TSECR-WSN: Trust-Aware Secure Energy-Efficient Cluster-Based Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are made up of a large number of low-power sensing devices that self-organize to carry out monitoring activities. WSNs have many benefits, but they also have significant drawbacks, including security flaws and scarce energy. To address these challenges, a Trust-aware Secure and Energy-efficient Cluster-based Routing protocol (TSECR-WSN) has been proposed for energy utilization and network security. The proposed approach employs Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) clustering, while the Ebola Optimization Algorithm (EBOA) is utilized to select optimal cluster heads using residual energy, cluster separation, node connectivity, and proximity to the base station as evaluation criteria. In addition, a hybrid trust mechanism integrating direct trust and the Halfway Escape Optimization–Grey Genghis Shark Optimizer (HEO-GKSO) is introduced to identify malicious nodes and establish secure routing paths. The effectiveness of TSECR-WSN is evaluated based on residual energy, network lifetime, end-to-end delay, packet delivery ratio (PDR), detection rate, energy consumption, and the number of active and inactive nodes. Experimental results for a 100-node network demonstrate that the proposed method achieves 1180 rounds of network lifetime, 97% PDR, and 0.30% routing overhead with 85 active nodes and 15 inactive nodes. Furthermore, the proposed framework improves detection performance by 14.99%, 10.80%, 17.96%, and 10% compared with M-TCAA, STELR, HESC, and EASR, respectively.