Testing a splitter or other passive fiber optic devices like switches is little different from testing a patchcord or cable plant using the two industry standard tests, OFSTP-14 for double-ended loss (connectors on both ends) or FOTP-171 for single-ended testing. First we should define what these. Insertion loss testing of the optical splitter is very important to ensure compliance to the optical parameters of the manufactured splitter in accordance with the GR-1209 CORE specification. Here is a table of typical losses for splitters. 001 dB), OTDR (for reflection event detection). Cleaning tools. If you're designing a passive optical network and you haven't run a detailed link budget using real insertion loss values for your specific splitter configuration, you're not designing. This depends on various factors, including who is conducting the test and the phase of the project.