Journal of Cybersecurity and Information Management JCIM 2690-6775 2769-7851 10.54216/JCIM https://www.americaspg.com/journals/show/2769 2019 2019 Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore, India D. D. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore, India R. Santhosh A heterogeneous wireless sensor network (H-WSN) comprises multiple sensor nodes having varied abilities, like diverse processing power and sensing range. H-WSN deployment and topology control seem to be more difficult than homogeneous WSNs. Research on H-WSNs has increased in the last few years to improve real-time sensor networks' reliability and deliver better networking services than a homogenous WSN does. When it comes to H-WSN's energy consumption and security, the major problem remains the efficient routing process.  To that end, this research aims at demonstrating how an efficient routing algorithm of hierarchical H-WSN can greatly enhance the network's performance. It is important to note that the nodes' capabilities mostly determine the suitability of a given routing algorithm. Hence, the H-WSN design issues for routing in a heterogeneous environment are discussed in this paper. This research designs an Optimal Energy Conservation and Security-aware Routing Algorithm (OECS-RA) for H-WSN using clustering and a secure-hop selection scheme. In this proposed model, the optimal cluster head selection and routing have been found through various computational stages based on the energy conservation of each sensor node. It further secures the transmission by selecting the secured node with credential factor computation and comparing each hop of the optimal route. The MATLAB simulation scenario finds the significant performance of the routing mechanism with security compared to existing models. The proposed OECS-RA gives highly recognizable throughput, lifetime, energy efficiency, and reliability. With these results, this proposed algorithm is suggested for real-time implementation in the medical industry, transportation, education, business, etc. 2024 2024 140 154 10.54216/JCIM.130211 https://www.americaspg.com/articleinfo/2/show/2769