SDBMND: Secure Density-Based Unsupervised Learning Method with Malicious Node Detection to Improve the Network Lifespan in Densely Deployed WSN

Abstract

Random deployment, the absence of central authority, and the autonomous nature of the network make wireless sensor networks (WSNs) prone to security threats. Security, bandwidth, poor connectivity, intrusion, energy constraints, and other challenges are critical and could affect the performance of the WSN while considering the energy-efficient and secure routing protocols in WSNs. Security threats to WSNs are gradually being expanded. Thus, to improve the network’s performance, detection of anomalies (malicious and suspicious nodes, redundant data, bad connections, etc.) is important. This paper is aimed at introducing the malicious node detection algorithm based on the DBSCAN algorithm, which is a density-based unsupervised learning method for enabling wireless sensor networks to be much more secure and reliable. The prime objective of this algorithm is to develop a routing algorithm capable of detecting malicious nodes and having a prolonged network lifespan and higher stability period. Clustering and classification are two well-known methods in the field of machine learning that can be successfully used in various domains. Density-based clustering is a popular and extensively used approach in various domains. The DBSCAN is the utmost popular and best-known density-based clustering algorithm and is capable of determining arbitrary-shaped clusters. This paper addresses the two anomalies in the WSN, namely, spatial redundancy and malicious node identification. In this article, an algorithm has been suggested to reduce redundant data transmission along with the identification of suspicious nodes to conserve energy and to avoid falsification of data through malicious nodes. The analysis of simulation results and comparison of other algorithms that are in the same class shows that the SDBMND performs significantly better than EAMMH, TEEN, IC-ACO, and LEACH in dense networks.