For analysis of hollow ceramic beads insulation effect on the carbon fiber cable snowmelt pavement heating rate, comprehensively considering road surface and the external environment and heat transfer characteristics of carbon fiber heating cable, using infrared thermal imaging technology and numerical simulation, the influence of the thermal insulation layer on the heating rate of the snow-melting pavement is analyzed, and the thermal insulation mechanism of the hollow ceramic microspheres is revealed. The results show that the heating rate of snowmelt road surface can be increased by 23.4%~35.3% by adding the insulation layer. In the test section with cable spacing of 200 mm and buried depth of 5 cm, after 2 hours of heating test, the highest temperature of road surface reaches 1.8℃ from -5.2℃, and the average heating rate is 3.5℃/h. The anti-heat insulation layer formed by the combination of hollow ceramic microbeads can absorb and reflect waves well, reduce the thermal conductivity, reduce the downward transmission of heat, so that the heat is mostly concentrated on the upper surface of the road, and the temperature field is more uniform. The material cost can be saved 88.3%~91.7% by adding hollow ceramic bead insulation layer to reduce the cable spacing.