Energy constraint is an important issue in wireless sensor networks. This paper proposes a distributed energy optimization method for target tracking applications. Sensor nodes are clustered by maximum entropy clustering. Then, the sensing field is divided for parallel sensor deployment optimization. For each cluster, the coverage and energy metrices are calculated by grid exclusion algorithm and Dijkstra’s algorithm, respectively. Cluster heads perform parallel particle swarm optimization to maximize the coverage metric and minimize the energy metric. Particle filter is improved by combing the radial basis function network, which constructs the process model. Thus, the target position is predicted by the improved particle filter. Dynamic awakening and optimal sensing scheme are then discussed in dynamic energy management mechanism. A group of sensor nodes which are located in the vicinity of the target will be awakened up and have the opportunity to report their data. The selection of sensor node is optimized considering sensing accuracy and energy consumption. Experimental results verify that energy efficiency of wireless sensor network is enhanced by parallel particle swarm optimization, dynamic awakening approach, and sensor node selection
