The Beckhoff EtherCAT Terminals combine the compact form factor and signal variety of the well known Beckhoff Bus Terminal series with the ultra high performance of EtherCAT. The system comprises a selection of digital and analogue I/O terminals as well as special sensor interfaces for position measurement, serial communication interfaces and fieldbus gateway terminals. The performance is outstanding: e.g. analog signals can be sampled and communicated with an update rate of 20 kHz - if the master permits such update cycles. The EtherCAT terminal are proven and tested in a variety of pilot applications since 2003.