Innovative angular sensor read-out multi-axes digital front-end chain

1. A signal processor for processing sensor signals from a plurality sensors of a gyroscope, comprising:

a multiplexer coupled to the plurality of sensors, responsive to a plurality of readout signals from the plurality of sensors, and operative to generate a multiplexed signal;

a front end amplifier for converting the multiplexed signal into a voltage variation signal;

a demultiplexer coupled to the front end amplifier and operative to demultiplex the voltage variation signal into a plurality of signals;

at least one analog-to-digital converter coupled to the demultiplexer and operative to convert the plurality of signals into a plurality of digital signals; and

at least one demodulator coupled to the at least one analog-to-digital converter and operative to demodulate the plurality of digital signals to thereby extract envelope signal therefrom.

2. The signal processor according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one analog-to-digital converter is a band-pass sigma delta converter or a low-pass sigma delta converter.

3. The signal processor according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a chopper coupled to the plurality of sensors and operative to chop the plurality of readout signals; and

at least one dechopper coupled to the chopper and operative to generate dechopped signals.

4. The signal processor according to claim 1 , 2 , or 3 , further comprising:

at least one analog filter coupled to the front end amplifier and operative to filter a signal.

5. The signal processor according to claim 4 , wherein the at least one analog filter is a Sample & Hold.

6. The signal processor according to claim 1 , further comprising:

one or more filters responsive to the envelope signal and operative to filter a noise from the envelope signal.

7. The signal processor according to claim 6 , wherein the one or more filters include at least one of a SINC decimator filter, a low pass filter, and a notch filter.

8. The signal processor according to claim 6 , wherein the one or more filters are operative to filter a spurious noise generated at a frequency that is a difference between a sensing resonant frequency and a driver frequency of the gyroscope.

9. The signal processor according to claim 1 or 6 , further comprising:

one or more sensitivity compensators responsive to the envelope signal and operative to adjust intensities of the envelope signal.

10. The signal processor according to claim 1 , 6 , or 9 , further comprising:

at least one offset compensator operative to adjust DC levels of unwanted DC signals or DC offsets over the envelop signal under detection.

11. The signal processor according to claim 1 , wherein each of a plurality of readout signals from the plurality of sensors includes a capacitance variation and the front end amplifier is a charge amplifier.

12. The signal processor according to claim 1 , wherein each of a plurality of readout signals from the plurality of sensors includes a current variation and the front end amplifier is a trans-impedance amplifier.

13. A method of processing sensor signals from a gyroscope, comprising:

multiplexing a plurality of readout signals from a plurality of sensors of a gyroscope into a multiplexed signal;

converting the multiplexed signal into a voltage variation signal;

demultiplexing the voltage variation signal into a plurality of sensor signals, each of the plurality of sensor signals corresponding to one of the plurality of readout signals;

converting the plurality of sensor signals into digital sensor signals; and

demodulating the digital sensor signals to extract envelop signals therefrom.

14. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising:

chopping the plurality of readout signals; and

dechopping the plurality of sensor signals.

15. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising:

sampling the dechopped sensor signals.

16. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising:

filtering a noise contained in the envelope signals.

17. The method according to claim 16 , further comprising:

adjusting intensities of the envelope signals and adjusting DC levels of the envelop signals.

18. The method according to claim 13 , wherein each of the plurality of readout signals includes a capacitance variation.

19. The method according to claim 13 , wherein each of the plurality of readout signals includes a current variation.