Computer Networks 212 (2022) 109049

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Computer Networks
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comnet

Energy aware fault tolerant clustering with routing protocol for improved
survivability in wireless sensor networks
Romany F. Mansour a, *, Suliman A. Alsuhibany b, Sayed Abdel-Khalek c, d, Randa Alharbi e,
Thavavel Vaiyapuri f, Ahmed J. Obaid g, Deepak Gupta h, i
a
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, New Valley University, El-Kharga 72511, Egypt
b
Department of Computer Science, College of Computer, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia
c
Department of Mathematics, College of Science, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
d
Mathematics Department, Faculty of Science, Sohag University, Sohag 82524, Egypt
e
Department of Statistics, Faculty of Science, University of Tabuk, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia
f
College of Computer Engineering and Sciences, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia
g
Faculty of Computer Science and Mathematics, University of Kufa, Iraq
h
Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology, Delhi, India
i
Research Advisor, UCRD, Chandigarh University, Gharuan, Mohali, Punjab, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) remain a hot research topic due to its wide range of application areas like
Wireless sensor networks environmental monitoring, military surveillance, healthcare, and disaster management. Network survivability is
Survivability one of the challenging issues in WSN that needs to be maximized for long-run operation of the network. It can be
Metaheuristics
proficiently improved by effective utilization of available energy since the nodes in WSN operate only via in-built
Fitness function
Clustering
batteries. The studies conducted earlier have mainly focused on the design of clustering and routing protocols to
Fault tolerance reduce energy consumption in the network. With this motivation, the current research paper presents a novel
Energy-Aware Fault Tolerant Clustering with Routing for Improved Survivability (EAFTC-RIS) technique in WSN.
The proposed EAFTC-RIS technique intends to select the Cluster Heads (CHs) and optimal routes to the desti­
nation in an optimal manner with fault tolerant mechanism. The proposed EAFTC-RIS technique primarily de­
signs Moth Flame Optimization (MFO)-based clustering scheme for CH selection and cluster construction. Also,
fault tolerant mechanism is considered to further enhance the survivability of the network. In addition, Social
Spider Optimization (SSO)-based routing approach is also employed for optimal selection of routes in WSN.
Clustering, routing, and fault tolerant mechanism designs, with multiple input variables, result in enhanced
network survivability. The proposed EAFTC-RIS technique was validated for its performance and the outcomes
were inspected under various aspects. The simulation outcomes demonstrate the superiority of EAFTC-RIS
technique over recent approaches namely, EAFTC-RIS, FUCCAR-GWSO, FBECS, MLSLEEP, and Bee Cluster.

1. Introduction information to a sink node; therefore, numerous data collisions and

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) have become the most important
field of research in computer networks in recent years. As per the
literature, WSN is one out of ten advanced techniques that is expected to
bring significant impact upon human lives in future [1]. This is due to
the fact that WSN is used in a wide range of applications including
environmental, healthcare, military, and forest fire applications [2,3].
WSN-based application needs to deploy hundreds of sensors over a
phenomenal environment. These sensors transmit the sensed
congestions might occur in WSN. This phenomenon leads to depletion of
the constrained energy from network within a short period. The struc­
ture of WSN is depicted in Fig. 1. In this circumstance, node clustering
can resolve the problem since it has the potential to achieve efficient
resource utilization and load balancing [4]. In other terms, clustering is
essential for extending the lifetime and scalability of the network. In
cluster-based WSN, sensors are categorized under different classes
named ‘clusters’.
All the groups have a leader in the name of Cluster Head (CH)

