International Journal of Ad hoc, Sensor & Ubiquitous Computing (IJASUC) Vol.2, No.3, September 2011 DOI : 10.5121/ijasuc.2011.2307 99          S. Taruna 1 , Jain Kusum Lata 2 , Purohit G.N 3 Computer Science Department, Banasthali University, India 1 staruna71@yahoo.com 2 kusum_2000@rediffmail.com 3 gn_purohitjaipur@yahoo.co.in Abstract: Wireless Sensor Networks, are made of low-cost, low-power, small in size, and multifunctional sensor nodes. The efficient energy utilization is one of the important performance factors for wireless sensor networks survivability be-cause nodes operate with limited battery power. In this paper we propose and analyze a new approach of zone based clustering head selection algorithm for wireless sensor network of homogeneous nodes. Nodes in the network are uniformly distributed. In this clustering algorithm, network performance is improved by selecting cluster heads on the basis of the residual energy of existing cluster heads, and nearest hop distance of the node. In this paper we evaluate various performance metrics like energy consumption, network life time, number of channel heads metrics in each round and compare these with respect to random algorithm i.e. LEACH. We conclude that proposed protocol effectively extends the network lifetime without degrading the other critical overheads and perform-ance metrics. Keyword: Wireless Sensor network, Zone, Clustering Algorithm, Residual Energy. 1 . Introduction A sensor network consists of a large number of very small nodes that are deployed in some geographical area. The purpose of the network is to sense the environment and report what is happening in the area in which it is deployed. These tiny sensor nodes, which consist of sensing, data processing, and communicating components, leverage the idea of wireless sensor networks [1]. Due to recent technological advances, the manufacturing of small and low cost sensors became technically and economically feasible. The sensing electronics measure ambient conditions related to the environ-ment surrounding the sensor and transform them into an electric signal. Processing such a signal reveals some properties about objects located and/or events happening in the vicinity of the sensor [2]. Sensors have the ability to communicate either among each other or directly to an external base-station. A greater number of sensors allows for sensing over larger geographical regions with greater accuracy. Each sensor node comprises sensing, processing, transmission, mobilization, position finding sys-tem, and power units. Despite the innumerable applications of WSNs, these networks have several restrictions, e.g., limited energy supply, limited computing power, and limited bandwidth of the wireless links connecting sensor nodes.