A variable displacement reciprocating piston unit includes a sensor probe, a target, a piston having a top dead center position and a bottom dead center position, and a signal processing unit. The sensor probe, the target, and the piston are located in relation to each other so that the target is moved from being absent from the sensor probe to being present at the sensor probe when the piston travels towards the top dead center position, and the target is moved from being present at the sensor probe to being absent from the sensor probe when the piston travels towards the bottom dead center position. The signal processing unit generates a signal indicating a stroke speed and a stroke length of the piston from a signal from the sensor probe indicating a presence and/or an absence of the target as the target moves relative to the sensor probe.