Splitters are used for dividing one or two optical signals into multiple optical signals.
splitters are passive optical devices that are widely used in Passive Optical Networks
such as GPON, and EPON.
There are different types of splitters we have and every splitter has a different insertion loss, So this is very important to understand in the FTTx network when you are splitting the optical power because the entire game of FTTX depends on the optical power budget. if you don’t understand it properly then it would be very difficult for you to calculate the link budget.
Splitters are comes inbuilt connector or without connector .but for outdoor we normally use without connector and for indoor we use the inbuilt connector . splitters are comes as 1:2,1:4,1:8,1:16,1:32,1:64 etc etc.and also it comes as 2:2,2:4,:2:8 etc etc.
Note:– if it is 1:2, it means it has 1 input and 2 output. if it has 2×2, it means it has 2 inputs and 2 outputs.
Now let’s see the loss table of all the Splitters. The losses I have posted here is the standard loss but the losses can vary depending on the manufacturer.
Note: Splitters splits the optical power equally on each output.
| Splitter Type | Formula | Loss in DB |
| 1:2 | log10 (2) x 10 | -3.01dB |
| 1:4 | log10 (4) x 10 | -6.02dB |
| 1:8 | log10 (8) x 10 | -9.03dB |
| 1:16 | log10 (16) x 10 | -12.04dB |
| 1:32 | log10 (32) x 10 | -15.05dB |
| 1:64 | log10 (64) x 10 | -18.06dB |
Optical Power Ratio Coupler Loss chart
Power Ratio Couplers are also used for splitting the optical power but in a Power ratio coupler, you have an option to split the power equally or unequally as per your requirement.
Let’s see the chart given below.
Diagram of a PON network using a splitter
