Optimizing Multi-Tier Scheduling and Secure Routing in Edge-Assisted Software-Defined Wireless Sensor Network Environment Using Moving Target Defense and AI Techniques

Abstract

Software Defined Wireless Sensor Networks (SDWSN) enable flexibility in Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) environments by defining the controllable functions to WSN nodes by the Software Defined Network (SDN) controller. Due to the rapid evolution of SDWSNs, adverse effects also have occurred in terms of interference, energy consumption, and security issues. Several state-of-the-art works lend their utmost best to the SDWSN environment. However, the complete picture (i.e., relatability and security in SDWSN) poses severe challenges. The state-of-the-art issues is addressed in this research by proposing interference-aware Multi-Tier Scheduling for the SDWSN environment (MTS-SDWSN). First, we perform network construction in which the proposed network is constructed in a 2D hexagonal grid structure to resolve the connectivity issue. Upon constructing the network, the SDWSN nodes are clustered and managed to reduce the energy consumption using the Divide Well To Merge Better (DWTMB) algorithm in which the optimal Cluster Leader (CL) is selected based on adequate constraint. The data from the clustered nodes are sent to the Local Base Station (LBS) via CL in which they are scheduled in multi-tier format to diminish the complexity and interference issues. The first tier involved in scheduling among Cluster Members (CMs) and CL using adequate metrics, whereas the successive tiers (i.e., second and third) involved in scheduling among CLs to LBSs and LBSs to Sink Node (SN) are done using the Non-Cooperative Fuzzy Theory (NCFT) method. Last, the scheduled nodes are routed to appropriate destinations using Secure and Optimal Routing Protocol (SORP). The proposed SORP includes the Alibaba and Forty Thieves (AFT) and Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) algorithms for selecting and ranking the optimal routes. Further, the security of the routes is enabled by adopting trust and Moving Target Defense (MTD) mechanisms. The MTD includes route switching among the SDWSN devices and active switch handling using Cycle Generative Adversarial Networks (CGAN) among the switches. The proposed work is implemented using a NS-3.26 simulation tool, and performance of the proposed model and existing works shows that the proposed work outperforms the existing works.