Heuristic Clustering with Secured Routing in Heterogeneous Sensor Networks

Heterogeneous Sensor Networks are more powerful and efficient than homogeneous sensor networks. It has been shown that homogeneous sensor networks perform poorly because of routine limits and scalability. In our research, we consider to use heterogeneous topology to securely route data in a wireless sensor network. The given area of interest is initially partitioned into Voronoi clusters, where low-end nodes make clusters with high-end nodes. Each cluster has just one high-end node and a number of low-end nodes. Voronoi clusters are driven by the distance between the nodes, but our routing method the "Improved Tree Routing" uses hop count to route the data in the network. However, Voronoi clusters leave out some gaps in the topology. To cover those gaps we used a new meta-heuristic called Tabu search. With Tabu search we adjust the low-end nodes in the Voronoi clusters using cyclic exchange, pairwise exchange, and single moves. Only a few researchers thought of designing routing techniques with embedded security. In our approach we added security to Improved Tree routing. Through simulation, we show that Voronoi-Tabu clustering technique in conjunction with Secure Improved Tree routing performs better than directed diffusion, and LEACH routing protocols. Additionally, the security technique is performing better than E-G, LEAP, and SBK security methods. Simulation results show that the described method increases throughput, and reduces energy utilization and network delays.