Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments 13 (2021) 133–156 133

DOI 10.3233/AIS-210591
IOS Press

Black Hole and Selective Forwarding Attack

Detection and Prevention in IoT in Health
Care Sector: Hybrid meta-heuristic-based
shortest path routing
T. Aditya Sai Srinivas a,* and S.S. Manivannan b
a SCOPE, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, India
E-mail: saisrinivas.t2016@vitstudent.ac.in
b SITE, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, India

E-mail: manivannan.ss@vit.ac.in

Abstract. In the current health care scenario, security is the major concern in IoT-WSN with more devices or nodes. Attack or
anomaly detection in the IoT infrastructure is increasing distress in the field of medical IoT. With the enormous usage of IoT
infrastructure in every province, threats and attacks in these infrastructures are also mounting commensurately. This paper intends
to develop a security mechanism to detect and prevent the black hole and selective forwarding attack from medical IoT-WSN.
The proposed secure strategy is developed in five stages: First is selecting the cluster heads, second is generating k-routing paths,
third is security against black hole attack, fourth is security against the selective forwarding attack, and the last is optimal shortest
route path selection. Initially, a topology is developed for finding the cluster heads and discovering the best route. In the next
phase, the black hole attacks are detected and prevented by the bait process. For detecting the selective forwarding attacks, the
packet validation is done by checking the transmitted packet and the received packet. For promoting the packet security, Elliptic
Curve Cryptography (ECC)-based hashing function is deployed. As the main contribution of this paper, optimal shortest route
path is determined by the proposed hybrid algorithm with the integration of Deer Hunting Optimization Algorithm (DHOA), and
DragonFly Algorithm (DA) termed Dragonfly-based DHOA (D-DHOA) by concerting the parameters like trust, distance, delay
or latency and packet loss ratio in the objective model. Hence, the entire phases will be very active in detecting and preventing
the two fundamental attacks like a black hole and selective forwarding from IoT-WSN in the health care sector.

Keywords: Internet of Things, Wireless Sensor Network, health care sector, block hole attack, selective forwarding attack,
shortest route path selection, hybrid optimization algorithm

Nomenclature

ECC Elliptic Curve Cryptography

DHOA Deer Hunting Optimization Algorithm
DA Dragon Fly Algorithm
D-DHOA Dragonfly-based DHOA

* Corresponding author. E-mail: saisrinivas.t2016@vitstudent.ac.in.

1876-1364/$35.00 © 2021 – IOS Press. All rights reserved.

134 T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing

WSN Wireless Sensor Network

IoT Internet of Things
MAC Medium Access Control
CRS-A Channel-aware Reputation System by Adaptive detection threshold
CS Cuckoo Search
RREQ Route Request
RREP Route Reply
IDS Intrusion Detection System
JDICA Jensen-Shannon Divergence Based Independent Component Analysis
IBFWA Integrated Bloom Filter with Watchdog Algorithm
CA Certificate Authority
MAODV Multicast Ad-hoc On Demand Distance Vector Routing

1. Introduction

WSN is a self-organized system, which consists of low-priced devices. For reducing human interaction, these
devices make use of actuators and sensors. In general, the WSN devices are employed in different places like health
care, homes, military, etc. [12]. The thing that is considered in the IoT can be smart home appliances, a smartphone,
human, smart grid Stations, autonomous cars, a health care monitoring device, smartwatches, and body sensing
devices. The WSN devices are extended over a huge geographic surface. Despite its wireless connectivity and
vulnerable nature of the network, it is open to various forms of attacks. Black holes, wormhole, selective forwarding,
sinkhole, hello flood, jamming, sybil, and grey hole are some of the attacks that affect the WSN. Among the various
attacks listed above, the black hole is considered the most hazardous and is the doorway for all remaining attacks
[12].
In the WSN devices, the nodes that are attacked by the black hole are named as malicious nodes. The bad node
shows the incorrect path as the best and shortest path to the target end in the black hole attacked network. The main
aim of these intruder nodes is to cause huge traffic in the network and then to drop the packets without forwarding
[12,18]. The black hole attack is a DOS attack that leads to cause humiliation of the network performance [13,17,28].
Thus, the malicious activity of the node that claims to have the minimum route path to the destination is called a
black hole [5,22]. Moreover, the selective forwarding attack is another hugely challenging attack. A node affected
with a selective forwarding attack purposely rejects the received packets that should be communicated, to obstruct
with data transmission between nodes [14,35]. This obstruction of data badly affects the data-centric networks in
the case of data fusion and data collection. Based on the research [20], few attacks are extraordinary cases of the
selective forwarding attack like a black hole in which the node does not cooperate with data transmission, it drops
the received data rather than sending it to the receiver [9,27,31]. Also, another variety of selective forwarding attacks
is an On-off attack, in which the node works good and bad alternatively for hiding and avoiding itself from the
reorganization during the attack [6]. The impacts on the MAC layer and inbuilt volatility and unreliability of the
wireless channel unavoidably leads to normal packet losses which make difficulty in finding the difference between
the losses caused by normal and malicious packets. Due to the loss of normal packet, the selective forwarding attacks
are hidden causing difficulties in the detection of attacks. Hence it is essential to find selective forwarding attacks
and to increase the network performance. In the existing works, more contributions have focused on observing
the packet losses and disconnect the node with huge packet losses from the data sending path [2,8,24,32]. The
techniques used in the previous works could help in increasing the packet delivery ratio or the throughput of the
network but have difficulties in finding the selective forwarding attacks. Mainly, healthcare WSN is vulnerable to
various attacks, in which the black hole attack is very difficult to find and resist.
The major part of the study done related to WSN security [7,33] consists of routing security, location security,
intrusions key management, and prevention [19]. Conventionally, different approaches have been used to prevent
malicious nodes from the clustered network by identifying the alternate routing way with intrusion detection and
trust-based systems. Although the above-discussed methods have some advantages, yet the WSN networks are
facing trouble in getting the trusted node in the clustered network with high energy efficiency and security.
 T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing 135

The key contributions of the paper are as follows:

