2.  Terms and Definitions 
 
Explanation and Definition 
Slaves are devices connected to EtherCAT. There are various types of 
slaves such as servo drivers handling position data and I/O terminals 
handling the bit signals. 
Represents information such as in-slave data and parameters. 
PDO 
communications 
(Communications 
using Process Data 
Objects) 
One type of EtherCAT communications in which Process Data Objects 
(PDOs) are used to exchange information cyclically and in real time. 
This is also called “process data communications”. 
The association of objects used for PDO communications. 
PDO entries are the pointers to individual objects used for PDO 
mapping. 
ESI file 
(EtherCAT Slave 
Information file) 
An ESI file contains information unique to the EtherCAT slaves in XML 
format. 
You can load ESI files into the Power PMAC IDE, to easily allocate 
slave process data and make other settings. 
ENI file 
(EtherCAT Network 
Information file) 
An ENI file contains the network configuration information related to 
EtherCAT slaves. 
 
This computer software is used to configure the Controller, create user 
programs, and monitor the programs. 
PMAC is an acronym for Programmable Multi-Axis Controller.