What is signal attenuation and how much attenuation does an nTAP cause?
Attenuation is the reduction of signal strength during transmission. Greater signal loss equals higher attenuation. A signal can lose intensity, or experience increased attenuation, with each surface or medium it traverses. As with all devices inserted into an optical link, one side effect of TAP usage is signal attenuation. A TAP attenuates the signal for two reasons: The connections and internal TAP cables absorb and refract a portion of the signal. A portion of the signal strength is “siphoned off” and sent to the analyzer. How much of the signal strength is redirected for analysis depends on the split ratio. An optical split ratio must be designated for each optical TAP. In most cases, a 50/50 split ratio is ideal, providing sufficient light to the network and to the monitoring device. However, there may be special cases that require an alternative ratio in order to meet signal power needs. For example, if a TAP is cabled close to the analyzer NIC (network interface card), and the