• To detect and prevent the two basic attacks like a black hole and selective forwarding attacks in IoT-WSN using
the bait process, and packet validation, respectively, after framing the network topology with selected cluster
heads and generated route paths.
• To employ the ECC-based packet security model to perform the secure data packet transmission from source
to destination.
• To frame an optimal shortest route path selection using the novel hybrid algorithms termed as D-DHOA, which
focuses the objective parameters like trust, distance, latency, and packet loss ratio.
The entire paper is designed in the following manner: Section 2 specifies the literature review and the features
and challenges of existing black hole and selective forwarding attacks detection and prevention methodologies. Ar-
chitectural representation of proposed black hole and selective forwarding attack detection and prevention is shown
in Section 3. Section 4 describes the adopted stages for black hole and selective forwarding attack detection. Selec-
tion of secure routing paths: shortest path determination using the proposed hybrid algorithm is given in Section 5.
Results and discussions of the paper are given in Section 6. The entire paper conclusion is given in Section 7.

2. Literature review

2.1. Related works

In 2016, Ren et al. [30] offered CRS-A for identifying selective forwarding attacks in WSNs. This method has
validated the transmitting behaviours of sensor nodes based on the variation of the loss of packet that was observed
and guess the common loss. Also, the optimal threshold was derived from optimizing the detection accuracy of
CRS-A. The attack-tolerant information forwarding strategy was introduced for integrating with CRS-A to activate
the forwarding assistance of weakens nodes and enhances the information distribution ratio of the network. The sim-
ulation outcomes of the proposed system revealed that CRS-A was detecting selective forwarding attacks and rec-
ognizing the weaken sensor nodes accurately, where the attacks-tolerant data transmission system was extensively
increasing the data distribution ratio of the network.
In 2016, Mathur et al. [23] focused on two risks like a black hole and Selective Forwarding attacks, which caused
because of wireless routing among the nodes and access points of medical WSN. To solve the existing challenge,
cryptographic hashes were eagerly offered, whereas the last-mentioned problem utilized the neighbourhood watch
and threshold-based evaluation for detecting and preventing selective forwarding attacks. Here, the suggested sys-
tem was able to spot the selective forwarding attack with an accuracy of 96% and effectively recognizing the unau-
thorized node with an accuracy of 83%.
In 2019, Mehetre et al. [24] proposed a trustworthy and secure routing algorithm utilizing a two-stage security
model, and twin assurance method, to choose the node and protecting the information packet in WSN. The methods
were dependent on Active Trust to secure many types of attacks like black hole attack, and selective forwarding
attack, throughout the routing. Hence, the proposed system recognized the trusted path and produced the protective
routing paths via a trust and CS algorithm. The developed system considered energy as the performance parameter.
The test results have verified that the recommended approach produced the guarantee for extending the lifetime of
the network as well as the possibility of a secure routing path in the network.
In 2019, Delkesh and Jamali [8] suggested a routing algorithm that depends on the delivery of forged packets
to improve the detection accuracy and eliminate the malignant nodes. By the suggested approach, malignant nodes
present in the network were identified by transferring forged RREQ and RREP routing packets that consist of the
address of an imaginary destination node. By sending an RREP message, the nodes were removed from the routing
tables. The developed technique was capable of enhancing the traffic load in the network, recognizing a feasible and
secure route, identifying the count of malignant nodes, and optimizing few parameters. Moreover, test outcomes
demonstrated that the percentage of the delivered data packets by the suggested method was superior to the IDS
algorithm.
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In 2019, Sunder and Shanmugam [32] introduced the JDICA method for diagnosing the black hole attack.
The JDICA approach recognized the black hole attack by examining the physiological information collected from
biomedical sensors. Moreover, attack detection was performed based on the behaviors of the sensor nodes. The
divergence result has shown that the suggested JDICA approach has detected the black hole attack with extreme ac-
curacy and also assists to quarantine the malignant node from the network by transmitting the isolation information
to entire sensor nodes in the network. Therefore, it has been proved that the JDICA approach improved the detection
of black hole attack nodes when compared to conventional techniques, thus improving the packet delivery ratio and
decreasing the delay.
In 2012, Arunmozhi and Venkataramani [2] recommended a defence approach to identify black hole node, based
on the timely data and objective series numbers preserved in the Neighbourhood Route Monitoring Table that
documents the time of reply. The decreased reply time was utilized to find the black hole node. The end series
number was verified with the threshold value for enhancing the security that was rationalized vigorously. Hence,
the experimental outcomes confirmed that the protocol identifies the black hole attack and enhances the network’s
lifetime.
In 2017, Kollati and Somasundaram [16] introduced IBFWA for shunning loss of the packet. At the time of key
generation, the node was evaluated by the CA. Later, it examined that the node was either normal or attacker. If
it was a black hole node, then that will be jammed and communication through that node was avoided or if the
node was undermined and reversed as a normal node, then it was connected to the network and through that, node
communication was authorized. Finally, the test results of the suggested approach were validated based on the
performance regarding lower node outage, residual energy, end-to-end delay, high detection probability, throughput,
packet transmission rate, and packet distribution ratio.
In 2009, Anita and Vasudevan [1] suggested an improved certificate dependent authentication method, in which
the nodes validate each other by providing certificates to adjacent nodes and creating a public key without using
online authority. Moreover, the MAODV protocol acts as assistance for certification. Therefore, the efficiency of the
developed approach was clarified by simulations done via network simulator ns-2.

