The CAD test is based on techniques developed to study camouflage and has been used in a number of fundamental research studies. In total, over 800 participants have been investigated in several studies which included about 450 colour deficient observers. The use of the CAD test within professional environments follows from a study initiated by the Civil Aviation Authority (UK) and later also supported by the Federal Aviation Administration (USA).
The in-depth report describes the findings of the study which compares how normal trichromats and colour deficient observers (both deutan and protan) perform on a number of vision tests including CAD. The findings show how the severity of colour vision loss for each class of deficiency relates to the subject's performance scores on the PAPI (Precision Approach Path Indicator) task and other signal lights tasks. The studies involved a number of vision researchers and colour vision scientists.
The full report is avaiable to download in two versions: