Star Topology–Aware CH Selection and Geographic Routing Using Group Search Chronological Optimizer in MANET

ABSTRACT A mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a self‐organized network without any constant infrastructure. The topology in MANETs varies often because of the movement of nodes. The maintenance of topology develops an additional overhead, as information regarding the mobility of a single node is distributed with every node in a network. Currently, the researchers designed diverse cluster‐enabled approaches to decrease overhead issues in MANET. Moreover, conventional geographic routing (GR) methods in MANET have routing errors owing to inexact position information or dynamic network states. In this research, the Group Search Chronological Optimizer (GSCO) is introduced for cluster head (CH) selection and GR in MANETs. Initially, MANET is simulated, and CH selection is performed considering fitness factors such as energy, trust, delay, distance, data rate, and geographic information. GSCO combines the Group Search Optimizer (GSO) with a chronological concept for effective CH selection. Subsequently, GR is executed using GSCO based on multiobjective parameters like energy, trust factors, data rate, delay, distance, and geographic information–based neighbor list. The performance of GSCO is compared with existing methods like Scalable Geographic Multicast Routing Protocol (SGMRP), adaptive beaconing strategy based on fuzzy logic scheme enabled Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing (AFB‐GPSR), Gray Wolf Optimizer with Firefly algorithm (GWO‐FF), and Cluster Trust Adaptive Acknowledgement‐MultiObjective Particle Swarm Optimization (CTAA‐MPSO). GSCO achieves a maximal data rate of 0.891, energy of 0.704 J, minimal delay of 0.414 ms, and distance of 0.596 m. The proposed GSCO model shows significant energy improvements over SGMRP is 37.93%, AFB‐GPSR is 18.75%, GWO‐FF is 14.49%, and CTAA‐MPSO is 4.26%.