2.2. Review

Although there would be many detection and prevention methodologies for black hole and selective forwarding
attack, there are few challenges that need to be overcome in the future. Table 1 describes some of the pros and cons
of conventional methodologies for black hole and selective forwarding attack detection and prevention in IoT using
WSN. Among them, the Adaptive detection threshold [30] validates long-term forwarding behaviors, and has the
best performance. But, it loses more data. Cryptographic Hashes [23] protects the data from unauthorized users, and
digital signatures are used to secure the data. Though, it is difficult to access the data even for a valid user. CS [24]
is simple and easy to implement and deals with multi-criteria optimization problems. Still, it is having some defects
like it simply falls into the local optimal solution, and has a slow rate of convergence. AODV [2,8] responds fast to
the topological alterations that affect the active routes, has lower setup delay for connections, it can support both
unicast as well as multicast packet diffusions, even for nodes in constant movement, and route discovery process
is more effective in dynamic nature. However, it is having some defects like if the size of the network increases,
then different performance metrics start reducing, takes more share of bandwidth, takes more time to build routing
table, and has high processing demand. JDICA [32] increases the detection rate and reduces the time of detection.
Still, the false alarm rate is not detected effectively. IBFWA [16] is capable of tracing an attack after a long time of
its completion and supports a high degree of node mobility and improves the network performance. Yet, it requires
fine-tuning. MAODV [1] reduces the network load when the packets are transferred to a group of nodes and have
high efficiency, but it consumes more memory. Thence, the above-specified defects are considered and the early
detection and prevention of attacks need to be improved in upcoming researches.

Features and challenges of existing black hole and selective forwarding attack detection and prevention methodologies
Authors [Citations]
Ren et al. [30]
Mathur al. [23]
Mehetre et al. [24]
Delkesh and Jamali [8]
Sunder and A. Shanmugam [32]
Arunmozhi and Venkataramani [2]
Kollati and Somasundaram [16]
Anita and Vasudevan [1]
Table 1
T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing
Methodology Features Challenges
Adaptive detection threshold Validates the long-term forwarding behaviours. Loses more data.
Has the best performance.
Cryptographic hashes Protect the data from unauthorized users. Difficult to access the data even for a valid user.
Digital signatures are used to secure the data.
CS algorithm It is simple and easy to implement. It simply falls into the local optimal solution.
Deals with multi-criteria optimization problems. Has a slow rate of convergence.
AODV Responds fast to the topological alterations that If the size of the network increases, then different
affect the active routes. performance metrics start reducing.
Has a lower setup delay for connections. Takes more share of bandwidth.
JDICA Increases the detection rate. The false alarm rate is not detected effectively.
Reduces the time of detection.
AODV It can assist both unicast as well as multicast Takes more time to build a routing table.
packet diffusions, even for nodes in constant
movement.
The route discovery process is more effective in Has high processing demand.
dynamic nature.
IBFWA Capable of tracing an attack after a long time of Requires fine-tuning.
its completion.
Supports a high degree of node mobility and
improves network performance.
MAODV Reduces the network load when the packets are It consumes more memory.
transferred to the group of nodes.
It has high efficiency.
137
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Fig. 1. Proposed IoT-WSN model in health care environment: contribution towards shortest route path selection by detecting and preventing
black hole and selective forwarding attack.

3. Architectural representation of proposed black hole and selective forwarding attack detection and
prevention

3.1. Proposed model

The proposed architecture of the clustered IoT-WSN model in the health care sector is shown in Fig. 1. The main
intention of the proposed model is to accomplish the shortest route path for node communication, which leads to
maximize the lifetime of sensor nodes and networks as well. Hence, a trustable secure routing scheme is imple-
mented in clustered IoT-WSN with attack detection and prevention mechanisms to attain secure communication.
The proposed model involves five stages: (1) Cluster head selection (2) k-paths generation (3) Detection and pre-
vention of black hole attack (4) Detection and prevention of selective forwarding attack, and (5) Optimal shortest
route path selection. Initially, a set of nodes in the network are randomly selected as cluster heads. Once the cluster
heads are selected, the next step is to select the k-paths between the cluster heads to the base station or sink node.
Before finding the optimal path from generated k-paths, the third stage undergoes the detection and prevention of
a black hole attack. The bait process is used to detect the black hole attack, and the concerned malicious node is
eliminated by the system. In the bait process, the attack node is detected from the feedback packets replied from all
destination nodes. The next stage process with the identification of selective forwarding attacks, which is detected
by packet validation. The malicious node by selective forwarding attack may drop some of the data packets and
forward remaining to the next node. These types of nodes will also be prohibited by the system after detection and
even use ECC-based packet security further to perform efficient communication without any packet loss. After con-
firming the security of the network with proper detection and prevention of attack mechanisms, the optimal shortest
path is selected in the entire path transmission using the new hybrid D-DHOA model, which considers the objective
constraints like the trust of the node, the distance between the nodes, delay of transmission, and packet loss ratio.
Finally, energy dissipation has to be computed for the cluster heads involved in communication, and the number of
alive nodes will be calculated in each round. Hence, the optimal shortest route path is accomplished in IoT-WSN by
protecting the network from the black hole and selective forwarding attacks.
 T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing 139

Fig. 2. Model of clustered IoT-WSN with cluster head selection.

3.2. System model of cluster head formation

This section discusses the cluster head formation model in IoT-WSN, in which the system model is diagrammati-
cally shown in Fig. 2. In general, WSN involves multiple numbers of sensor nodes represented as j , from which the
data is transmitted to only one sink node or base station denoted as JB . The wireless connection indicates direct data
transmission between the nodes in the radio range. The transmission of data packets in WSN is performed reliably
by every node, which is happened within the dimension X and Y in meters. The optimal gathering of sensors forms
a cluster, with each sensor having its own ID. In general, the base station has to be located at such a point, where
the overall data transmission of the network is smooth, which is obviously (0.5X, 0.5Y ). Using efficient routing
protocols, the sensor nodes in the network transmits data to the cluster head, and then cluster head to the sink node.
In Fig. 2, NO indicates the normal nodes and Mq indicates the nodes that are activated as cluster head.
If No is the set of sensor nodes present in the cluster, and M ∗ is the number of clusters or cluster heads, then the
j

computation of normal sensor nodes is equivalent to j − M ∗ . Thus, the data packet transmission within the network
is carried out from every normal sensor node Noi to its corresponding cluster head Mq . Further, the cluster heads
collect the entire received data packets and transmit it to the base station JB . Once after the optimal placements of
entire sensor nodes in the network, the distance between the uth normal node to the v th cluster head is represented
as Kuv , and the distance between the v th cluster head JB is represented as QvJB .

