An energy-trust balanced and attack-resilient cluster head election scheme for resource-constrained wireless sensor networks.

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) demand optimized Cluster Head (CH) election mechanisms to balance energy efficiency and communication security. Traditional protocols such as LEACH and ISSA rely on probabilistic, or metaheuristic approaches that do not fully integrate security metrics into CH selection, leading to increased vulnerability and uneven energy depletion. This paper proposes an Energy-Driven Cluster Head Secure Selection (ED-CHSS) algorithm that integrates residual-energy modeling, node trust-index evaluation, and lightweight symmetric cryptographic primitives for secure intra-cluster communication. The election process of CH is designed based on an optimization model of multiple parameters, including the residual energy ratio, communication cost and trust weight coefficient. CH candidacy probability is dynamically adapted by the node density and link stability. The simulation results show that ED-CHSS decreases average energy dissipation by 28-32%, increases network lifetime by about 38-42%, and increases the attack resistance of the network against selective forwarding and sinkhole attacks. The proposed model provides secure and energy balanced clustering for mission critical WSN deployments.