A system and method for sensing a camshaft barrel position of a sliding camshaft includes at least one sliding camshaft having at least one camshaft barrel and at least one position shifting slot disposed in the at least one camshaft barrel. At least one actuator is provided for engaging the at least one position shifting slot on the rotating sliding camshaft and shifting position of the at least one camshaft barrel and at least one sensor is provided for detecting the shifted position of the at least one camshaft barrel wherein the camshaft barrel includes position identifying features.