Surface Ice Detection Using Hyperspectral Imaging and Machine Learning

Ice formation on critical infrastructure such as wind turbine blades can lead to severe performance degradation and safety hazards. This study investigates the use of hyperspectral imaging (HSI) combined with machine learning to detect and classify ice on various coated and uncoated surfaces. Hyperspectral reflectance data were acquired using a push-broom HSI system under controlled laboratory conditions, with ice and rime ice generated using a thermoelectric cooling setup. Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Random Forest (RF) classifiers were trained on uncoated aluminum samples and evaluated on surfaces with different coatings to assess model generalization. Both models achieved high classification accuracy, though performance declined on black-coated surfaces due to increased absorbance by the coating. The study further examined the impact of spectral band reduction to simulate different sensor types (e.g., NIR vs. SWIR), revealing that model performance is sensitive to wavelength range, with SVM performing optimally in a reduced band set and RF benefiting from the full spectral range. A multiclass classification approach using RF successfully distinguished between glaze and rime ice, offering insights into more targeted mitigation strategies. The results confirm the potential of HSI and machine learning as robust tools for surface ice monitoring in safety-critical environments.