Hierarchical Routing

This research area focuses on the development and evaluation of hierarchical routing protocols tailored to the resource constraints and scalability demands of WSNs. Energetic efficiency and network longevity are crucial due to limited power sources in sensor nodes. Hierarchical routing partitions the network into clusters with designated cluster heads (CHs) to reduce data transmission distances and redundant communication. Research aims to refine CH selection algorithms, clustering methods, and protocol operations to balance load, reduce control message overhead, and extend network lifetime, particularly under node mobility and dynamic topology changes.

This research direction investigates routing protocols that combine hierarchical structures with multipath strategies to improve fault tolerance, load balancing, and data reliability in wireless sensor and ad hoc networks. Emphasis is placed on hybrid routing architectures and multipath algorithms leveraging network topology symmetries and redundancy to mitigate node failures, link instability, and congestion. Methods include multipath routing to exploit path diversity, and hierarchical clustering to manage scalability and energy consumption. The overarching goal is to ensure robust, energy-efficient routing under dynamic network conditions and faults.

Research within this theme explores routing strategies combining hierarchical and hybrid routing protocols with alternative path selection mechanisms to improve quality of service (QoS), congestion avoidance, and delivery efficiency in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) and Internet of Things (IoT) environments. The focus is on algorithms that select multiple distinct routes that are sufficiently dissimilar to balance load and mitigate failures. Use of multi-criteria clustering and multipath routing facilitates network lifetime extension, energy savings, and adaptive routing in dynamic and heterogeneous network conditions.