According to one aspect, a multi-heterodyne system is disclosed, which comprises a first laser source for generating multi-mode radiation having a frequency spectrum characterized by a first plurality of phase coherent frequencies, and a second laser source for generating multi-mode radiation having a frequency spectrum characterized by a second plurality of phase coherent frequencies. The system further comprises at least one detector for detecting a combination of the multi-mode radiation generated by the first and second laser sources so as to provide a multi-heterodyne signal having a frequency spectrum characterized by a plurality of beat frequencies, each beat frequency corresponding to a pairwise difference in the first and second plurality of phase coherent frequencies. The system further comprises an analyzer for receiving said multi-heterodyne signal and configured to employ a predictive model of the multi-heterodyne signal to provide estimates of any of phase error and timing error associated with the beat frequencies.