Quantum-Driven Resilient Pathway Discovery for Optimized Security and Performance in MANETs under Adversarial Conditions

In contemporary communication networks, the development of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) has made decentralized and flexible communication in different applications possible. The networks themselves are usually prone to malicious attacks owing to the dynamic behavior and absence of a fixed infrastructure. Wormhole attacks and other security threats can significantly break data transmission and lead to serious performance degradation. Consequently, securing the resilience, efficiency, and security of such networks is imperative, especially in situations that necessitate swift adaptability and resilient performance. In response to these issues, the study introduces a Quantum Resilient Pathway Discovery for Attack Mitigation (QR-PDAM)a novel algorithm tailored to optimize the security and resilience of MANETs. QR- PDAM combines quantum zone discovery and resilient path exploration methods to detect and secure optimal communication paths. By avoiding network attack vulnerabilities, including wormhole attacks, the algorithm provides safe and optimal routing. QR-PDAM utilizes quantum- inspired methods for dynamically responding to network topological changes, delivering robust security as well as energy-saving routing. The suggested algorithm is evaluated using the performance indicators like energy consumption; packet delivery ratio, throughput, and average delay and outperform conventional schemes like SAODV and THR. Through tremendous energy consumption reduction and latency reduction, QR-PDAM boosts overall network dependability and becomes a perfect candidate for mission-critical applications in dynamic and decentralized networks where both security and performance are of great importance.