Ethernet technology was initially widely used in the field of office, because of good versatility, low cost, high efficiency, high reliability and stability, widely used in daily information life and various business fields. However, in the field of industrial automation, because it adopts CSMA/CD media access control mechanism, it is difficult to build real-time control network, which can not meet the requirements of real-time industrial control system.

To solve this problem, industrial Ethernet came into being. It uses a special design, including powerful communication protocols and hardware adapted to harsh environments, to meet the needs of industrial control systems. These designs enable Ethernet to play a role in broader and more complex industrial scenarios, supporting real-time control and highly reliable communication.
Among them, EtherCAT is widely used because of its "processing on the fly", unique distributed clock synchronization and other special communication mechanisms to achieve excellent real-time and efficient data transmission. In order to further optimize the layout and performance of the EtherCAT network, EtherCAT branches appeared, which not only extended network connectivity by creating physical branches, but also improved system response speed and stability, making device integration and system maintenance easier and more efficient.