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: Romanyf@sci.nvu.edu.eg (R.F. Mansour).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2022.109049
Received 29 January 2022; Received in revised form 11 May 2022; Accepted 14 May 2022
Available online 16 May 2022
1389-1286/© 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
R.F. Mansour et al.
Fig. 1. Structure of WSN.
whereas all the sensors belong to a single cluster [5]. Cluster WSN has
subsequent benefits. It allows data aggregation at CH to get rid of un­
correlated and redundant information, thus reducing the utilization of
energy by sensors. Routing can be managed since the CH alone needs to
preserve the local route setup for rest of the CHs, owing to which, it
requires less routing data. This sequentially enhances the network
scalability too. Further, it preserves transmission bandwidth as the
sensors interact with CH only, thereby preventing the sharing of un­
wanted messages between them [6]. But, in clustering method, a CH
bears additional workload i.e., getting sensed information transmitted
by data dissemination, member sensors, and data aggregation to the BS
[7].
Furthermore, in most of the WSNs, the CH is chosen amongst the
sensors that tend to die fast, since they expend more energy due to this
additional workload. In these contexts, the authors [8] have presented
the usage of unique node named ‘relay nodes’ or ‘gateways’ that is
provided with additional energy. This gateway is processed alike the CH
which is accountable for the same functionalities of a CH. Unfortunately,
the gateway is operated by battery which translates into limited power
availability. So, it is crucial to make proper use of the available energy
by leveraging routing and clustering procedures [9]. Moreover, sensors
are highly prone to failure due to multiple factors including device
failure, environmental hazard, and energy depletion. These failures
could degrade the general performance of the network and impact the
lifetime of the entire network. But, when a CH fails, it is catastrophic in
nature, since it prevents data aggregation and data dissemination while
it also limits the availability of sensors under supervision. Consequently,
in order to keep WSN effective, routing and clustering methods need to
handle the fault tolerant aspect in an effective manner, particularly the
failure of CH [10].
The current research article presents a novel Energy Aware Fault
Tolerant Clustering with Routing for Improved Survivability (EAFTC-
RIS) technique in WSN. The proposed EAFTC-RIS technique derives a
Moth Flame Optimization (MFO)-based clustering scheme for CH se­
lection and cluster construction. Moreover, fault tolerant mechanism is
considered to further increase the survivability of the network. In
addition to this, Social Spider Optimization (SSO)-based routing
approach is also utilized to optimally select the routes in WSN. The
novelty of the work remains in the design of cluster-based routing pro­
cess with fault tolerant capability. The performance validation of the
proposed EAFTC-RIS approach was conducted and the outcomes were
inspected under several aspects.
Rest of the paper is arranged as follows. Section 2 provides a detailed
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Computer Networks 212 (2022) 109049
review of literature, Section 3 offers the proposed model, Section 4
validates the results, and Section 5 concludes the paper.
2. Literature review
The authors in the study conducted earlier [11] introduced a
Fuzzy-based Subordinate Support (FSS) scheme as an add-on feature in
coordination with the existing Optimized Mobile Sink Improved Energy
Efficient Power-Efficient Gathering in Sensor Information System
(PEGASIS)-based (OMIEEPB) routing protocol. The latter system lacks
concentration on assuring the FT abilities to the elected leader of a
respective chain. Mohammed et al. [12] presented a method for IoT
course determination using fuzzy rationale, to achieve the necessity for
explicit application. In such situations, fuzzy rationale is exploited to
decrypt the indeterminate information in math terms transmitted by
many phonetic strategies. Anzola et al. [13] presented a hierarchical
routing method called K-D tree approach which considers a partition
data structure of space for organization of nodes into clusters. Subse­
quently, the study presented a reactive model for CH node formation
with the aim to enhance throughput, delay, and jitter.
The researchers in the literature [14] investigated the possibilities to
expand the lifetime of nodes through appropriate selection of CH based
on the remaining energy state and the overall number of frames trans­
ferred to the sink. The role of sensors is realized as ‘Markov procedure’
and is modelled as ‘finite state machine’. The method assists in sched­
uling the role of sensors and in selecting the appropriate CH. In literature
[15], the authors proposed a Scalable Survival Path Routing (SSPR)
method. In this method, clustering technique is employed to achieve a
scalable and efficient network. The weight of the node is calculated in
order to select the best CHs amongst themselves. It is noted that the
presented approach outperformed Directed Diffusion protocol and SPR
in terms of end-to-end delay, throughput, and Packet Delivery Ratio.
Moussa et al. [16] established an Energy-aware Cluster-based Routing
(ECRP) Protocol, where the role of CH is to rotate on the basis of energy
around each cluster member, till the end of network operations. This is
to prevent recurrent re-clustering since it could adopt network topology
changes. In addition, ECRP presents a multi-hop routing method,
thereby energy utilization is balanced and minimized. Additionally, a
fault-tolerant method was introduced to overcome the failure of relay
nodes and CH.
The researchers [17] introduced a Scale-Free Topology Evolution
Method (SFTEM) and Regular Hexagonal-based Clustering Scheme
(RHCS) for WSN to maintain energy balance and increase the network
R.F. Mansour et al.
survivability. The presented approach makes use of regular hexagonal
structure to cluster the sensors so as to ensure a minimum 1-coverage
fault-tolerance. SFTEM integrates the consistency of RHCS and
scale-free property so as to connect the clusters and form a strong WSN
that employs the synergy between topology evolution and reliable
clustering system. This synergy can tolerate comprehensive faults that
include energy failure and random failure. In literature [18], the re­
searchers proposed a routing method named Query Aware Routing
Protocol (QARP) to balance the load in MEWSN so as to avoid exhaustive
