A Robust Parameter Balanced Clustering and Source Node Selection for Enhancing Underwater Wireless Sensor Network Performance

Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) are specially designed for underwater environments and utilize acoustic waves for communication, unlike terrestrial WSNs.Existing Routing Protocols (RPs) for UWSNs may not be suitable due to differences in Link Quality (LQ).To solve this problem, the Cluster-Based Depth Source Selection Routing (CBDS 2 R) protocol has been developed, which aims to improve energy efficiency and network lifetime by selecting source nodes according to the depth, Residual Power (RE), and LQ.However, it did not consider all important factors for clustering and source node selection, leading to inefficient resource utilization and potential energy depletion in nodes with the smallest depth.This could result in void regions at the network edges and data transmission delays.Hence, this paper proposes a Robust Parameter Balanced Cluster-based Routing Protocol (RPBCRP) for UWSNs.The RPBCRP incorporates additional parameters with depth, RE, and LQ to make informed decisions during clustering and source node selection.This RPBCRP organizes nodes into clusters with Primary Cluster Heads (PCH), Secondary CH (SCH), and source nodes based on various parameters.Only one active source node per cluster is selected in each data forwarding round to conserve energy and delay void region formation.Simulation results demonstrate that RPBCRP achieves an average RE of 1280 J, average End-to-End (E2E) delay of 15ms, average delivery ratio of 99%, average network lifetime of 4120 rounds, and average alive nodes of 95 for 100 nodes in an area of 125012501250 m 3 , when compared to the CBDS 2 R protocol.