What is spliced into a hardline coaxial cable to combine AC power with RF signals in an HFC network?

The splicing of a power inserter into a hardline coaxial cable serves a crucial role in hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) networks. A power inserter is designed specifically to combine alternating current (AC) power with radio frequency (RF) signals over the same coaxial line. This allows for devices, such as amplifiers, located downstream in the coaxial cable to receive the necessary power for operation without needing a separate power line.

In an HFC network, maintaining signal quality while providing power to network equipment is essential. The power inserter effectively passes the RF signals while injecting the AC power, ensuring that the signal remains strong throughout the network without introducing significant loss or interference.

Other options, such as a signal amplifier, are primarily for boosting signal strength but do not serve the purpose of combining AC power with RF signals. Similarly, a broadband router manages data traffic but does not interact with coaxial cable in the power context, and an impedance matching transformer typically serves to mitigate signal reflection issues rather than combining AC and RF signals. Thus, the power inserter is specifically designed for this dual functionality in HFC networks.