Unlike active devices (which require power), splitters operate without electricity, relying solely on the physics of light to distribute signals—a feature that reduces costs and improves reliability in large networks. 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. A fiber optic splitter is a passive optical component that divides a single incoming optical signal into two or more outgoing signals, or combines multiple incoming signals into one. Also, splitter does not contain any electronic components.