A Secure Clustering Routing Mechanism Based on Trust Evaluation in WSN

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are susceptible to malicious attacks, leading to network performance degradation. In this paper, we propose a novel secure clustering routing mechanism based on trust evaluation to address this challenge. To optimize energy consumption, we divide the network into neighborhood and non-neighborhood regions. In the non-neighborhood, nodes' trust levels are evaluated based on behavior characteristics and collected data, encompassing direct trust, recommendation trust, history trust, and data trust. The optimal cluster head is selected during the clustering stage by calculating competition time, considering factors like trust level and residual energy. To minimize energy consumption for remote nodes, a multi-hop routing mechanism is employed in the inter-cluster routing stage. The trust level is considered in selecting the next hop, thereby enhancing route security. A simulation experiment is conducted using the OMNET++ simulator to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. The proposed cluster routing mechanism is compared with two well-established clustering routing algorithms, LEACH and EEUC. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method effectively mitigates the impact of malicious nodes on the network and significantly improves network performance.