power utilization and network congestion. Standard routing protocols
seek to route or match the load requirements while this characteristic is
taken into account in QARP. Further, the recognized route is categorized
on the basis of applicable vector machine classification methods that
help in minimizing the energy consumption and delay.
Yan et al. [19] presented a Congestion-Aware Routing (CARA)
approach for limitless-lifetime WSN by incorporating the traffic load of
sensors and geographic distance. The main objective of the approach is
to alleviate network congestion which includes local network traffic as
well as node traffic. Based on the geographic distance amongst nodes,
CARA determines four decision variables which selects the optimal node
as the next-hop over multi-attribute decision-making approach.
3. System model
Assume a WSN technique in which every Sensor Node (SN) is used
arbitrarily in addition to some gateways. It it can be utilized, it is
developed as stationary one. In wireless networks, the node does not
take global data on the networks. During all rounds, every SN gathers
the local data and sends it to its equivalent CH (for instance, gateway).
To receive the data, the gateway aggregates it to remove the uncorre­
lated and redundant data and sends the aggregated information to BS,
with the help of another CH as following hop relay nodes. Between two
neighbouring rounds, every node turns off its radios to save energy.
3.1. Energy model
In this method, both free space as well as multipath fading channels
are utilized based on distance between the transmitting and receiving
ends. If the distance is lesser than the threshold value d0 , free space (fs)
model is utilized. Then, multipath (mp) technique is utilized. Assume
Eelec , εfs , and εmp denote the energy required by electronic circuits and
amplifiers from free space as well as multipath correspondingly. Next,
the energy needed by radio for transmitting l-bit message, on a distance
d, is provided as given in (Eq. 1).
lEelec + lεfs d2 for d < d0
ET (l, d)= { (1)
lEelec + lεmp d4 for d ≥ d0
The energy needed by radio to receive an l-bit message is offered in
(Eq. 2):
ER (l) = lEelec (2)
Eelec depends upon many features such as modulation, filtering, dig­
ital coding, and the spreading of signals. But, the amplifier energy, εfs d2
/εmp d4 is dependent upon the distance between transmitting and
receiving nodes and suitable Bit-Error Rate (BER). Usually, radio wave
propagation is an extremely variable method which is complicate to
process.
3.2. Fault model
WSNs tend to fail due to multiple reasons while sensor networks
primarily fail due to depletion of battery control, malfunctioning of
hardware elements (namely, processing units and transceiver), or
damage due to external events. Secondly, the wireless connections of
WSNs tend to fail because of permanent/temporary blockage by
3
Computer Networks 212 (2022) 109049
obstacle/environmental states. The reasons for connection failure
include network partition and dynamic modification due to network
topology. In this case, it is assumed that the consistency of CHs, subse­
quent to Weibull distribution (WD)[20], is widely utilized to fault
method since it offers diverse failure patterns over time with their
parameter. The next procedure is to find the probabilities’ of the density
purpose of WD and is done by (Eq. 3).
( )β
β( t )β− 1 − t
(3)
η
f (t) = e
η η
where β and η refer to shape and scale parameters correspondingly. This
function refers to the probability of failure at time, t. The reliability
purpose of WD is given in (Eq. 4).
( )β
− t
(4)
η
R(t) = e
Reliability purpose is the probability of a device’s effectiveness at
time, t. The rate of failure depends upon shape parameter β as follows.
Once β = 1, the rate of failure is constant; if β > 1, the rate of failure
improves over time and if β < 1, the rate of failure reduces over a period
of time. For instance, the element strengthens or hardens over a period
of time. It is to be noted that β > 1 to WSNs has been assumed from every
experiment.
4. The proposed model
In this study, a new EAFTC-RIS technique has been derived to
improve the survivability of WSN. The aim of the proposed model is to
effectively select the CHs and optimal routes towards the destination
with fault tolerant mechanism. The proposed EAFTC-RIS technique
comprises of three major processes namely, MFO-based clustering, fault
tolerance process, and SSO-based routing. Clustering, routing, and fault
tolerant mechanism designs, with multiple input variables, result in
enhanced network survivability.
4.1. MFO-based clustering technique
In this primary stage, the nodes in WSN are arbitrarily placed and
initiation procedure is carried out. During this procedure, the nodes
communicate with one another to collect the neighboring data. Then,
MFO algorithm is executed to select the optimal CHs in network. Moth is
a type of bug falls under butterfly family of Lepidoptera. Generally, the
entire 160,000 moth species are exposed during night time. Some of the
moth attributes such as phototaxis and Levy Flight (LF) are considered to
be important features and are explained in this section. These ap­
proaches detect the optimized weight by implementing explore func­
tions [21].
After moth starts flying, it surrounds the light that is named after
phototaxis. However, the accurate phototaxis method is yet to be initi­
ated since it is the most important hypothesis that defines the phototaxis
approach. Amongst other techniques, it is a crucial hypothesis in ce­
lestial navigation that was executed from transverse orientation at the
time of flying. Concurrently, the angle acts as the source of light and
moth is orientated. However, it is impossible to seek an alternate angle,
since the celestial object is recognized that outlie the distance. It moves
near the source of light, as moth naturally adapts the flight orientation to
an optimum place. So, it permits airborne moth to fall downwards. It is
shaped into a spiral-path for traveling nearby the source of light [22].
The heavy-tailed, non-Gaussian statistics is used as a common
method in various functions of huge insects and animals. LF is a type of
arbitrary development, so the natural surrounding is considered as the
most important flight strategy. Other moth flies, for instance Drosophila
also illustrates this LF phenomenon, while this flight is estimated as
power law supply that comprises of the feature exponent closer to 3/2.
Usually, this Levy distribution is revealed from the kind of power-law
R.F. Mansour et al. Computer Networks 212 (2022) 109049

