Efficient energy management is a key issue in battery equipped wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The cluster based routing in WSNs is a prominent approach for energy conservation of the network which provides a hierarchical data collection mechanism. In order to maximize the energy conservation of sensor nodes, this paper proposes an Energy-efficient Layered Clustering Algorithm (ELCA) for routing in wireless sensor networks. ELCA constructs two layers of clusters to reduce the transmission rate and to balance the energy consumption of sensors. As early energy depletion of clusterheads (CHs) is a major limitation in clustering, this algorithm provides local remedy for energy suffering CHs through efficient CH substitution scheme. The performance of the proposed algorithm is analysed through extensive simulation experiments and verified by compared results with existing clustering algorithms.