4. Adopted stages for black hole and selective forwarding attack detection and prevention

4.1. K-paths generation

When the cluster head selection is ready in the IoT-WSN, the selection of the source node ns and destination node
nd has to be selected using a graph structure. It is done in such a way that the user can select the source node and
destination node along with ID. Further, the process continues with selecting the k-paths for determining the shortest
path in the network. This k-paths routing process is depended on the correlation of determining the minimum count
140 T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing

Fig. 3. K-paths route selection and attack node removal.

of possible bandwidth or shortest path between two cluster heads in the transmission fields, which confirms that
the entire edge in the network has attained the minimum bandwidth value. Here, different shortest route paths are
selected randomly, from which the optimal path is determined by the proposed D-DHOA, which will be considered
as the best route. However, before finding the optimal route, the proposed model tries to identify the black hole
and selective forwarding attack, and prevent it using bait process, and packet validation, respectively. The structural
frame of k-paths route selection and attack node removal is shown in Fig. 3.
In Fig. 3, assume, there are 7 cluster heads, in which different k-paths are selected. Herein, A indicates the attack
node, which tries to attack the whole network.

4.2. Blackhole attack detection by the bait process

A black hole problem means that “one malicious node utilizes the routing protocol to claim itself of being the
shortest path to the destination node, and drops the routing packets by not forwarding the packets to its neighbours”.
The key objective of the bait process [4] is to detect the malicious node or black hole attack node while trying to send
a reply RREP for the request RREQ from the source node. Assume an adjacent node nA , which is randomly selected
by the source node. Initially, the source node sends a request message RREQ which contains the information like
source ID IDns , destination ID IDnd , and path length pl based on Eq. (1).

RREQ = {IDns , IDnd , pl} (1)

Here, the path length pl provides the information about the count of hops that forward the transmitted request
from the source to the destination node. Once the request is reached to every node, they will send the feedback in
the form of a reply RREP based on Eq. (2) that signifies that the request successfully reached the final node.

RREP = {IDns , IDnd , pl} (2)

Once the feedback packet or RREP is reached by the source node, it compares with RREQ . In the case of a
malicious node, the path length pl = 0, this signifies that the particular node acts as the destination. Since the
destination and path length information is already stored in RREQ , it can easily find the malicious node. If IDnd
in RREQ is equal to IDnd , and pl = 0, then the corresponding node is considered as the genuine destination node.
Moreover, the network discards the attack node if such a case occurs. Hence the black hole attack is detected by the
bait process and is successfully removed from the system, and selects an alternate path for communication.
 T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing 141

4.3. Selective forwarding attack detection by packet validation

Selective forwarding [10,34] attack means “the attack node tries to stop the packets in the network by refusing to
forward or drop the messages passing through them”, which is also termed grey hole attack. The packet Validation
process is done for diagnosing the selective forwarding attack and the routing protocol removes such attack from
the network, once it is detected. Consider the packet information as OP, which have information like data type DT,
and data size DS based on Eq. (3).

OP = {DT, DS} (3)

If a node transmits the data packet to another node, the receiver node checks the data type and data size. If the
data type is not matched with the data size, it is confirmed that the transmitted node drops some packets, considered
as the malicious node. Further, this node will be removed from the system and thus could minimize the packet loss
ratio of communication.

4.4. Packet security model using ECC

Even though the malicious nodes are detected by the packet validation process, ECC-based encryption [15] is also
deployed here for providing more security to the data packets. When some information is transferred from one place
to another place in the network, the information file is divided by the protocol into tiny sizes for a well-organized
routine. Moreover, each packet is independently recognized by number, and it consists of the address of the target
node in the network. The isolated data packets are transferred from different routes present in the network. The
packets are recreated to a regular file once the overall data packets reached the destination. In the meanwhile, the
loss of a packet has happened if there is any attacker in the node. Thus, the network model has offered the security
technique for transferring the data packet without losing the information for keeping the network secure. Here, the
security approach protects the information from the intruder using the ECC algorithm. The information is encrypted
by the algorithm before routing. To verify the data integrity at the sensor node, the SHA-1 hashing technique is
employed, which is functioned as follows.
• The data present in the source node is transformed into packets.
• Later, every packet is encrypted by the ECC encryption algorithm.
• For the obtained encrypted packet, the hash value is generated by the SHA-1 hashing method.
• Consequently, the network forwards the encrypted packet and its related hash value in the chosen reliable path.
• At every receiving node, the hash value is computed for the received encrypted packet.
• The data is known to be secured when new hash values are the same as the received hash values, which
represents that the node is safe from the intruder.

5. Selection of secure routing paths: Shortest path determination using proposed hybrid algorithm

5.1. Objective model for shortest path selection

The shortest route path selection is performed after detecting and preventing the black hole and selective forward-
ing attacks from the network. The main objective model of the secured IoT-WSN model considers trust, energy,
latency, and packet loss ratio.
Trust: Trusty communication [21] between the nodes is validated by determining the relationship between two
nodes. The value of trust can be defined as the scale that one node expects a certain service from another node.
During the routing, trust computation is deployed to estimate the trust node for avoiding the black hole and selective
forwarding attacks. Assume two nodes N1 and N2 are communicating in a particular duration Bk , and the trust
142 T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing

node with successful routing is indicated as N 2 N2

N1 (Bk ), whereas the other trust node is defined as N1 (Bk ). Thus the
computational formula for trust is depicted in Eq. (4).


KN
 N2 
TN = N1 (Bk )/N 2
N1 (Bk ) he(k)/KN (4)
k=1

Here, he(k) denotes the attenuation function, whose value ranges between 0 and 1, and KN indicates the total
number of interactions between the nodes.
Energy: The average energy of the cluster heads present for communication after its energy dissipation is com-
puted here based on Eq. (5), where the cluster heads u = 1, 2, . . . , M ∗ .