and is described from the subsequent Eq. (5), distance.

L(s) ∼ |s| − β
(5) ∑cdi
n
Distance, D = d ∗ (12)
dp
Whereas, 1 < β ≤ 3 has a standard index.
The moth that comprises of the distance as neighbouring one, is the The energy (e) of all the nodes is derived by the difference between
optimum one i.e., fly from LF method, which is present around the fittest the energy spending of CH and the ratio of average energy. Eq. (13)
one. Then, it can inform its places by implementing LF approach with characterizes the arithmetical expression of energy.
respect to Eq. (6). The moth id can be learnt by employing the subse­
E(p)
quent Eq. (6): Energy, e = − (D ∗ n) (13)
∑E(cpi )
n

Xja+1 = Xja + δL(s) (6)

The fitness function (f) of MFO technique is contrariwise propor­
Where, Xja and Xja+1 refer to actual and upgraded places at generation a. tionate to the density of particles from the broadcast range. Eq. (14)
signifies the arithmetical expression of density.
However, the existing generation is referred to as a. This stage attained
in LF is demonstrated as L(s). The scale factor is represented through the 1
Fitness, f ∝ (14)
parameter, δ which is determined as shown in Eq. (7): d
W The current study focuses on maximizing the fitness value i.e., to
(7)
max
δ=
a2 select the optimum node that possesses less density, high energy, and
low distance. Considering this objective, energy has the maximum pri­
At this point, W max stands for the maximum walk step and the value
ority whereas density has the highest priority than the distance. So, the
to this W max are determined according to the problems available. L(s) is
weight value is as follows, α1 > α3 > α2. Therefore, the presented
determined as shown in Eq. (8).
( ) fitness function is created by integrating α1 , α2 , and α3 in (Eq. 15):
(α − 1)Γ(α − 1)sṁ π(α2− 1) α3
L(s) = (8) f = (α ∗ e) + (α ∗ D) + (15)
π sα d

Here, s is established to be superior to 0. Γ(x), refers to gamma function.
But it is stated that L(s) comprises of α = 1.5 while the moth’s LF is
outlined.
The existing moths are divided in source of light which flutters from
straight line nearby the source of light. The notation of moth j is written
as in (Eq. 9):
( ( ))
Xja+1 = λ × Xja + φ Xbest
a
− Xja (9)
a
Where Xbest implies the fittest moth at a generation, λ stands for scale
factor and φ represents the acceleration factor.
Then, the moth flies out of source of light towards the termination
place. The expression used to determine the termination place of moth j
is shown in Eq. (10),
(
1( a ))
Xja+1 = λ × Xja + Xbest − Xja (10)
φ
For integrity, the place of moth j is informed through implementa­
tion, by half percentage possibilities. The actual, upgraded, and better
place of moth are referred to by Xj , Xj,new and, Xbest .λ, refers to the ap­
proaches that meet speed together with increased population diversity.
While the sensors are randomly positioned in a certain sensing field,
the BS needs to know the context. So, it sends a request message
info− request to each node. On receiving the request, all the sensors
formulate a reply message info− reply that encloses the data such as
distance to BS, residual energy, and position. With this data, the BS
employs MFO approach to find the fitness values of the node to define
CH. The crucial factor is utilized in the estimation of fitness values of all
the nodes herewith. Eq. (11) characterizes the arithmetical expression of
density.
Cn
Density, d =
Tn
Distance is explained as the average distance and the product of
particle density. Eq. (12) signifies the arithmetical expression of
whereas α1 , α2 and α3 denote the non-negative values between 0 and 1,
thereby α1 + α2 + α3 = 1.
4.2. Fault tolerance mechanism
In steady state phase, a CH may fail because of depletion of energy or
due to any damages. The fault is identified, when the member SN does
not take some data recognition receipt in CH. Further, the failure of CH
is also confirmed in neighbour SN of a similar cluster [23]. After the
recognition of faults, the member SNs of faulty cluster transmission
sends a HELP message within their transmission range. The SNs sj ,
∀sj ∈ Neighbor(si ), in another cluster and CHs gk , ∀gk ∈ ComCH(si ), reply
to this HELP message. When the SN gets some reply in another CH, then,
it remains as the elements of COset . Afterwards, it develops the elements
of UnCOset . The SNs si , ∀si ∈ UnCOset , individuals receive replies in other
SNs reset its BackupSet(si ). At this point, sj , ∀sj ∈ COset , joins a CH
regarding the cost value and si , ∀si ∈ UnCOset , utilizes sj ,
sj ∈ Bclcl < upSet(si ), as a relay with maximum RE for transmitting the
data to CH. Fault tolerance technique to SN si . This technique is sepa­
rately run by SNs under the faulty cluster.
4.3. SSO-based routing technique
At the time of routing process, the SSO algorithm can be utilized to
derive the optimum and the shortest routes to BS. SSO technique is a
meta-heuristic approach and is inspired from social spider performances
to live in an organized manner, search for its food, and transfer the
required data amongst them (ZaldVar et al. 2013). Generally, the pop­
ulation of social spider is separated into two groups (female and male, in
which the female signifies 60–90% of the total amount of spiders), and
this group generates a web (search domain) and traps its prey using the
(11)
web. SSO solution is signified by the place of all spiders from the web
that translates the data on prey and the place of all spiders for each other
spider. This data is signified as vibration that is generated at the effort of
spider from one place to another place from the web and is determined

