Quality of service–driven energy-efficient routing protocol for wireless body area networks using hybrid enhanced cheetah optimization with fire hawk optimizer

ABSTRACT Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) play a critical role in healthcare Internet of Things (IoT) applications by enabling continuous patient monitoring and real-time medical data transmission. However, achieving energy-efficient communication with Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees remains challenging due to stringent battery constraints, node mobility caused by body movements, and rapidly changing network topology. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a novel QoS-aware, energy-efficient routing framework for WBANs based on a hybrid Enhanced Cheetah Optimization Algorithm (ECOA) and Fire Hawk Optimizer (FHO).In the proposed approach, ECOA is employed for optimal cluster formation and cluster head (CH) selection by jointly optimizing residual energy balance, intra-cluster communication distance, and mobility awareness, thereby ensuring stable and energy-balanced clustering. Subsequently, FHO is utilized for routing path optimization, where transmission energy, hop distance, and end-to-end delay are minimized under QoS constraints to enable reliable data delivery.The performance of the proposed ECOA–FHO framework is evaluated through MATLAB-based simulations and compared with conventional and state-of-the-art protocols, including Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH), Energy-Efficient Routing Protocol (EERP), Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO), Fuzzy Modified Rider Optimization Algorithm (F-MROA), and Artificial Bee Colony with Chicken Swarm Optimization (ABC-CSO). The results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves an average end-to-end delay of 85 ms, a packet delivery ratio of 98.5%, and energy consumption of 45.19 mJ, indicating efficient data transmission, high reliability, and low energy usage. These results confirm that the proposed hybrid optimization approach provides a robust and energy-efficient solution for QoS-aware communication in WBAN-based healthcare monitoring systems.