Energy-Efficient Routing Protocols for IoT-Based Wireless Sensor Networks in Nuclear Facility Monitoring

Reliable and energy-efficient wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are essential for continuous monitoring in nuclear facilities, where harsh environmental conditions, limited battery resources, and strict safety requirements demand robust communication performance. This study presents a comparative evaluation of four energy-efficient routing protocols- Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH), Power-Efficient and Balanced Aggregation in Sensor Networks (PEBAIS), Threshold-sensitive Energy Efficient Network (TEEN), and Geographic Adaptive Fidelity (GAF)-for IoT-based monitoring applications in radioactive environments. Simulation experiments were conducted using 200 sensor nodes over ten communication rounds within a 5000 m² monitoring area. The network was initialized with a node energy of 0.5 J, a packet size of 4000 bits, and an energy consumption model of 50 × 10⁻⁹ J/bit. The protocols were assessed in terms of energy consumption, network lifetime, latency, throughput, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and bit error rate (BER). The results demonstrate distinct operational advantages among the evaluated protocols. LEACH provided efficient clustering and data aggregation but exhibited notable variations in latency and residual energy, which limited long-term stability. PEBAIS achieved the most balanced overall performance, maintaining low energy consumption, stable throughput, and zero BER, despite moderate SNR fluctuations. TEEN showed strong suitability for event-driven nuclear monitoring by reducing unnecessary transmissions and providing rapid response to critical changes, although its performance depended strongly on threshold configuration. GAF significantly extended network lifetime by deactivating redundant nodes, but its reliance on geographic scheduling introduced delays in time-sensitive applications. Overall, PEBAIS and GAF proved most effective for sustained monitoring, while TEEN was particularly suitable for urgent event detection scenarios. The findings highlight the importance of protocol selection in designing reliable IoT-enabled WSNs for nuclear facility monitoring and support the development of future hybrid routing frameworks that combine energy efficiency, responsiveness, and operational reliability in hazardous environments.