4
R.F. Mansour et al. Computer Networks 212 (2022) 109049

Fig. 2. Flowchart of SSO algorithm.

using. (Eqs. 16) and (17): kind of males are concentrated towards the centre of the group to
develop dominant spider. This effort is simulated in the (Eq. 18).
Fj − worstx
Vibij = wj e− dij2
, dij = ‖ xi − xj ‖, wj = , (16) ( )
bestx − worstx xkmi + α × Vibfi × xf − xkmi + δ × (ξ − .5), wmi ≥ indmed
(( / ) )
Bestx = max F(xk ), worstx = min F(xk), (17) xk+1
mi = { ∑Nm ∑
Nm
k=1,…,N k=1,…,N k k k
x mi + α xmi .wNf + j wNf + j − xmi , otherwise
j=1 j=1
where Fj , wj and Vibij stand for FF value of spider j, weight spider j and (18)
vibration for the pairs, i and j correspondingly. The position of the
spider is upgraded based on their type (for instance, female and male). In where xf, indmed , k and Nm stand for neighbouring female to ith male,
male group, the place of all the spiders gets upgraded dependent upon median weight of every male spider, the amount of existing iterations,
the scenario when males become dominated/non-dominated spiders. and the amount of males, correspondingly. The non-dominated spider
The dominated male upgrade its position to reach the female, but other denotes the individuals with weight lesser than indmed , then, dominant

5
R.F. Mansour et al. Computer Networks 212 (2022) 109049

Table 1
THRP analysis results of EAFTC-RIS against recent models.
Throughput (kbps)
No. of Nodes EAFTC-RIS FUCCAR-GWSO FBECS MLSLEEP Bee Cluster MW-LEACH
100 160 145 127 118 110 104
200 163 153 135 125 117 112
300 177 168 144 135 123 118
400 191 182 153 140 132 123
500 198 194 164 151 139 129

Fig. 3. Comparative THRP analysis of EAFTC-RIS model under distinct nodes.

males. Vi bfi = wf e− d2if denotes the transferred vibration amongst the

Vibci = wc e− di2c˙
, wc > wi (21)
present female and their closest one. There is another method in which
the female spider is utilized to upgrade its position with (Eq. 19): The dominant male as well as female spiders from social spider
population mate, when it is laid from the neighbor that is determined

⎧ ( ) ( )
⎪
⎨ xfki + β2 × Vibci × xc − xkfi + β1 × Vibbi × xb − xkf i + β3 × (β4 − .5), β5 ≥ pm
xkf i +1 = ( ) ( ) (19)
⎪
⎩ xfk − β2 × Vibci × xc − xkf − β1 × Vibbi × xb − xkf i + β3 × (β4 − .5)otherwise
i i

where xc , xb and βi ∈ [0, 1](i = 1, 2, …, 5) imply the adjacent spider to based on radius rm (named as mating radius), as equated in (Eqs. 22):
ith female with superior weight, an optimum spider, and arbitrary ∑n ( high )
numbers correspondingly. The spider is moved to a primary formula or j=1 xj − xlow
j
rm = (22)
away from the secondary equation while the source of vibrations depend 2n
upon the value of pm ∈ [0, 1]. Vi bbi and Vi bci imply the vibrations But, when only one female is present with several males, in this
transferred by xb, and xc , which are determined using (Eqs. 20) and (21): situation, roulette wheel process is followed to select the parent so as to
Vibbi = wbe−
2
dib
, wb = max wk (20) produce novel off-springs; afterward, these off-springs exchange the
k=1,…,N parent with the worst FF.

