Energy-Aware Optimal Clustering and Secure Routing Protocol for Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Network

Abstract

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is a collection of low energy sensor nodes deployed in hostile complex environments. Their functionality gathers requisite data from the environment and transmits it to the base station for further processing. To enhance the performance of WSN, sensor nodes with different energy levels, capabilities and functionalities are deployed, leading to Heterogeneous WSN (HWSN). The initial energy, energy consumption rate, and residual energy differ for each node in a heterogeneous WSN. Many algorithms were proposed to accomplish an energy-efficient steady HWSN, but the performance level is not satisfactory. This paper presents a novel integrated approach, Energy-Aware Optimal Clustering & Securing Routing (EAOCSR). The algorithm amalgamated three techniques optimal clustering, reliable routing and secured transmission, considering energy retention and network lifetime as the vital parameters. Unequal clustering scheme, trust-based reliable and secure routing forms the core of EAOCSR. The performance of EAOCSR is analyzed using MATLAB simulations. It reveals that the proposed routing protocol EAOCSR has superior performance to existing protocols regarding energy utilization, throughput, network lifetime, stability and security.