Multi-Objective Meta-Heuristic Approach for Energy-Efficient Secure Data Aggregation in Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy consumption in the sensor network is primarily due to the switching states of radio transceivers and long busy states of sensor nodes in the network. Data aggregation techniques reduce the number of transmissions and improve the bandwidth utilization. Secure data aggregation and energy-efficient routing protocols establish the secure channel, and reduce the communication overhead in the network. Multi-objective optimization methods based on the weighted sum method, the utility method and meta-heuristic search methods enhance the performance of meta-heuristic algorithms. This article proposes multi-objective meta-heuristic approach for energy-efficient secure data aggregation (MH-EESDA) protocol in wireless sensor networks. The proposed protocol uses divide-and-conquer approach to form the secure clusters and perform the secure data aggregation in energy-efficient route paths of the network. The protocol functions in three phases. In the first phase, the clusters are formed, in the second phase, the secure nodes are selected and in the third phase, energy-efficient data aggregation is performed across the secure route paths of the network. The sensor node energy and data aggregation rate are evaluated for (1) minimum degree of intrusions (2) threshold-based degree of intrusions and (3) maximum degree of intrusions in the network. Simulation results illustrate significant improvements in the proposed MH-EESDA protocol.