A control system for a vacuum arc remelting (VAR) process for a metal includes a direct current (DC) power source, a ram drive, voltage drip short sensor, and a controller, which includes a processor. The drip short sensor may be configured to measure a drip short frequency of the electric arc over a period of time. The controller is configured to determine a real time arc gap length between the electrode tip and the melt pool based on a correlation between the drip short frequency and arc gap length. The controller is further configured to control power input to the electrode by the DC power supply by determining an input power level to input to the electrode based on the real time arc gap length, the input power level configured to generate a desired arc gap length, by the DC power supply, at the input power level.