The optical splitters have no active electronics and don't require any power to operate. They are typically installed in each optical network between the PON OLT (optical line terminal) and ONTs (optical network terminals) that the OLT serves. 1 to 2 dB), dB Some of the common split ratios and their equivalent optical insertion loss is available. Cost Efficiency: A single OLT port can serve 8–64 ONTs via a splitter, reducing the number of OLTs, fibers, and deployment labor needed. Light power goes in and light power coming out of the various legs is reduced in accordance to the split ratio. For every 2X increase in split ratio, power is reduced by roughly 3 dB. In most cases, the power out of each leg is equal, but we'll discuss a version where the power coming out is. If we operate with absolute gains measured in relation to 1 milliwatt (mW), they are expressed in dBm, and are calculated as follows: Power Level (dBm) = 10 lg ( mW / 1 ) For “household” needs, in order not to calculate mW to dBm and vice versa every time, here's a ready-made correspondence table:. A passive 1×N splitter divides optical power equally across N output ports. Ignoring internal imperfections, the ideal insertion loss at each port is given by: In the real world there is always additional excess loss — caused by fusion splices, core alignment, and coupler imperfections inside the. Let's say you have a laser output at 0 dBm (which is 1 milliwatt of optical power). 5 dBm This means each output port now only carries about 0. 089 mW (less than a tenth of the.