Table 2
DEL analysis results of EAFTC-RIS against recent models.
Delay (sec)
No. of Nodes EAFTC-RIS FUCCAR-GWSO FBECS MLSLEEP Bee Cluster MW-LEACH
100 0.0301 0.0305 0.0325 0.0329 0.0338 0.0350
200 0.0303 0.0309 0.0330 0.0345 0.0360 0.0364
300 0.0305 0.0313 0.0338 0.0359 0.0380 0.0388
400 0.0309 0.0317 0.0349 0.0380 0.0393 0.0414
500 0.0312 0.0324 0.0358 0.0396 0.0420 0.0423

6
R.F. Mansour et al. Computer Networks 212 (2022) 109049

Fig. 4. Comparative DEL analysis of EAFTC-RIS model under distinct nodes.

Table 3
AECM analysis results of EAFTC-RIS against recent models.
Avg. Energy Consumption (J)
No. of Nodes EAFTC-RIS FUCCAR-GWSO FBECS MLSLEEP Bee Cluster MW-LEACH
100 0.0272 0.0475 0.4127 0.6866 0.7272 0.8489
200 0.1388 0.2504 0.9605 1.4373 1.7315 1.9953
300 0.1591 0.2809 1.2446 2.0054 2.4010 2.5431
400 0.1794 0.4127 1.6706 2.3300 2.9184 2.9590
500 0.2200 0.4533 2.0866 2.6749 3.4155 3.5271

Fig. 2 shows the flowchart of SSO algorithm. The primary goal of
SSO-based routing technique is to increase the survivability and reduce
power utilization of sensors. Consider, h1 as the objective function, thus
CH selects the next hop CH with high remaining energy for data routing.
In this way, the network lifetime i.e., h1 can be increased. Where, h2
represents another main function i.e., the minimal distance between CH
and next-hop CH followed by next-hop CH and BS. In order to minimize
the energy utilization of network, it should reduce the h2. Consider, h3
represents the 3rd main function, thus the CHs can select the next- hop
CHs with lesser node degree. In order to increase the survivability, there
is a need exists to reduce h3 .Here, bij represents a Boolean parameter
which is determined in (Eq. 23).

Fig. 5. Comparative AECM analysis results of EAFTC-RIS model under distinct nodes.

7
R.F. Mansour et al. Computer Networks 212 (2022) 109049

Table 4
NWLT analysis results of EAFTC-RIS against recent models.
Network Life Time (sec)
No. of Nodes EAFTC-RIS FUCCAR-GWSO FBECS MLSLEEP Bee Cluster MW-LEACH
100 202 118 63 54 41 37
150 277 212 135 100 73 39
200 336 280 218 116 79 61
250 369 317 265 214 95 83
300 403 365 277 229 118 89
350 431 398 297 267 193 109
400 453 421 311 270 204 119
450 470 444 366 288 221 133
500 483 468 375 301 243 154

Fig. 6. Comparative NWLT analysis of EAFTC-RIS model under distinct nodes.

1 if next − hop(CHi ) = CHj , ∀i,j 1 ≤ i, j ≤ m 5. Experimental validation

bij = { (23)
0 Otherwise
The proposed EAFTC-RIS technique was validated for its perfor­
Minimalize F = 1/h1 × β1 + h2 × β2 + h2 × β3
mance in this section [24]. The results were investigated under distinct
Subjected to constraints given in Eqs. (24)–(26):
number of nodes. A network of 100 nodes, with BS at the center of the
( )
dis CHi , CHj × ≤ d max CHj ε{C + BS} (24) field, was considered for the current study analysis. Table 1 and Fig. 3
shows the throughput (THRP) analysis results achieved by EAFTC-RIS
∑
m
model against recent methods under distinct node counts. The results
bij = 1 and 1 ∕
=j (25)
report that the proposed EAFTC-RIS model produced enhanced perfor­
j=1
mance with high THRP values under every node. For instance, with 100
0 < β1 , β2 , β3 < 1 (26) nodes, EAFTC-RIS model reached a high THRP of 160kbps, whereas
FUCCAR-GWSO, FBECS, MLSLEEP, Bee Cluster, and MW-LEACH tech­
The constraint in Eq. (24) states that the next hop node of CHi is in niques obtained low THRP values such as 145kbps, 127kbps, 118kbps,
the interval of CHi and the next-hop node is CHj. The constraint in Eq. 110kbps, and 104kbps, respectively. Similarly, with 500 nodes, the
(25) states that the next hop node of CHi is exclusive i.e., CHj and the proposed EAFTC-RIS model obtained a maximum THRP of 198kbps,
constraint in Eq. (26) make sure that there should not be 0% or 100% whereas FUCCAR-GWSO, FBECS, MLSLEEP, Bee Cluster, and
weight on the objective. MW-LEACH techniques produced minimal THRP values such as
194kbps, 164kbps, 151kbps, 139kbps, and 129kbps, respectively.

