ENERGY-EFFICIENT ANT ROUTING ALGORITHM FOR OPTIMIZED PATH SELECTION NETWORK LONGEVITY IN WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS

The exponential growth of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in various applications underscores the critical need for energy-efficient routing protocols to extend network lifespan. This paper introduces the Energy-Efficient Ant Routing Algorithm, a novel bioinspired routing strategy derived from ant colony optimization (ACO), which integrates traditional pheromone mechanisms with dynamic energy-aware adaptations to prioritize routes through nodes with higher residual energy levels, thereby balancing load and prolonging network functionality. The model's adaptive pheromone updating mechanism, which considers both the cumulative path energy cost and the minimum residual energy of nodes along the path, encourages the use of energy-efficient routes and mitigates rapid energy depletion in critical network areas. This approach not only extends operational network lifetime but also supports higher data reliability and throughput in challenging WSN scenarios. The results of the proposed model demonstrated significant improvements over traditional ACO and other common energy-aware routing protocols. The network lifespan is extended by ~ 25% compared to standard ACO and by 15% compared to the best-performing conventional energy-aware routing protocol under the same conditions. Furthermore, EEARA achieved a 20% reduction in average energy consumption per node and enhanced the data delivery ratio by 10% due to more stable routing paths. The results underline the model's potential as a scalable, efficient routing solution for energy-limited networks, promising substantial improvements in sustainable network operations.