Abstract: Aiming at the problems that the existing trust-aware secure routing protocols local decision-making led to the overall lack of security, energy consumption and load imbalance in wireless sensor networks (WSNs), we proposed a trust-aware secure routing method for WSNs based on improved genetic algorithm. In this method, the comprehensive trust value of every node was calculated according to direct trust value, indirect trust value, volatile factor and residual energy. Aiming at maximizing the  comprehensive trust value, minimizing the network energy consumption and load balancing, the corresponding fitness function was constructed. The cluster head selection and route search were encoded by a single chromosome, and the optimized next generation was formed through improved genetic operations, thus, the optimal cluster head set and the optimal route paths of each cluster head were found. The simulation test results show that the method can ensure the network security, improve energy efficiency, balance network load and prolong network lifetime.

Key words: wireless sensor network, genetic algorithm, secure routing, trust-aware, energy consumption and load balance