A physiological monitoring device controls an optical signal acquisition system within a number of discrete operating states, each providing values for controllable parameters such as illumination intensity for a light source and the gain for an optical detector. Using this technique, a small number of operating states may be defined, such as operating states that are known to work well within expected use scenarios. This approach advantageously facilitates optimal or near optimal operation across a range of most likely use cases while avoiding complex or continuous optimization problems. The list of operating states may further be prioritized so that a best operating state can be selected based on, e.g., signal quality or environmental conditions.