## 1 Introduction  
UWSNs have become a key piece of method for underwater monitoring and exploration, including scientific, commercial, and military applications, over the past ten years [1, 2]. UWSNs have various advantages over their remote sensing competitors that can deliver localized and more accurate data collecting. They can also use a wider range of sensors, such as chemical, temperature, light, and motion sensors, among others. Traditional underwater instrumentation equipment is being replaced by UWSN technology. In the past, large sensor nodes with data-storage capabilities have been physically placed in the target space below the water. For the duration of the operation, each node runs autonomously to collect readings in accordance with a predetermined program [3]. SNs are picked up at the conclusion of the operation, and the information gathered is recovered and processed. To relay real-time data to an offshore or even on-shore control station for immediate analysis, UWSN technology gives underwater sensor nodes networking capabilities. The underwater sensor network deployment can be controlled interactively by sending control signals from the control station to underwater SNs via a communication channel. In comparison to conventional instrumentation methods, UWSNs provide significant benefits [4].  
Because UWSN-SN are powered by batteries, which are challenging to replace or recharge in aquatic environments [5], energy conservation is a serious challenge. A basic research problem is the creation of routing protocols that are reliable, scalable, and energy-efficient in these networks. Due to the fact that the majority of data forwarding protocols currently in use were created for stationary networks, they cannot be used directly with ground-based sensor networks [6].  
Figure 1 denoted the basic clustering formation in the UWSN network, whereas two types of sinks, namely onshore and surface sinks, are there to transfer the collected information to the satellite. Moreover surface node, cluster head and underwater sink node have interconnection with each other to collect the data [7]. An autonomous underwater vehicle is used here for moving purposes from one cluster to another cluster or contact with the surface node in case of any emergency during the transmission of packets [8].  
The contribution of this research is as follows:  
1. To take into account the energy consumption and travel time of AUVs, we propose a data-gathering protocol based on AUV path planning.
2. To propose improved efficient data aggregation in IEDA-HGEO protocol for effective data transmission with optimal clustering process.
3. It is further compared with ERP\({}^{2}\)R n energy-efficient routing protocol and EGRC.  
The paper is organized as follows: Section 1 gives a brief explanation of UWSN and its applications, difficulties during the transmission process, existing energy-efficient protocols, and the clustering process in the network. Section 2 explained some surveys about existing protocols in the clustering process of UWSN. Section 3 explains the proposed methodology for efficient clustering and data transmission process. Section 4 gives the detailed structure of results by comparing them with existing techniques. Finally, Section 5 ends with a conclusion and future work.