Table 5
PDR analysis results of EAFTC-RIS and other existing models.
Packet Delivery Ratio (%)
No. of Nodes EAFTC-RIS FUCCAR-GWSO FBECS MLSLEEP Bee Cluster MW-LEACH
100 100 99.00 90.00 88.00 84.00 76.00
200 100 99.00 86.00 83.00 82.00 73.00
300 96.00 94.00 83.00 80.00 79.00 71.00
400 94.00 92.00 82.00 77.00 74.00 67.00
500 93.00 91.00 80.00 73.00 69.00 62.00

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R.F. Mansour et al. Computer Networks 212 (2022) 109049

Fig. 7. Comparative PDR analysis of EAFTC-RIS model under distinct nodes.

Table 6
Survivability analysis results of EAFTC-RIS and recent models.
Survivability Analysis (%)
No. of Nodes EAFTC-RIS FUCCAR-GWSO FBECS MLSLEEP Bee Cluster MW-LEACH
100 93.54 90.21 87.22 85.00 82.89 80.57
200 94.21 91.47 88.45 86.33 83.12 81.71
300 95.11 92.45 89.43 85.89 84.09 83.27
400 96.40 94.94 91.72 89.32 86.53 84.14
500 97.89 95.44 93.67 90.39 86.72 85.68

Fig. 8. Comparative survivability analysis of EAFTC-RIS model under distinct nodes.

Next, a comparative delay (DEL) examination was conducted upon
EAFTC-RIS model and existing models and the results are shown in
Table 2 and Fig. 4. The obtained results indicate that the proposed
EAFTC-RIS model attained low values of DEL under all nodes. For
instance, with 100 nodes, EAFTC-RIS model achieved the least DEL of
0.0301s, whereas FUCCAR-GWSO, FBECS, MLSLEEP, Bee Cluster, and
MW-LEACH techniques reached high DEL values such as 0.0305s,
0.0325s, 0.0329sm, 0.0338s, and 0.0350s, respectively. Moreover, with
500 nodes, the proposed EAFTC-RIS model offered a minimum DEL of
0.0312s, whereas FUCCAR-GWSO, FBECS, MLSLEEP, Bee Cluster, and
MW-LEACH techniques accomplished increased DEL values such as
0.0324s, 0.0358s, 0.0396sm, 0.0420s, and 0.0423s, respectively.

