Ethercat -
Their breakthrough idea was the analogy.
Ethernet Header (14B) -> EtherCAT Header (2B) -> Datagram 1 -> Datagram 2 -> ... -> FCS (4B) ethercat
For 64 digital inputs (8 bytes), standard UDP/IP would use 42+ bytes overhead; EtherCAT uses ~14 bytes overhead + 2 bytes per datagram. Net data rate can exceed 90% of 100 Mbit/s. Their breakthrough idea was the analogy
No need for managed switches, reducing cost and complexity. EtherCAT Header (2B) ->