The embodiments described herein are directed to systems and devices for electronically measuring the absolute position of one or more moving targets e.g., along the length of a metal beam using mutual capacitive sensing. The beam may be made of metal and may have a limited inset area to fit a position detection sensor device along its length. The moving targets may have no active elements and the position of multiple targets may be detected simultaneously along the beam. The systems and devices described herein do not utilize electronic position feedback and instead rely on an integrated ruler and minimize the total number of sensors required to support recalibration, thereby minimizing scan time (more sensors results in a linear increase in scan time).