Virtually any device employing semiconductor technology soon may be able to communicate with its electronic siblings, cousins and even distant relatives. Research underway at an engineering institute, supported by private industry funding, aims to empower electronic components and everyday hardware to communicate with one another during the course of routine operations.

Smart mobile mines, underwater attack trumpets and an artificial dog's nose are some of the products that may emerge from a newly reorganized defense research office. The reorganization reflects a growing interdependence among various electronics technologies, according to defense officials.

The 2020 citizen returns home from an afternoon of outdoor recreation to resume work. Recognizing him as he strides up the walkway to his door, his house's computers unlock the door and activate hallway lighting systems. As he walks through the house, environmental controls that are sensitive to his presence switch lights on and off and adjust each room's temperature. Similarly, his intelligent clothing loosens and thins out for greater body heat dispersal as he cools down from exertion.

In government, industry, the military and society as a whole, technology reigns. Change is coming faster than words can be written to describe it. In virtually every corner of the world, information systems are remaking governments, re-engineering economies, restructuring militaries and redefining societies. Not even the industrial revolution had as far-reaching an effect when it sprang upon the world less than two centuries ago.

German technologists are employing commercial off-the-shelf components to develop communication systems for security agencies. Under a single umbrella organization, they are combining networking services and the secure links mandated by government organizations that are potential targets of hostile cyberspace intruders.

A new twist on age-old logarithms may hold the key to faster computer microprocessors. An improved approach to logarithmic arithmetic is finally allowing it to compete with current algorithms used in the central processing units of computers.

A U.S. organization that is heading efforts to develop a new standard for cryptography may opt for more than one algorithm to serve widely varying global requirements for secure communications in such applications as electronic mail or video. The advanced encryption standard, when it is chosen, will be the successor to a data encryption standard that was developed approximately 20 years ago. It was adopted by users internationally, and the new scrambling code promises to be equally well received.

Dealing with the Byzantine operations of the Internal Revenue Service leaves a lot of executives feeling taxed-but not Van B. Honeycutt. Instead, the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Computer Sciences Corporation, El Segundo, California, says his company's lead role in a 10- to 15-year contract to overhaul the federal tax agency's information infrastructure underscores a series of dramatic changes he helped plan 10 years ago. They include more work with Fortune 500 companies and rapid growth through acquisitions.

A new military radio incorporates the capabilities of several different units in a single package. Offering flexible and secure communications in a variety of bands, the lightweight, manportable unit also features an all-digital architecture, allowing for software upgrades and advanced power management.

Monitoring force status, planning campaigns and disseminating orders soon may take minutes instead of hours as the British Army implements a new command support system. Its two-dimensional map display and manipulation features graphic task organization, drag-and-drop document and message handling, operational log keeping, extensive database reference, and task planning and management. A mouse would be used as a primary interface to activate functions or show whatever is desired on top of displayed mapping.