Unmanned aircraft could be used to fight bushfires in South Australia as the Country Fire Service looks to new firefighting techniques.

Satellite imagery is another technology being explored to help fight fires in remote areas.

CFS chief officer Euan Ferguson outlined the future capabilities of firefighting at the release of the Bushfire Weather in Southeast Australia report in Adelaide.

He said firefighters were considering greater use of technology, in particular remote mapping.

"There is work going on at a national level and the national aerial firefighting centre is looking at remote aircraft, unmanned aircraft, for gathering information," Mr Ferguson said.

The South Australian Government has approached the University of Adelaide to investigate the possibility of using an unmanned aerial vehicle to monitor changes to the River Murray system during the drought.

University of Adelaide aerospace engineering students this year designed and built a UAV. Student Jono Barrister said wetlands could easily be monitored from the the vehicle.