9
R.F. Mansour et al.
A brief Average Energy Consumption (AECM) analysis was con­
ducted between EAFTC-RIS model and the existing models and the re­
sults are shown in Table 3 and Fig. 5. The figure portrays that EAFTC-RIS
model achieved minimal AECM values under all nodes. For instance,
with 100 nodes, the proposed EAFTC-RIS model provided a low AECM of
0.0272J, whereas FUCCAR-GWSO, FBECS, MLSLEEP, Bee Cluster, and
MW-LEACH techniques accomplished high AECM values such as
0.0475J, 0.4127J, 0.6866J, 0.7272J, and 0.8489J, respectively. In
addition, with 500 nodes, the proposed EAFTC-RIS model produced a
minimum AECM of 0.2200J, whereas FUCCAR-GWSO, FBECS,
MLSLEEP, Bee Cluster, and MW-LEACH techniques attained the
maximum AECM values such as 0.4533J, 2.0866J, 2.6749J, 3.4155J,
and 3.5271J, respectively.
Table 4 and Fig. 6 portrays the Network Lifetime (NWLT) analysis
results accomplished by EAFTC-RIS model against existing techniques
under distinct node count. The table values infer that the proposed
EAFTC-RIS model produced improved outcomes with high NWLT under
every node. For instance, with 100 nodes, EAFTC-RIS model accom­
plished an enhanced NWLT of 202s, whereas FUCCAR-GWSO, FBECS,
MLSLEEP, Bee Cluster, and MW-LEACH techniques achieved low NWLT
values namely, 118s, 63s, 54s, 41s, and 37s. Along with that, with 500
nodes, the proposed EAFTC-RIS model obtained a maximum NWLT of
483s, whereas FUCCAR-GWSO, FBECS, MLSLEEP, Bee Cluster, and MW-
LEACH techniques demonstrated low NWLT values such as 468s, 375s,
301s, 243s, and 154s, respectively.
Table 5 and Fig. 7 showcase the comparative Packet Delivery Ratio
(PDR) analysis results achieved by EAFTC-RIS model and existing
techniques under different node counts. The experimental values reveal
that the proposed EAFTC-RIS model achieved better results with
improved PDR values under all nodes. For instance, with 100 nodes,
EAFTC-RIS model produced a high PDR of 100%, whereas FUCCAR-
GWSO, FBECS, MLSLEEP, Bee Cluster, and MW-LEACH techniques
offered low PDR values namely, 99%, 90%, 88%, 84%, and 76%,
respectively. In line with this, with 500 nodes, the proposed EAFTC-RIS
model demonstrated an improved PDR of 93%, whereas FUCCAR-
GWSO, FBECS, MLSLEEP, Bee Cluster, and MW-LEACH techniques
achieved less PDR values such as 91%, 80%, 73%, 69%, and 62%,
respectively.
Finally, Table 6 and Fig. 8 offers a detailed survivability analysis
results accomplished by EAFTC-RIS model against recent methods under
distinct node count. The experimental outcome portrays that the pro­
posed EAFTC-RIS model accomplished better outcomes with improved
survivability under every node count. For instance, with 100 nodes,
EAFTC-RIS model accomplished a maximum survivability of 93.54%,
whereas FUCCAR-GWSO, FBECS, MLSLEEP, Bee Cluster, and MW-
LEACH techniques demonstrated minimum survivability values such
as 90.21%, 87.22%, 85%, 82.89%, and 80.57%, respectively.
Furthermore, with 500 nodes, the proposed EAFTC-RIS model
accomplished an increased survivability of 97.89%, whereas FUCCAR-
GWSO, FBECS, MLSLEEP, Bee Cluster, and MW-LEACH techniques
depicted less survivability values such as 95.44%, 93.67%, 90.39%,
86.72%, and 85.68%, respectively. After examining the above-
mentioned tables and figures, it is inferred that the proposed EAFTC-
RIS model has the ability to attain maximum network survivability
over other techniques.
6. Conclusion
In this study, a new EAFTC-RIS technique has been derived to
improve the survivability of WSN. The objective of the proposed tech­
nique is to effectively select the CHs and optimal routes towards the
destination with fault tolerant mechanism. The proposed EAFTC-RIS
technique comprises of three major processes namely, MFO-based
clustering, fault tolerance process, and SSO-based routing. Clustering,
routing, and fault tolerant mechanism designs, with multiple input
variables, produced enhanced network survivability. The proposed
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Computer Networks 212 (2022) 109049
EAFTC-RIS technique was validated for its performance under different
measures and the simulation results demonstrate the better outcomes of
EAFTC-RIS technique over recent approaches. Therefore, the current
study concludes that EAFTC-RIS technique can be applied as a proficient
tool for maximum survivability. In future, lightweight cryptographic
solutions can be derived to achieve maximum security in WSN.
Data availability statement
Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were
generated during the current study.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Romany F. Mansour: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft.
Suliman A. Alsuhibany: Data curation, Formal analysis. Sayed Abdel-
Khalek: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology.
Randa Alharbi: Investigation, Methodology, Project administration,
Resources, Supervision. Thavavel Vaiyapuri: Project administration,
Resources, Supervision, Validation, Visualization. Ahmed J. Obaid:
Writing – review & editing. Deepak Gupta: Writing – review & editing.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The
manuscript was written through contributions of all authors. All authors
have given approval to the final version of the manuscript.
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Romany Fouad Mansour received the B.Sc. degree in Computer Science in 1998 and the
M.Sc. in computer science in 2006, from Assiut University, Egypt. And the Ph.D. degree
from the University of Assiut in 2009, He is currently working as an Associate Professor at
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of science, New Valley University, Egypt. His
research interests include Pattern Recognition, Computer Vision, Computer Networks, Soft
Computing, Image Processing, Evolutionary Computation and Machine Learning.
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Computer Networks 212 (2022) 109049
Suliman A. Alsuhibany, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science
Department, College of Computer, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. He received his PhD
in Information Security from Newcastle University, UK, and an MSc in Computer Security
and Resilience from Newcastle University, UK. He has published in some of the most
reputed journals and conferences. His research interests include human aspects of security
(e.g. the so-called “usable security”), CAPTCHAs, spam-filter, keystroke dynamics, infor­
mation security.
Sayed Abdel-Khalek He received the Ph.D. degree in computer science from Azhar
University, in 2016. He is a Full Professor in applied mathematics with the Mathematics
Department, Faculty of Science, Sohag University, Egypt. He is also an Associate Professor
in applied mathematics with the Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Taif
University, Taif, Saudi Arabia. He is the author of several articles published in different
international scientific journals. His research interests include different directions in
quantum information and computer sciences. He is a member of different working groups.
Randa Alharbi is assistant professor of statistics at Tabuk university, Saudi Arabia. She
obtained her PhD degree in statistics from University of Glasgow, UK. The primary
research interest is focus on statistical inference, statistical modeling and machine learning
algorithms.
Thavavel Vaiyapuri (Member, IEEE) is currently an Assistant Professor with the College
of Computer Engineering and Sciences, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University. With
nearly 20 years of research and teaching experience, she has published more than 50
research publications in impacted journals and international conferences. Her research
interests include data science, security, computer vision, and high-performance
computing. She is a member of the IEEE Computer Society. She is a Fellow of HEA, U.K.