An algorithm for determining heart rate by removing motion artifacts from a PPG signal in the frequency domain utilizes a principal component analysis. Some examples of the present disclosure process PPG signals in combination with accelerometer signals to remove unwanted artifacts in the frequency domain. For example, principal components of the accelerometer signal can be generated and combined with the PPG signal to filter out acceleration contributions represented in the PPG signal to reveal heart rate peaks. Additionally, in some examples, templates may be stored for correlation with candidate heart rate peaks to select those peaks with the highest correlations with the stored templates.