  Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) experiences several technical challenges such
as limited energy, short transmission range, limited storage capacities, and
limited computational capabilities. Moreover, the sensor nodes are deployed
randomly and massively over an inaccessible or hostile region. Hence WSNs are
vulnerable to adversaries and are usually operated in a dynamic and unreliable
environment. Animal tracking using wireless sensors is one such application of
WSN where power management plays a vital role. In this paper, an
energy-efficient hybrid routing method is proposed that divides the whole
network into smaller regions based on sensor location and chooses the routing
scheme accordingly. The sensor network consists of a base station (BS) located
at a distant place outside the network, and a relay node is placed inside the
network for direct communications from nodes nearer to it. The nodes are
further divided into two categories based on the supplied energy; such that the
ones located far away from BS and relay have higher energy than the nodes
nearer to them. The network performance of the proposed method is compared with
protocols like LEACH, SEP, and SNRP, considering parameters like stability
period, throughput and energy consumption. Simulation result shows that the
proposed method outperforms other methods with better network performance.