∗
1  u
M
Enav = ∗ Enav (5)
M
1

Latency: Latency is defined as “the duration among the response and stimulation or a delay of time between the
source and the target of the physical modification in the system being examined”. Energy loss can be mostly avoided
by computing the latency. The mathematical formula for calculating latency is given in Eq. (6).

LA = ti s × ti d (6)

In Eq. (6), ti s represents the time duration for packets transmitted from the source node and ti d represents the
time duration for packets received the destination node.
Packet Loss Ratio: It is defined as “the ratio of data received at the destination to the data transmitted from the
source”. The formulation is depicted in Eq. (7)

DPD
PL = × 100 (7)
DPS

Here, DPD indicates the transmitted data, and DPS indicates the received data.
The overall objective function for the trusty shortest path computation is given below.

q1 = αFit1 + (1 − α)Fit2 (8)

q2 = β/Fit3 + (1 − β)q1 (9)
q3 = λ/Fit4 + (1 − λ)q2 (10)
Final Fit = max(q3 ) (11)

Here, Fit1 is calculated based on Eq. (12), where ED is the Euclidean distance between the nodes, which is defined
based on Eq. (13), in which e and f are the cluster heads taken for communication and ye ze are the coordinates of
those nodes.

TN
Fit1 = (12)
ED

ED = (eye − fye ) + (eze − fze ) (13)

In addition, the other functions Fit2 = Enav , Fit3 = LA, and Fit4 = PL. This multi-objective problem is solved
by the proposed D-DHOA in the current secured IoT-WSN model.
 T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing 143

Fig. 4. Solution pattern before encoding.

Fig. 5. Solution pattern after encoding.

5.2. Solution encoding

In order to find the secured shortest route path, the developed D-DHOA is used, which selects the best between
the cluster heads from the IoT-WSN system. The solution pattern before encoding is shown in Fig. 4, in which Mq
denotes the cluster head, and M ∗ denotes the number of clusters. After detection and prevention of black hole and
selective forwarding attacks, the cluster heads which are in progress are taken for selecting the shortest route path.
Consider Mq1 as the source node, and M18 as the destination node. While encoding, the source node has to be placed
at the first element of the solution, and the nodes after the destination node have to be removed. Accordingly, the
pattern of a solution after encoding is shown in Fig. 5.

5.3. Conventional dragonfly algorithm

The DA algorithm [11] takes the inspiration from the static and dynamic swarming characteristics of the drag-
onfly. The exploitation and exploration are the two main steps in optimization which are alike to the two swarming
behaviours of the dragonfly. In exploration (static swarm), the local movements along with abrupt changes in the
flying pathway are the most important features. In exploitation (dynamic swarm), large numbers of dragonflies form
a group for moving in a single direction for elongated distance. The important goal of any swarm is to survive so
that it has to get attracted to the food and to repel from the enemies. Distraction, separation, alignment, attraction,
and control cohesion are the five important factors seen during updating the position of individuals in the swarm
when considering the two swarming behaviours of the dragonfly. The derivation that denotes the separation of the
ith dragonfly from its neighbours is given in the Eq. (14).


L
 
Pi = D  − Dj (14)
j =1

Here, the position of the current individual is denoted by D  and Dj denotes the position of the jth neighbour-
ing individuals. The term Pi denotes the separation of the ith dragonfly from its neighbour. The total number of
neighbouring individual is denoted by L . The mathematical formulation of alignment is given in the Eq. (15).
L 
j =1 Cj
Gi = (15)
L

In the Eq. (2) Cj denotes the jth neighbouring individual. Gi denotes the alignment of the ith individual. The
mathematical formulation of cohesion is given in the Eq. (16).
L 
j =1 Di
Hi = − D (16)
L
144 T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing

The term Hi indicates the cohesion of the ith individual. The mathematical formulation for the attraction of
dragonfly towards food is given in the Eq. (17).

Oi = F − D  (17)

In Eq. (4) F denotes the position of the food resource. Oi denotes the food resource of the ith individual. The
mathematical formulation for the distraction of dragonflies from the enemy is given in the Eq. (18).

Mi = E + D  (18)

In the Eq. (18) E denotes the position of the enemy. Mi denotes the position of the enemy of the ith individual.
Two vectors are considered for updating the position of the dragonflies in the search space and for simulating
their movements: step vector D  and position D  . The direction of the movement of the dragonflies is given by the
step vector which is derived in the Eq. (19).


 
Dt+1 = p  Pi + g  Gi + h Hi + o Oi + m Mi + δ.Dt (19)

In the Eq. (19) p  denotes the weight of the separation, g  denotes the weight of the alignment, h denotes the
weight of the cohesion, o denotes the food factor, m denotes the enemy factor, δ is the weight of the inertia, and
t represents the number of iterations. The mathematical formula for calculating the position vector is given in the
Eq. (20).


Dt+1 = Dt + Dt+1

(20)

In the DA algorithm, during exploration, of search space, the low cohesion and high alignment weights are
considered and during exploitation, the search space the high cohesion and low alignment weights are considered.
A random walk (Levy flight) and the stochastic behaviour and exploration are used to fly around the search space
when there is no nearby solution obtained. The Levy flight is used to improve the randomness. The mathematical
derivation used to update the position of the dragonflies without any neighbours is given in the Eq. (8).


Dt+1 = Dt + Levy(x) × Dt (21)
n1 × 
Levy(x) = 0.01 × (22)
|n2 |1/g
1
(1 + ξ ) × sin( πξ
2 )
ξ
= ξ −1
(23)
( 1+ξ
2 )×ξ ×2
( 2 )

(x) = (x − 1)!

In the above Eq. (21), Eq. (22) and Eq. (23), the dimension of the position vector is denoted by g, the random
numbers within the interval [0, 1] is represented by n1 and n2 , the value ξ is constant. To determine the neighbour-
hood of each dragonfly, the Euclidean distance between all the dragonflies is calculated and L number of drag-
onflies is selected, for updating D  and D  vectors. The process of updating goes on till the required criteria are
obtained. The algorithmic representation of conventional DA is shown in Algorithm 1.

