Method and apparatus for signal extraction in an electronic sensor

A method for extracting an angular rate in a gyroscope sensor having a sensing element with a pair of proof masses, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a first signal from the sensing element, the first signal representative of a first movement of the proof masses in a first plane;
• receiving a second signal from the sensing element, the second signal representative of a second movement of the proof masses in a second plane;
• sampling the second signal from the sensing element based on the frequency of the first signal;
• generating a synchronized second signal in a time domain, the synchronized second signal including a plurality of components, one of the plurality of components being the angular rate;
• generating complex data in a frequency domain from the synchronized second signal in the time domain, the complex data including the plurality of components;
• and
• determining the angular rate from the complex data.

A system in an electronic sensor for extracting components of interest from signals, the system comprising:

• a sensor element that reports a first signal and a second signal, the first signal having a frequency at an event;
• a phase locked loop for receiving the first signal and determining the frequency of the event;
• a signal sampler for receiving the second signal and generating a synchronized second signal in a time domain, the signal sampler capable of sampling the second signal based on the frequency of the event determined by the phase locked loop;
• a spectrum analyzer for receiving the synchronized second signal in the time domain and generating complex data in a frequency domain;
• and
• a decoder for receiving the complex data in the frequency domain and generating a first component of interest, the first component of interest being a component of the complex data in the frequency domain.