique is agnostic to the modulation format of the optical payload and is resilient to polarization effects, bandwidth limitations, and signal shaping, thus enabling consistent performance across a wide range of operating conditions. A transmitter periodically inserts a known pilot sequence into an optical signal, and a receiver processes the pilot sequence to estimate the length of the optical fiber, or to estimate chromatic dispersion of the optical fiber, which is related to the fiber length.