Optimal Wireless Sensor Network Ant-Lifetime Routing Algorithm Using Multi-Phase Pheromone

Abstract

The research introduces a Pheromone-based Ant Trusted Routing Algorithm (PATRA), aimed at improving routing efficiency and security in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). The approach will combine Ant-Colony Optimization (ACO) with reputation-based mechanisms to ensure trusted data delivery through the selection of more trustworthy and energy-efficient nodes. Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), Energy Consumption, Packet Loss Rate, and the number of received packets are considered for the performance metrics that are observed through extensive simulations with a range of environments, including the possibility of malicious nodes. The results indicate that PATRA consistently outperforms conventional approaches like Quality of Service - Particle Swarm Optimization (QOS-PSO), Ant Colony Optimization Routing Control (ACORC), and Trust-Aware Node Activity Routing Protocol (TANARP) by maintaining a high PDR, reduced energy consumption, and lower packet loss rates with a maximization of received packets. These further demonstrate that PATRA possesses robustness regarding the impact of malicious nodes and network lifetime. The simulation experiments also confirm that the proposed approach outperforms the previous approaches by a large margin in security, efficiency, and reliability, and is thus a promising approach to be employed for secure and energy-efficient WSNs.