Monitoring Sand in its Tracks: How Geofem’s SANDetect Solution Protects Transport Networks from Major Disruptions

As climate change intensifies, sandstorms are growing stronger and more frequent, turning once-passable roads and railways into shifting obstacles.  

Across the world’s arid and semi-arid regions, desertification is advancing, and with it, thousands of kilometres of transportation networks face mounting disruption, rising maintenance costs, and serious safety risks. 

The challenge: confronting sand to ensure infrastructure resilience 

Sand accumulation on transportation corridors presents significant operational and safety challenges, particularly in arid environments.  

Traditional detection methods and manual inspections are localised, resource-intensive, and reactive, contributing to increased maintenance costs and prolonged service interruptions. 

Paving the way for smarter sand accumulation detection  

Determined to find more effective ways to confront this growing challenge, Geofem’s remote sensing experts set about developing SANDetect — a Satellite-based Sand Accumulation Detection System for Transportation Networks — funded by the European Union-NextGenerationEU. 

Aiming to establish a globally recognised standard for sand-accumulation detection, the Geofem team strived to equip transportation operators with the tools needed for continuous, reliable service. Reducing the socio-economic impacts of sand-related disruptions and strengthening the resilience of critical infrastructure were also key priorities. 

The SANDetect solution 

As sand-related disruptions intensify, Geofem’s innovative system is designed to detect and monitor sand build-up on rail lines, helping ensure the continuous operation of critical transport routes.  

Powered by Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, it enables precise, wide-area, and timely detection of sand accumulation. This capability allows for smarter maintenance planning, and greater resilience across road and rail systems. 

Automatic detection of sand accumulation problem areas on railway tracks (shown as black spots in the image) 

From detection to action: keeping infrastructure moving  

Project SANDetect is a practical response to one of the growing challenges facing global infrastructure, especially in arid and semi-arid regions.  

By harnessing advanced SAR satellite imagery, SANDetect delivers accurate, timely, and actionable data to transportation authorities, helping them detect and manage sand accumulation before it disrupts operations, particularly in remote or desert regions where human monitoring is difficult, time consuming, and unsafe.

Coherence image shown over the SANDetect platform

Coherence difference (100m buffer) image shown over the SANDetect platform

With near-real-time satellite data availability and fully automated detection, SANDetect enables proactive measures to prevent hazards and improve network resilience.  

Initially designed for rail and road networks, the system’s scalable approach opens the door to wider applications, from detecting sand encroachment along pipeline networks to protecting peri-urban settlements and other linear infrastructure affected by sandstorms or similar environmental hazards. 

At its core, SANDetect represents a step toward smarter, more resilient infrastructure—one where satellite intelligence helps us stay connected, safe, and prepared in an ever-changing environment.  

Contact Geofem today and find more about how SANDetect can support your needs.