# CERP: Cooperative and Efficient Routing Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks
## 6 Conclusions and Future Works  
This paper presents a novel routing protocol that utilizes an efficient and reliable rule to construct routes between every source-cluster head combination within the cluster. The proposed protocol aims to minimize the transmission energy consumption while maintaining a required level of dependability, resulting in reduced energy usage across the network. The proposed approach can significantly reduce the network's overall energy consumption. To validate the protocol's effectiveness, an Arduino-based sensor prototype was developed and tested in a real-world setting, demonstrating superior routing efficiency compared to the standard RPL. Moreover, the successful deployment of the prototype demonstrates the feasibility of our proposal in practical scenarios. The protocol's efficacy is confirmed through experimental evaluations in a real-world setting, demonstrating superior efficiency and dependability compared to the standard RPL protocol. However, this study also highlights some limitations and open questions regarding IoT device connectivity, such as poor data transfer rates and storage capacities. Therefore, future research could investigate alternative hardware platforms with improved capabilities to address these challenges. The proof of concept presented in this paper provides valuable insights into the design and optimization of routing protocols in WSNs and their potential IoT applications.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Refs.** & **RPL** & **Reliability** & **Energy** \\ \cline{3-4}  & **Improvements** & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Simulation Results**} \\ \hline
[20] & Incorporation of cooperative & \multirow{2}{*}{\(\uparrow\) 15\%} & \multirow{2}{*}{–} \\  & approach into the RPL & & \\ \hline
[26] & Incorporation of cooperative & \multirow{2}{*}{–} & \multirow{2}{*}{\(\downarrow\) 20\%} \\  & approach into the RPL when & & \\  & transmitting data to the preferred & & \\  & parent & & \\ \hline
[27] & Incorporation of hybrid & \multirow{2}{*}{\(\uparrow\) 16\%} & \multirow{2}{*}{–} \\  & energy-efficient cluster-parent based & & \\  & on RPL & & \\ \hline
[28] & Incorporation of cooperative & \multirow{2}{*}{\(\uparrow\) 30\%} & \multirow{2}{*}{–} \\  & approach to create multiple & & \\  & instances among nodes & & \\ \hline  & & \multirow{2}{*}{\(\uparrow\) 10\%} & \multirow{2}{*}{\(\downarrow\) 30\%} \\ CERP & Cooperative approach to & & \\  & select routes & & \\ \cline{3-4}  & & & \\ \cline{3-4}  & & \(\uparrow\) 10\% & \(\downarrow\) 18\% \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 3: Comparison between different works.  
In future works, we aim to develop more advanced energy-aware routing protocols that consider the dynamic nature of WSNs and their changing traffic patterns to further reduce energy consumption. We also aimed to extend the protocol to handle different types of traffic and data, including multimedia and real-time traffic, and evaluate its performance in these scenarios.  
Conceptualization, O.C. and N.A.; Methodology, N.A. and A.K.; Software, N.A.; Validation, N.A., O.C. and F.H.; Investigation, K.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research was funded by Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University Researchers Supporting Project number (PNURSP2023R236), Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  
Not applicable.  
The authors extend their appreciation to the Arab Open University for funding this work. The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Prince Sultan University for paying the article processing charges (APCs) of this publication.  
The authors declare no conflict of interest.