5.4. Conventional deer hunting optimization algorithm

The main goal of the DHOA [3] is to obtain the best position of the human to capture the deer. The deer also
known as buck has some special characteristics, which help them in escaping from the predator like it has good
 T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing 145

Algorithm 1 Pseudo code for DA [11]

Initialize the population of the dragonflies
Initialize the step vectors D 
While
The end condition is satisfied
Measure the objective values of every dragonflies
Update the values of the food source and enemy
Update the values of p  , g  , h , o , m , F , E and δ
Compute the values of Pi , Gi , Hi , Oi and Mi
Update the values of neighbouring radius
If a dragonfly has atleast one neighbouring dragonfly
Calculate and update the step vector using the Eq. (19)
Calculate and update position vector using Eq. (20)
Else
Calculate and update position vector using Eq. (21)
End if
Verify and change the new positions depending on the range of variables
End while
Terminate

visual sense, good smelling ability and can detect ultra-high-frequency sounds. The process of DHOA is carried out
in four steps. The first step in the DHOA is to initialize the population of the hunters is shown in the Eq. (24).

D = {D1 , D2 , . . . , Dr }; 1<sr (24)

In the Eq. (24) the total number of hunters is represented by r. The population of the hunters is represented by D.
The second step to be followed in the DHOA is to initialize the two important parameters that help in determining
the optimal positions of the hunters: wind angle and position angle. The formula for wind angle is based on the
circumference of the circle, which is given in the Eq. (25).

θt = 2πd (25)

The wind angle is denoted by θ . The random number whose value ranges from [0, 1] is denoted by d and t denotes
the current iteration. The mathematical formula for the position angle is given in the Eq. (26).

ϕt = θ + π (26)

The position angle is denoted by ϕ in the Eq. (13). The third step in the DHOA is position propagation. Initially,
the position of the optimal space is not known, so it is assumed to be near the best solution that is found through the
fitness function. Two position are considered that is leader position (D lead ) and successor position (D lead ).
Propagation through a leader’s position: The entire solution or individual is updated to attain the best position as
reached by the leader. The mathematical formula for the encircling behaviour is given in the Eq. (27).

Dt+1 = D lead − Y.v. T × X lead − Dt (27)

In the Eq. (27) Xt represents the position in the current iteration, Xt+1 represents the position in the next iteration,
the random variable that is formed based on the wind speed which ranges from 0 to 2 is represented by v and Y , T
146 T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing

are the coefficient vectors, which is calculated by the formula given in the Eq. (28) and Eq. (29) respectively.

1
Y = 1/4 log t + a (28)
tmax
T = 2.b (29)

Here, the term tmax represents the maximum number of iteration, the value of the parameter a used lies between
−1 and 1. In the Eq. (16) b is a random number between the interval [0, 1].
Propagation all the way through position angle: The DHOA is expanded by considering the position angle in
the update process for improving the search space. To make the hunting process effective, consideration of position
angle is essential. The mathematical formula for the angle of visualization ct of the prey is given in the Eq. (30).
π
ct = ×d (30)
8
For updating the position angle, a new parameter lt is derived from the difference between the wind angle and the
angle of visualization is given in the Eq. (31).

lt = θ t − c t (31)

The formula for the next iteration in updating the position angle is given in the Eq. (32)

ϕt+1 = ϕt + lt (32)

The position update formula derived with considering the position angle is given in the Eq. (33).

Dt+1 = D lead − v. cos(w) × D lead − Dt (33)

Propagation all the way through the position of the successor: Hereby adjusting the vector T , the encircling idea
is been adopted in the exploration stage. Though random search is assumed initially, the value of the vector T is
considered less than 1. The position update based on the position of the successor is given in the Eq. (34).

Dt+1 = D successor − Y.v. T × D successor − Dt (34)

The search agent is selected randomly when the value of T is less than 1 and the best solution is selected when
the value T is greater than or equal to 1, to update the agent’s position.
The last step in the DHOA is the termination of the process. Here the position update is done for all iteration till
the best position is obtained. Algorithm 2 shows the algorithmic representation of conventional DHOA.

5.5. Hybrid algorithm for shortest path routing

Although lots of researchers have been done on a heuristic concept with several beneficial parts for solving
the different application-oriented optimization problems, each optimization concept has to be enhanced for getting
adaptable under various conditions. DHOA is an advanced well-performing optimization algorithm. However, it im-
poses limitations on some non-convex and unsmooth nature of the problems. To further improvise the performance
of DHOA, another renowned algorithm called DA is merged with it in the current proposed model for finding the
secured shortest route path. The main advantageous part of DA is its high probability of selecting the best solution
from a set of solutions. In the conventional DHOA, the position is updated by Eq. (33) for the condition (v  1).
Moreover, the proposed D-DHOA updates the solution for the same condition using Eq. (20) of DA. Accordingly,
the pseudo-code of proposed D-DHOA is illustrated in Algorithm 3.
The proposed system flow is shown in Fig. 6. The main objective of the developed IoT-WSN overview in the
health care sector is to find the secure shortest route path based on the constraints like trust, energy, latency, and
packet loss ratio of the cluster heads taken for communication to extend the network lifetime.
 T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing 147

Algorithm 2 Pseudo code for DHOA [3]

Input: population X is initialized
Output: D lead is the first optimal solution and D successor is the second optimal solution.
Begin
While (t < tmax )
For all the solution in the population
Calculate the value of the fitness of every solution
Update the values of c, l, B, v, Y , T and a
If (v < 1)
If (|T |  1)
Update the new position of the hunter using Eq. (27)
Else
Update the new position of the hunter using Eq. (34)
End if
Else
Update the new position of the hunter using Eq. (33)
End if
End for
Calculate the fitness value of all the solution
Update the value of D lead and D successor
t =t +1
End while
Return D lead
Terminate

Algorithm 3 Pseudocode for proposed D-DHOA

Input: population X is initialized
Output: D lead is the first optimal solution and D successor is the second optimal solution.
Begin
While (t < tmax )
For all the solution in the population
Calculate the value of the fitness of every solution
Update the values of c, l, B, v, Y , T and a
If (v < 1)
If (|T |  1)
Update the new position of the hunter using Eq. (27)
Else
Update the new position of the hunter using Eq. (34)
End if
Else
Update the new position of the hunter using Eq. (20) of DA
End if
End for
Calculate the fitness value of all the solution
Update the value of D lead and D successor
t =t +1
End while
Return D lead
Terminate
148 T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing

Fig. 6. Flow chart representation of proposed system model.

