###### Abstract  
Generally, battery power is a valuable resource for mobile devices in a Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET). Therefore, energy efficiency and network lifetime should be taken into account when developing control strategies. However, designing an energy-efficient routing mechanism necessitates consideration of many nodes from many layers, such as remaining energy, overall traffic load, and channel assumptions. The traditional layered strategy is unsuccessful in dealing with power-related issues that might affect all layers of the stack. In this paper, the Energy Centric Tuncate Swarm Algorithm (ECTSA) is proposed to perform the cross-layer routing over MANET. The fitness metrics considered in the ECTSA to improve the cross-layer routing are residual energy, communication cost, Data Success Rate (DSR), and mobility. Additionally, an Adaptive Competition Window (ACW) adjustment is used for minimizing the energy consumption caused by the contentions. The performance of the proposed ECTSA is analyzed by means of energy consumption, Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), End-to-End Delay (EED), and routing overhead. Next, the existing techniques, namely, CEELBRP and EECRP-PSO, are used to evaluate the efficiency of the ECTSA method. The energy consumption of the ECTSA is 7.1 joules and prolongs the network lifetime up to 1603 s for 50 nodes, which is better when compared to the existing CEELBRP and EECRP-PSO techniques. aptive competition window; cross-layer routing; energy centric tuncate swarm algorithm; energy consumption; mobile ad hoc network; packet delivery ratio 20221413925 19 September 202218 October 202218 October 202218 October 202218 October 202218 October 202218 October 202218 October 202218 October 202218 October 202218 October 202218 October 202218 October 202218 October 202218 October 20218 October 202218 October 202218 October 20221  
highly promising solution in emergency and disaster management. When telecommunication infrastructure fails due to earthquakes or flooding, the MANET is seen as an option to help with rescue operations. Thus, the MANET's reliability must be ensured in terms of maximized packet delivery ratios [8]. In emergency scenarios, the MANET has to cover a larger area to provide more efficient communication over the entire region. For larger area coverage, the network utilizes a multi-hop communication environment. The possibility of link failure during transmission over larger areas is high due to the mobile nature of the nodes [9]. When the network has to cover a larger area for data transmission, the network is divided into groups with the help of a routing algorithm [10]. The mobile nature of the nodes makes them change their connection from one mobile node to another mobile node, without depending on any other nodes in the network. Thus, the continuous data transmission through the network is affected [11]. The performance and the lifetime of the network rely on its energy resource. Cross-layer design places an emphasis on the optimization of system performance by allowing different layers of the communication stack to transfer state information or synchronize their activities to maximize network performance [12]. Network routing must be optimized across all of its layers in order to support QoS. The possibility of enhancing the routing is raised by cross-layer design [13]. Cross-layer optimization concentrates on collaborative solutions integrating many protocol layers. This motivates the cross-layer design, as the routing needs to be adaptive for network dynamics, mobility, and tackling the constraints [14]. The cross-layer routing techniques in the MANET enhance network management by localizing the route setup and minimizing the routing table of the remaining nodes [15]. Every node endures the additional workload, which causes primary power depletion; therefore, it eventually partitions the network and reduces the network lifespan [16]. The cross-layer design is different from the conventional network design.