What is Telemetry in Computer Programming?

Software Telemetry

Over a century has passed since telemetry first became popular. It has been widely employed in sectors like healthcare, finance, and aviation. To track the health of any system remotely, information had to be transmitted, historically over phone lines or via radio transmission. Since “tele” means “remote” and “metron” means “measure,” telemetry actually just refers to the remote transmission of measurement data.¹

What Exactly Is Telemetry?

In general, the term “telemetry” refers to technologies that allow for the collection of measurements or statistical data and the transmission of that information to information technology (IT) systems in distant locations. “This term can be used in reference to many different types of systems, such as wireless systems using radio, ultrasonic or infrared technologies, or some types of systems operating over telephone or computer networks. Others may use different strategies like SMS messaging.”²

In addition to being used to build the infrastructure for space travel, telemetry is frequently used in systems like meteorological systems, oil and gas drilling systems, water management systems, and agricultural systems. For instance, telemetry and equipment are used by spacecraft like the space shuttle and structures like the International Space Station, and some satellite and probe types have telemetry capabilities. Telemetry enables the thorough gathering of data and its delivery to centralized systems where it can be used effectively. The evolution of telemetry includes the development of big data technologies and big data strategies, which take massive amounts of largely unstructured data and aggregate them in centralized systems.²

Benefits of Telemetry

The main advantage of telemetry is that it allows a user to keep tabs on an object or environment even when they are physically far away from it. After a product has been released, it is impossible to watch thousands or millions of users interact with it to determine what functions, what’s easy, and what is difficult. Telemetry enables the direct delivery of those insights into a dashboard for your analysis and subsequent action.³

Telemetry performs these three essential tasks, without which modern software cannot even be conceived.¹

1. Business Metrics

Usage and engagement data from actual product use can be used to identify trends in product performance and their effects on the company. This process is crucial for comprehending the market and is notably more efficient and reliable than surveys and other methods of market research. This information is important for choosing product investments and, more broadly, for determining how a product will develop in the future.¹

2. Problem Identification and Diagnosis

Telemetry can be used to track real-time health data that includes everything from the basics, such as performance or accessibility, to specific scenarios or feature-level experiences. Furthermore, in order to mitigate and fix a problem, the root cause must be found for a service to have high reliability and availability. Telemetry can offer early problem diagnosis and identification information. Compared to other options, like someone reproducing an issue or contacting the customer for more information, it can be significantly more effective.¹

3. Validation of hypotheses 

Cohort-based experimentation data may aid in the confirmation of hypotheses for decisions pertaining to design, development, and quality. It acts as a tool for decision-making during the early planning and development stages of software, and is much more effective and scalable than focus groups, surveys, or questionnaires.¹

This is just a droplet to introduce you to the ocean, that is, the topic of telemetry. There is undoubtedly a lot to learn about computer programming, right? Visit BYJU’S FutureSchool Blog to read more articles on similarly fresh and fascinating subjects if you enjoyed this one.

References:

1. Telemetry in Software. There’s no getting away from telemetry… | by Vardhan Dugar | justDevTalk | Medium. (n.d.). Retrieved July 4, 2022, from https://medium.com/justdevtalk/telemetry-in-software-7e2766a58cc0 
2. What is Telemetry? – Definition from Techopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved July 4, 2022, from https://www.techopedia.com/definition/14853/telemetry 
3. What is Telemetry? How Telemetry Works, Benefits, and Tutorial. (n.d.). Retrieved July 4, 2022, from https://stackify.com/telemetry-tutorial/