A new research project at Aarhus University aims to develop intelligent, autonomous drones that can fly out to small and large wind farms and scan, detect and report any icing on the blades of the turbines.
The project will test drones with different sensors (RGB cameras, thermal cameras, LIDAR, ultrasound, etc.) in order to identify the best combination of technologies and AI algorithms. In addition to reducing energy usage by unnecessarily heating turbine blades, the research team expects the project to make it possible to site wind farms further north than is currently possible. The Independent Research Fund Denmark is funding the project with DKK 2.8 million. The project is headed by Associate Professor Erdal Kayacan from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Aarhus University and is carried out in collaboration with Vestas. The project’s name is ‘Detecting Ice Using Artificial Intelligence-based Techniques (DISTINCT). The project starts January 2023.