Active tracking and decoupling control of pavement temperature for icing early-warning

Pavement icing induced by complex temperature fluctuations during winter weather poses a significant safety hazard. Given that existing icing detection methods are predominantly passive, this study designs an active pavement temperature simulation device based on a thermoelectric cooler (TEC). Using the predicted pavement temperature as the thermal control target, the device achieves dynamic temperature tracking and simulates both the pavement temperature and ice-snow status through active cooling. A temperature control model for the device is established by incorporating heat transfer theory and applying small-signal analysis methods. To address the system’s inherent nonlinear and coupled characteristics, a fuzzy adaptive PID decoupling control strategy is proposed. This strategy enables accurate pavement temperature tracking and facilitates active early warnings for runway icing. The results demonstrate that under typical input signals, the proposed control method exhibits excellent steady-state performance, high tracking accuracy, and robust anti-interference capability. Specifically, the active simulation device tracks the target temperature with a steady-state error not exceeding 0.08°C. The tracking error follows a normal distribution, with 99.7% of the error samples falling within ± 0.2°C. This performance improvement is statistically significant compared to traditional PID control ( p < 0.05), thereby effectively simulating the thermal evolution of the runway surface. Ultimately, this research provides a novel approach for active runway icing early warnings, aligning with the Global Reporting Format (GRF).