An optimized meta‐heuristic clustering‐based routing scheme for secured wireless sensor networks

Summary Privacy and security present significant challenges in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In order to enhance security, the sensor network is equipped with high throughput. While the importance of both source node (SN) and base station (BS) location privacy and security is acknowledged, recent research has predominantly focused on location privacy. Addressing this gap, the geometric zigzag bidirectional tree effectively tackles privacy and security threats at both the SN and BS locations. Future iterations of WSN are anticipated to integrate additional functionalities to meet diverse requirements in real‐world applications. The absence of robust security constraints leads to an unpredictable sensor network setup. This article aims to reduce energy consumption (EC) while simultaneously enhancing network security and connectivity. To address security challenges in WSN, we propose an optimized meta‐heuristic clustering‐based privacy key‐agreement routing technique. In the suggested system, a gateway‐based network is constructed to devise a key arrangement protocol that promotes privacy during communication. The proposed routing strategy involves forming clusters of sensor nodes ( ), facilitating the efficient selection of cluster heads (CHs) that prioritize nodes with the least modification. This effectively addresses the EC problem. A comprehensive performance evaluation is conducted, considering improvements in energy efficiency, packet delivery ratio (PDR), throughput, end‐to‐end delay ( delay), and EC.