###### Abstract  
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are used for recording the information from the physical surroundings and transmitting the gathered records to a principal location via extensively disbursed sensor nodes. The proliferation of sensor devices and advances in size, deployment costs, and user-friendly interfaces have spawned numerous WSN applications. The WSN should use a routing protocol to send information to the sink over a low-cost link. One of the foremost vital problems is the restricted energy of the sensing element and, therefore, the high energy is consumed throughout the time. An energy-efficient routing may increase the lifetime by consuming less energy. Taking this into consideration, this paper provides a multi-criteria clustering and optimal bio-inspired routing algorithmic rule to reinforce network lifetime, to increase the operational time of WSN-based applications and make robust clusters. Clustering is a good methodology of information aggregation that increases the lifetime by group formation. Multi-criteria clustering is used to select the optimal cluster head (CH). After proper selection of the CH, moth flame and salp swarm optimization algorithms are combined to analyze the quality route for transmitting information from the CH to the sink and expand the steadiness of the network. The proposed method is analyzed and contrasted with previous techniques, with parameters such as energy consumption, throughput, end-to-end delay, latency, lifetime, and packet delivery rate. Consumption of energy is minimized by up to 18.6% and network life is increased up to 6% longer compared to other routing protocols. cluster head; moth flame optimization; multi-criteria clustering; salp swarm optimization; wireless sensor networks +
Footnote †: journal: _Applied Sciences_  
While the WSN has many challenges to overcome, energy conservation is a foremost challenge. A tiny battery that is connected to a device provides the power needed to carry out multiple functions. These batteries are rapidly depleted when they carry out several functions, such as data processing and transmission. Such energy consumption will result in the network failing or reducing the lifetime [3]. Therefore, during the data transmission, energy efficiency is important to extend the life of the WSN. For regulating the power needs of WSNs, several techniques have been presented by researchers. [PERSON]'s clustering methods are used to achieve effective energy savings [4]. Routing protocols are categorized according to their logical structure in order to increase their resilience. In the first type of planar routing, each node in the network plays the same duty and has no special nodes. The resilience of this kind of protocol is a benefit. Clustering is one of the oldest hierarchical routing schemes, where the cluster serves as the infrastructure and the nodes perform various functions. This technique includes creating clusters, or small groups of nodes, within the network. This network structure consists of a two-level hierarchy. In clustering, the WSN is arranged into groups known as clusters [5] and they are controlled by cluster heads (CHs) [6]. The contiguous cluster heads are the top-stage nodes, and the remaining are the next-level nodes. The CH on their respective cluster is to perform processes for instance data collection and aggregation. The CH in each cluster collects information from the neighbor SN and transmits it to the sink with the help of neighbor nodes. All CHs in the cluster devour extra resources compared to child nodes of the cluster. LEACH (low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy) is constructed on the pinnacle with the idea that the strength of all nodes is identical in the polling even as HEED(hybrid energy efficient distributed clustering) considers the change in strength within the nodes to optimize the existence of the network. This can cause uneven traffic distribution throughout distinctive center node clusters. LEACH [7] and HEED [8] are two different typical models and they differ in CH selection.