Method and apparatus for accurately synchronizing signals related to the operation of a computer system

A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for accurately synchronizing time-domain signals related to the operation of a computer system, comprising:

• receiving a first time-domain signal associated with a first system variable and a second time-domain signal associated with a second system variable from the computer system, wherein the first and second time-domain signals include signals associated with physical parameters gathered from physical sensors in the computer system;
• transforming the first and the second time-domain signals into a first frequency-domain signal and a second frequency-domain signal, respectively;
• computing a cross-power-spectral-density (CPSD) between the first and second frequency-domain signals to obtain a phase angle versus frequency graph between the two frequency-domain signals;
• extracting the slope of the phase angle versus frequency graph;
• and
• using the value of the slope to synchronize the first time-domain signal and the second time-domain signal.

An apparatus that accurately synchronizes time-domain signals related to the operation of a computer system, comprising:

• a receiving mechanism configured to receive a first time-domain signal associated with a first system variable and a second time-domain signal associated with a second system variable from the computer system, wherein the first and second time-domain signals include signals associated with physical parameters gathered from physical sensors in the computer system;
• a transformation mechanism configured to transform the first and the second time-domain signals into a first frequency-domain signal and a second frequency-domain signal, respectively;
• a computing mechanism configured to compute a cross-power-spectral-density (CPSD) between the first and second frequency-domain signals to obtain a phase angle versus frequency graph between the two frequency-domain signals;
• an extraction mechanism configured to extract the slope of the phase angle versus frequency graph;
• and
• a synchronization mechanism configured to use the value of the slope to synchronize the first time-domain signal and the second time-domain signal.