5.6. Energy dissipation of communicated nodes

Initially, every sensor node contains some initial energy, which is denoted as Egini . Radio electronics and power
amplifiers are utilized by the sender for dissipating the energy. Two energy dissipation models are followed for the
energy dissipation of each packet transfer of size pcsz depending on the nature and the distance of the sensor node
whether the node is a normal node or cluster head. While transferring the packet size pcsz , the energy dissipation
of the normal node is described in Eq. (35), and Eq. (36). For computing the distance dis0 , the equation is shown
in Eq. (37), which Egfs is the energy required in the utilization of free space, and Egam be the energy of the power
amplifier.
  4
Egdis N u = Egee ∗ pcsz + Egam ∗ pcsz ∗ N u − M v ; if N u − M v  dis0 (35)
  4
Egdis N u = Egee ∗ pcsz + Egam ∗ pcsz ∗ N u − M v ; if N u − M v < dis0 (36)

Egfs
dis0 = (37)
Egam

Electronic energy depending on distinct factors such as modulation, amplifier, filtering, spreading, and digital
coding is denoted as Egee that is represented in Eq. (38), where transmitter energy is indicated as Egte , whereas data
 T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing 149

aggregation is denoted as Egda , and the distance among the uth normal sensor node and v th cluster head is indicated
as N u − M v . To define the energy dissipation of cluster head for transferring pcsz bytes of data, the mathematical
formula is based on Eq. (39). Then, the energy value of each node is updated when the packet is transferred or
received. The transferring process is done until the node is said to be dead, which means the node is containing the
energy below zero.

Egee = Egte + Egda (38)

 
Egdis M v = Egee ∗ pcsz (39)

Moreover, the numerical equation to ensure the energy value of each node after transferring and receiving of data
is shown in Eq. (40), and Eq. (41).
     
Egen+1 N u = Egen N u − Egdis N u (40)
     
Egen+1 M v = Egen M v − Egdis M v (41)

6. Results and discussions

6.1. Experimental setup

The proposed detection and prevention of black hole and selective forwarding attacks in medical IoT-WSN was
implemented in MATLAB 2018a, and the performance evaluation was performed. In the developed IoT-WSN sys-
tem, 35 nodes are assigned as cluster heads, the initial energy of every node was fixed as 0.02 Joule, and the total
number of rounds was 800. Once after the implementation, the performance evaluation of the developed D-DHOA
model was compared over conventional PSO [29], GWO [26], WOA [25], DA [11], and DHOA [3] models. The
convergence analysis was provided for ensuring the impact of the implemented model over existing models. More-
over, parameter analysis in terms of normalized energy, latency, and length of the shortest path was performed with
respect to the count of nodes. Along with this, latency evaluation, shortest path evaluation, and normalized energy
evaluation were also analyzed for the developed model with a prevented black hole and selective forwarding attacks
of IoT-WSN in the healthcare sector.

6.2. Simulation results

The simulation results of attack detection and prevention in IoT-WSN is shown in Fig. 7. Here, Fig. 7(a) shows
the sensor deployment with k-path selection. If no attack is present, the network model will be based on Fig. 7(b),
and the shortest route path without any attack is shown in Fig. 7(c). Moreover, network with the attack, which is
node 6 is detected as per Fig. 7(d), and the network with the shortest route path after removing the attack is shown
in Fig. 7(e).

6.3. Convergence analysis

The convergence analysis of the introduced D-DHOA-based IoT-WSN model was contrasted with conventional
algorithms as given in Fig. 8. This analysis shows the effect of finding the shortest path after detecting and prevent-
ing the black hole and selective forwarding attacks on data communication in IoT-WSN. Figure 8 shows the cost
functions of the proposed and the state-of-the-art models for various iterations. At 1st iteration, DHOA is minimum,
next to that DA, followed by WOA, PSO, and D-DHOA model. In the 5th iteration, the proposed D-DHOA system
is having the minimum cost function. DHOA is occupying the second position. Later, DA and WOA is having the
minimum cost function. Based on the degree of improvement, at 10th iteration, the developed D-DHOA is 50%
improved than DHOA, and 66.6% improved than WOA. Thus, the overall convergence analysis of determining the
shortest path without any black hole and selective forwarding attacks in IoT-WSN using the proposed D-DHOA
algorithm outperforms the conventional algorithms.
150 T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing

Fig. 7. Simulation resuts for attack detection and prevention in medical-based IoT-WSN system (a) k-path generation (b) no attack (c) shorest
path selection for no attack (d) network with attack (e) shorest path selection after removing attac.

Fig. 8. Convergence analysis of proposed and conventional IoT-WSN model.

 T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing 151

6.4. Parameter analysis with respect to number of nodes

The parameter analysis of the developed D-DHOA is evaluated based on the number of nodes regarding the
normalized energy, latency, and the length of the shortest path is shown in Fig. 9. Figure 9(a) depicts the performance
of normalized energy for the number of nodes. For 35 nodes, the proposed D-DHOA is having more energy when
compared to all the other algorithms. Next to that, DA is having more energy followed by PSO, WOA, GWO, and
DHOA. For 50 nodes, the implemented D-DHOA is still having more energy. After that, GWO is having more
energy followed by PSO. Next, DA, WOA, and DHOA are having the least energy. In the 65th node, the proposed
D-DHOA model tops all the other models. Here, the DHOA model is having more energy next to the proposed one
followed by GWO, WOA, and PSO. Moreover, DA is having the least energy. Based on improvement, the proposed
model is having more energy continuously from the 30th node when contrasted over other models. The D-DHOA
is 1% better than DHOA, 5.8% better than WOA, 6.9% better than PSO, 8.1% better than GWO, and 13% better
than DA. Therefore, it is concluded that the developed model is having more energy compared to conventional
models. On evaluating the latency performance with respect to the number of nodes from Fig. 9(b), the proposed
D-DHOA is 16.6% superior to WOA and DHOA, 30% superior to DA, 41.6% superior to PSO, and 50% superior
to GWO at 35th node. Moreover, the length of the shortest path of the developed and the state-of-the-art algorithms
is shown in Fig. 9(c). At 50th node, the proposed D-DHOA is 40% enhanced than WOA, 46.4% enhanced than DA,
53.1% enhanced than GWO, 60.5% enhanced than PSO, and 69.3% enhanced than DHOA. Thus, it is confirmed

