Signal cycle
A signal cycle is one full pass of the operated system. Response from each pass sets the next one.
A cycle is the unit of work. Spektra does not ship a campaign and report at the end. It runs cycles, and each cycle teaches the next one.
One pass has four movements. Work is routed into feeds. Response is captured across every route. The response is read against what was expected. The next wave is built from what the reading showed.
Why the cycle is the unit
A single post proves almost nothing. Feeds are noisy, and one result carries as much luck as signal. A cycle aggregates enough routes to separate the two. That is what makes the output a measurement rather than an anecdote.
Cycles also compound. Each pass narrows the set of angles worth running. By the fourth or fifth cycle the system is spending its effort on formats that have already earned their place.
How long a cycle runs
Length is set by the engagement, not by a calendar rule. Launch distribution runs a 90-day cycle around one launch and one objective. Continuously operated systems run shorter cycles inside a longer arc.
Not the same as the operated loop
A operated loop is the machinery: the standing set of routes, accounts and instrumentation. A signal cycle is one pass through that machinery. The loop is the thing. The cycle is what it does once.