RUL-DBRS: A Novel Energy Efficient and Robust Protocol for Enhanced Communication in Underwater Wireless Sensor...

Underwater exploration is vital for understanding marine life and accessing natural resources, yet only a small fraction of the underwater world has been studied due to communication challenges. Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) enable data collection through distributed sensor nodes, but existing routing protocols face critical issues including high energy consumption, frequent node failures, packet losses, long delays, and poor throughput. To address these limitations, we propose Robust Uneven Load Balancing-Direction Aware Best Route Selection (RUL-DBRS), a novel energy-efficient routing protocol for UWSNs. RUL-DBRS employs uneven load balancing based on the average residual energy of available paths, reducing dead nodes, lowering end-to-end delay, and enhancing throughput. By combining direction-aware routing with adaptive load distribution, the protocol minimizes congestion and packet losses, leading to more reliable communication. Simulation results demonstrate that on average RUL-DBRS reduces the packet loss rate by 20%, minimizes end-to-end delay by 40 s, enhances nodes' life network by 5%, improves throughput by 20%, and consumes 29% lesser energy in comparison with E²MR-HOA, making it a promising solution for efficient and sustainable underwater communication.