Fig. 9. Parameters analysis in IoT-WSN with respect to number of nodes (a) normalized energy (b) latency, and (c) length of shortest path.
152 T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing

Fig. 10. Analysis on shortest path length in IoT-WSN for varied network configurations for (a) number of cluster heads = 35 (b) number of
cluster heads = 50 (c) number of cluster heads = 65 and number of cluster heads = 80.

that the proposed D-DHOA model is having less latency and shortest path over existing models. Finally, from all
the parameters it is proved that the developed D-DHOA algorithm is superior to conventional algorithms.
At 700th round, the length of the shortest path of the implemented D-DHOA model is 83.8% superior to DHOA,
85.7% superior to WOA, 33.3% superior to GWO, and 37.5% superior to PSO is shown in Fig. 10(c). Moreover, the
length of the shortest path of the developed D-DHOA model at 500th round is 60% enhanced than DHOA, 58.3%
enhanced than WOA, 33.3% enhanced than GWO, and 80% enhanced than PSO is given in Fig. 10(d). Finally, from
the above calculations, it is confirmed that the presented D-DHOA model is having the minimum shortest path over
the state-of-the-art models.

6.5. Latency evaluation

With respect to the number of rounds, the evaluation of latency is given in Fig. 11 for the different number of
cluster heads. The latency of the proposed D-DHOA is 62.5% improved than DA, 40% improved than WOA and
PSO, and 50% improved than GWO that is given in Fig. 11(a) for 35 number of cluster heads. From Fig. 11(b),
the latency at 800th round by the developed D-DHOA is 53.3% better than DHOA, 56.2% better than DA, 12.5%
better than WOA, and 65% better than GWO for 50 number of cluster heads. The latency of the implemented D-
DHOA at 700th round is 75% enhanced than DHOA, 14.2% enhanced than DA, 76.9% enhanced than WOA, and
25% enhanced than GWO, which is given in Fig. 11(c). In Fig. 11(d) for 80 number of cluster heads, at 100th
round, the latency of the offered D-DHOA is 46.6% superior to DHOA, 38.4% superior to DA, 36.5% superior
 T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing 153

Fig. 11. Analysis on latency in IoT-WSN for varied network configurations for (a) number of cluster heads = 35 (b) number of cluster heads =
50 (c) number of cluster heads = 65 and number of cluster heads = 80.

to WOA, 50% superior to GWO, and 55.5% superior to PSO. Thus, it is proved that the improved D-DHOA is
performing well in detecting and preventing black hole and selective forwarding attacks in IoT-WSN, and continues
data communication with less latency.

6.6. Normalized energy evaluation

Figure 8 shows the normalized energy analysis of the proposed and the conventional algorithms for the count of
the rounds. From Fig. 12(a), at 800th round the normalized energy of the introduced D-DHOA model is 2.9% better
than DA, 6% better than PSO, 10.7% better than WOA, 12.9% better than GWO, and 25% better than DHOA. The
normalized energy at 600th round, the proposed D-DHOA is 1.7%, 2.9%, 4.1%, 6%, and 6.7% improved than GWO,
PSO, DA, WOA, and DHOA is given in Fig. 12(b). At 800th round, the normalized energy from Fig. 12(c) of the
developed D-DHOA is 0.6% superior to GWO, 1.2% superior to GWO, WOA, and PSO, and 11.2% superior to DA.
In Fig. 12(d), the normalized energy of the implemented D-DHOA is 0.4% enhanced than DHOA, 3.9% enhanced
than WOA, PSO, and GWO, and 5% enhanced than DA. Thus, it is confirmed that the proposed method is having
maximum energy when compared over the other algorithms in transferring the data on the IoT-WSN network.
154 T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing

Fig. 12. Analysis on normalized energy in IoT-WSN for varied network configurations for (a) number of cluster heads = 35 (b) number of cluster
heads = 50 (c) number of cluster heads = 65 and number of cluster heads = 80.

7. Conclusion

The aim of the paper was to introduce a security approach for detecting and preventing the black hole and se-
lective forwarding attacks in medical IoT-WSN. Here, the developed security mechanism consisted of five stages:
a selection of cluster heads, k-routing paths generation, security against black hole attack, security against selec-
tive forwarding attack, and finally minimum shortest path selection. At first, for determining the cluster heads, a
topology was introduced, and further continued with choosing the k-routing paths. Later, detection and prevention
of black hole attacks was done using bait procedure. To detect selective forwarding attacks, packet evaluation was
performed by verifying the forwarded packet and the received packet. To promote packet security, the ECC-based
hashing function was also established. The key role of the paper was to find the optimal shortest path using the
proposed D-DHOA by considering the objective functions like trust, distance, delay or latency, and packet loss ra-
tio. The convergence results of the proposed D-DHOA were 50% improved than DHOA, and 66.6% improved than
WOA. The limitation includes that it is difficult to define initial parameters, difficult to solve problems, it can lead
to abusive practices, and cost-prohibitive. Thus, it is confirmed that the proposed D-DHOA model was efficient for
promoting the shortest path of communication after detecting and preventing the black hole and selective forwarding
attacks in medical IoT-WSN.
 T.A.S. Srinivas and S.S. Manivannan / Hybrid meta-heuristic-based shortest path routing 155

Conflict of interest

None to report.

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