{"id":1379,"date":"2023-02-23T09:56:22","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T09:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanta.com\/precision-manufacturing\/?post_type=novanta_tech_paper&#038;p=1379"},"modified":"2026-06-26T13:26:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T13:26:54","slug":"analog-vs-digital-galvanometer-technology-an-introduction","status":"publish","type":"novanta_tech_paper","link":"https:\/\/novanta.com\/precision-manufacturing\/resources\/whitepapers\/analog-vs-digital-galvanometer-technology-an-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Analog vs. Digital Galvanometer Technology \u2013 An Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-technical-paper-overview\">Technical Paper Overview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-analog-vs-digital-galvanometer-technology-an-introduction-galvanometer-choice-not-optics-alone-decides-scan-head-performance-and-cost\"><strong>Analog vs. Digital Galvanometer Technology: An Introduction<\/strong><br><em>Galvanometer choice, not optics alone, decides scan-head performance and cost.<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When designing a scan-head subsystem, engineers obsess over mirror size, coatings, and materials \u2014 but often defer to vendor defaults on galvanometer technology. That&#8217;s a mistake. The choice between analog and digital position detectors, and between analog and digital servos, drives the system&#8217;s accuracy, drift, serviceability, and price \u2014 and the hybrid option often beats either extreme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This technical paper from four Novanta authors compares three Cambridge Technology architectures: fully analog (62xxK\/83xxK + 67x driver in MOVIA scan heads), hybrid (62xxK\/83xxK galvos + digital servo in VERSIA), and fully digital (encoder-based Lightning II). Each is benchmarked across accuracy, drift, mirror-size range, field serviceability, predictive control, and price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-key-takeaways-include\">Key takeaways include:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Why position detector type (optical vs encoder) \u2014 not mirror aperture \u2014 determines drift behavior and EMI immunity<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How a digital servo on top of an analog galvanometer unlocks field serviceability, predictive control (ScanPack), and decoupled builds<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When fully digital (Lightning II) becomes worth the price premium \u2014 and when hybrid (VERSIA) is the right value pick<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What mirror aperture ranges each architecture supports: fully analog 3-100 mm, hybrid 3-50 mm, fully digital 14-50 mm<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A practical six-column comparison table to specify the right scan-head architecture for your application<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Download the full technical paper for the position-detector comparison, the ScanPack predictive-control case study (perfect circles vs. teardrop-shaped low-bandwidth circles), and the six-criteria comparison table \u2014 before locking in a scan-head architecture you can&#8217;t easily change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Technical Paper Overview Analog vs. Digital Galvanometer Technology: An IntroductionGalvanometer choice, not optics alone, decides scan-head performance and cost. When designing a scan-head subsystem, engineers obsess over mirror size, coatings, and materials \u2014 but often defer to vendor defaults on galvanometer technology. That&#8217;s a mistake. The choice between analog and digital position detectors, and between [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":342,"featured_media":4428,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"show_table_of_content":true},"class_list":["post-1379","novanta_tech_paper","type-novanta_tech_paper","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Analog vs. Digital Galvanometer Technology \u2013 An Introduction - Precision Manufacturing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/novanta.com\/precision-manufacturing\/resources\/whitepapers\/analog-vs-digital-galvanometer-technology-an-introduction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Analog vs. Digital Galvanometer Technology \u2013 An Introduction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Technical Paper Overview Analog vs. Digital Galvanometer Technology: An IntroductionGalvanometer choice, not optics alone, decides scan-head performance and cost. When designing a scan-head subsystem, engineers obsess over mirror size, coatings, and materials \u2014 but often defer to vendor defaults on galvanometer technology. That&#8217;s a mistake. The choice between analog and digital position detectors, and between [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/novanta.com\/precision-manufacturing\/resources\/whitepapers\/analog-vs-digital-galvanometer-technology-an-introduction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Precision Manufacturing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-26T13:26:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/novanta.com\/precision-manufacturing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/04\/13A_LED-And-Photocells-768x508-2.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=768&h=508&crop=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"508\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/novanta.com\\\/precision-manufacturing\\\/resources\\\/whitepapers\\\/analog-vs-digital-galvanometer-technology-an-introduction\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/novanta.com\\\/precision-manufacturing\\\/resources\\\/whitepapers\\\/analog-vs-digital-galvanometer-technology-an-introduction\\\/\",\"name\":\"Analog vs. Digital Galvanometer Technology \u2013 An Introduction - 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