Plan your outdoor fiber installation carefully by surveying the site, choosing the right cable type, and following FOA and OSP standards to ensure reliability. Select the best installation method—direct burial, aerial, conduit, or underwater—based on your environment and future network needs. Use. Outdoor fiber optic cables are mainly classified into the following three categories based on installation methods and protection levels: Submarine Cable: Features multi-layer metal armoring and sealing gel, designed for crossing rivers and lakes. The cable should be bent as little as possible. Turn-backs and all sharp changes of direction. The Fiber Optic Association, Inc. (FOA) was founded in 1995 to help develop the workforce to build the fiber optic networks to support a rapid expansion in communications and the Internet.