How Much Do You Know About PLC Splitter?

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 What Is PLC Splitter?

PLC splitter, also called Planar Waveguide
Circuit splitter, is a device used to divide one or two light beams to multiple
light beams uniformly or combine multiple light beams to one or two light
beams. It is a passive optical device with many input and output terminals,
especially applicable to PON (EPON, GPON, BPON, FTTX, etc.) to connect the MDF
(main distribution frame) and the terminal equipment and to branch the optical
signal.

 

PLC splitter

PLC
splitter provides a low-cost light distribution
solution with high stability and reliability. PLC splitters can offer a
splitting ratio of up to 1×64, which is generally higher than the splits of FBT
splitter that another common type of optical splitter.

 

PLC Splitter Manufacturing Technology

PLC splitter is based on Semiconductor
technology. As its name shows, PLC splitters are manufactured by planar
waveguide circuit technology. PLC splitter design consists of one optical PLC
chip and several optical arrays depending on the output ratio. The optical
arrays are coupled on both ends of the PLC splitter chip.

 

PLC chip is one key component of a fiber
PLC splitter. It is available in 1xN (N=2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64) and 2xN (N=2, 4,
8, 16, 32, 64) splitting ratios. The figure below shows the typical design of a
1×8 PLC splitter chip.

 

Different Types of PLC Splitters

There are PLC splitter types in the market.
Fiber optic PLC splitter can be categorized by the PLC splitter chip they use,
meaning there are 1xN and 2xN PLC splitters, such as 1×4 splitter, 1×8
splitter, 1×16 splitter, 2×32 splitter, 2×64 PLC splitters, etc. Users can
choose different input and output numbers depending on subscriber conditions or
cable length.

 

In addition, PLC splitters also can be
classified based on different packages to meet clients’ needs in various
scenarios, including small size PLC splitter that needs to be used in terminal
boxes and big size rack mounted PLC that can be installed in racks. All the
following PLC splitters with different packages also support 1×2/4/8/32 forms.
The different split ratio will cause different loss levels in PLC splitters.
The following table shows the common different types of PLC splitters.

 

How Does PLC Splitter Work?

In passive optical networks (PON), PLC
splitter is widely installed between the PON Optical Line Terminal (OLT) and
the Optical Network Terminals/Units (ONTs/ONUs) that the OLT serves. The single
fiber link coming from the Central Office (CO) OLT is connected with the input
of a splitter and is split into a given number of fibers leaving the splitter.
The number of outputs in the PLC module determines the number of splits.

 

PLC splitters can be used in centralized
PON architecture or distributed architecture. In a centralized PON
architecture, a 1×32 PLC splitter is often used in the Central Office. In a
distributed PON architecture, a 1×4 PLC splitter is firstly directly connected
to an OLT port in the Central Office, then each of the four fibers is routed to
an outside plant terminal/enclosure box that houses a 1×8/1×4 PLC splitter.

 

Conclusion

As demand for higher bandwidth continues to
grow, telecommunications companies rely on the PON network and need reliable
PLC splitters to provide fiber optic links to an increasing number of users.
PLC splitters allow a single PON network interface to be utilized by multiple
users, maximizing a fiber network’s user capacity, offering the best solution
for network builders.