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splitter - technical definition
- A digital subscriber line (DSL) modem, also referred to as a DSL filter. A DSL splitter is a multiplexer that combines upstream voice, data, and sometimes video signals at the customer premises prior to transmission over a single local loop. Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), the most common consumer-oriented DSL variant, supports voice over an analog channel and high speed Internet access over a digital channel, so the DSL modem is a simple frequency division multiplexer (FDM mux). The DSL modem also typically acts as a gateway, converting Internet Protocol (IP) data packets in Ethernet frames into asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) format prior to upstream transmission.The splitter acts as a combiner for upstream purposes.The splitter lives up to its name with respect to downstream transmissions, serving to split (i.e., demultiplex) the voice and data channels and to convert the data channels from ATM to IP packets inside Ethernet frames. See also ADSL, analog, ATM, channel, digital, downstream, DSL, Ethernet, FDM, frame, gateway, IP, local loop, multiplexer, packet, and upstream.
- An electrical device that separates DC power from data signals on the end of a PoE (Power over Ethernet) cable. See also DC and PoE.
- A passive optical device that splits an incident optical signal, or beam, into two or more beams with total power equal to or less than the incident beam. Splitters commonly are signal paths etched into a dielectric material. Splitters also can be made of glass optical fibers twisted together and fused. Passive optical network (PON) local loops use cascading optical splitters, each of which evenly splits the incoming signal into two outgoing signals, each of which is at approximately 50 percent of the power level of the incident signal. As a passive network, PON does not amplify the signal.The splitter illustrated in Figure S-7 comprises three 1:2 splits for a total split ratio of 1:8, with the outgoing signal over each distribution fiber having a power level equivalent to approximately 12.5 percent ( 1 / 8 ) that of the incoming signal.As each split approximately halves the signal power, there are limits to the number of signal splits that can be tolerated over a circuit of a given length. A PON splitter might have a split ratio of 1:2 (one split), 1:4 (two splits), 1:8 (three splits), 1:16 (four splits), 1:32 (five splits), 1:64 (six splits), or 1:128 (seven splits). See also amplifier, dielectric, local loop, passive, PON, power, and signal.