Raster Scan and Random Scan

Raster scan and random scan are the mechanisms used in displays for rendering the picture of
an object on the screen of the monitor. The main difference between raster scan and random
scan lies in the drawing of a picture where the raster scan points the electron beam at the entire
screen but incorporating just one line at a time in the downward direction. On the other hand,
in the random scan, the electron beam is guided on just those regions of the screen where the
picture actually lies.

Comparison Chart
BASIS FOR RASTER SCAN RANDOM SCAN

COMPARISON

Electron beam Swept across the screen and handles Directed to the portions of the

one row at a time and in downward screen where a picture is to be

direction. rendered.

Resolution Poor, since it generates meander Good, as this produces even lines

lines which are organized as distinct drawing.

point sets.

Picture definition Stored as the combination of Stored as a group of line drawing

intensity values for all screen points. instructions in a display file.

Realistic display Effectively displays realistic scenes. Unable to display realistic shaded

scenes.

Picture rendering Using pixels With the help of mathematical

functions
The Raster Scan is a scanning technique in graphics monitor where the electron beam is
moved along the screen covering one line at a time from top to bottom. The beam intensity is
set at high and low levels as the beam sweeps around the screen to generate a pattern of
illuminated spots.
Refresh buffer or frame buffer is then used to save the picture definition, more specifically
the memory area contains the combination of intensity values for various screen points. These
stored intensities are fetched from refresh buffer and represented on the screen one scan line at
a time. The fundamental unit for defining a single screen point is known as Pixel or Pel
(Picture element).

The raster scan systems are appropriate for the realistic display of scenes as these systems are
capable of saving the intensity data for each screen point where subtle shading and colour
patterns can also be involved. However, the television sets and printers are examples of other
systems.

The capability of the raster scan specifies the intensity range of the pixel position. It requires
only one bit per pixel to handle the intensity of the screen positions in a black-and-white
system. On the other hand, to display the intensities of different colour variants, supplementary
bits are required. The high-quality systems include up to 24 bits per pixel in which case a high
amount of memory is needed to store frame buffer depending on the resolution such as in
megabytes.
A typical system having a screen resolution of 1024 by 1024 and contain 24 bits per pixel can
consume 3 megabytes for the frame buffer. In black-and-white systems, the frame buffer is
known as a bitmap where only one bit per pixel is consumed while the frame buffer of systems
with multiple bits per pixel is called as a pixmap. The rate of refreshing on raster-scan displays
is operated at the rate of 60-80 frames per second.

The Random scan works in a completely different manner to the raster scan where the
electron beam is pointed to merely those areas of the screen where the picture is to be drawn.
However, it only involves one line at a time when drawing a picture that is why it is also
known as the vector or calligraphic display. The component lines of an object by a random
scan is drawn in the way as shown in the diagram below.

The refresh rate of a random scan relies on the number of lines that are to be showed on the
screen. Similar to the raster scan the random scan also stores the picture definition as a set of
line drawing commands using some sort of medium known as refresh display file. The other
names for refresh file display are display list, display program or refresh buffer. A system
displays a certain picture by revoluting the group of commands in the display file and
drawing each component line after each turn. After processing all line drawing commands,
the system cycle is sent to the first line command.

A random scan is capable of drawing all the component of a picture about 30 to 60 times per
second. In the provided refresh rate the high-quality vector systems are competent enough to
handle 100000 short lines. At the time displaying short lines, the refresh cycles are delayed to
eliminate refresh rates higher than 60 frames per second. Otherwise, swift refreshing of the
group of lines can damage or burn the phosphor.

Key Differences Between Raster Scan and Random Scan

1. The raster scan monitors make use of the whole screen for displaying the object while in
random screen monitors the certain part of the screen is used where the electron beam is
projected.
2. Resolution of random scan displays is better than raster scan.
3. Raster scan saves the picture definition as the group of intensity measures for various
screen points and consumes more size. As against, in the random scan, the picture
definition is stored in the form of a collection of line drawing instructions within a
display file.
4. Random scan systems are mainly devised for line-drawing applications and are unable
to display the naturalistic shaded scenes. On the contrary, a raster scan system is suitable
for rendering realistic shaded scenes. However, random scan creates a sleek line drawing.
5. Raster scan uses screen points/pixels to draw an image whereas a random scan employs
mathematical functions for painting the image.

Conclusion
When it comes to refreshing rate, the raster scan has higher refresh rate about 60 to 80 times
per second while random scan consumes less time for refreshing the screen, i.e., 30 to 60 times
per second. Raster scan can also use interlaced refresh method which is not used in the random
scan.