Technicians use various tools to install, maintain, and troubleshoot fiber cabling: detection and verification testers, certification testers, inspection cameras, cleaning supplies, certification testers, and advanced optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) instruments for. Technicians use various tools to install, maintain, and troubleshoot fiber cabling: detection and verification testers, certification testers, inspection cameras, cleaning supplies, certification testers, and advanced optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) instruments for. Fiber optic cable is a type of cabling that contains one or more optical fibers for transmitting data at high speeds and/or over long distances using light. These fibers are most commonly made of glass and are very thin, typically less than a tenth of the width of a human hair. Fiber optic cable. This guide introduces the key types of fiber optic test equipment used in the field and the lab—and how each tool contributes to a reliable optical network. An Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) is one of the most powerful tools in a fiber installer's toolkit. Fiber optic power meters measure the average optical power out of. However, special measurement instruments are required to verify if and how well the fiber optic network works and to certify that the installed cabling is able to meet the high bandwidth demands of practical operation.