This document summarizes a research paper on optimizing energy usage in wireless sensor networks through a trust-aware routing algorithm. The paper proposes the Cost Aware Secure Routing (CASER) protocol, which aims to balance energy consumption across all sensor nodes to maximize network lifetime. CASER supports multiple routing strategies to extend lifetime while increasing routing security. Simulation results show CASER achieves excellent energy balance and increases network lifetime by more than four times under non-uniform energy deployment compared to other approaches. The paper also discusses detecting and recovering from node failures in wireless sensor networks.