Line Scan Bar is a CMOS-based sensor for optical image capture. The image is captured line-by-line, and this data is then composited into a complete image by an external frame grabber card. The light reflected by an object through a lens is recorded in the Line Scan Bar and directed to a photodiode. This converts the incoming light into an electrical signal whose strength is proportional to the light intensity. In an analogue to digital converter, the signal is finally converted into an 8- or 10-bit value. An essential part of the Line Scan Bar is the GRIN lens – a gradient-index lens, allowing distortion-free 1:1 representation of the object on the sensor surface, thereby crucially contributing to the high image recording quality without any optical distortions.

The Contact Image Sensor (CIS) is an alternative to line scan systems in general. It has a significant advantage for wide scanning applications, where a single CIS may replace a system of multiple line scan cameras for the same Field of View (FoV). This brings the immediate advantage of making the system easier to maintain and avoiding complex calibration and stitching operations.

A trilinear sensor is also available, which has a separate sensitive area for red, green, and blue light. It is, therefore, a true-colour sensor that records true-colour images. For applications that do not require an RGB image, the sensor is also available in a monochrome version that only detects gray values.