## 1 Introduction
The proposed technique is referred to as source location protection with enhanced privacy and network lifetime (SLP-E). In SLP-E, the packets are transmitted to the base station in a controlled random walk manner to ensure a better safety period and network lifetime without injecting fake packets/fake sources. The routing path is random and diverse enough to confuse a backtracking attacker. To balance the distance they cover before reaching the BS, the packets take several routes. To establish fairness between the network lifespan (also known as network lifetime) and safety period, the hop threshold notion is presented. A random neighbor is chosen from the far-off neighbor list to relay a packet. This choice is based on the quantity of residual energy present in the nodes that are on the list of far neighbors. Like the walk in a game of a maze, the packets initially travel in a backward direction from the source for specific hops before taking clockwise or anti-clockwise paths across the annular rings of the network. In this stage of the routing process, the routing paths are lengthened to decrease the likelihood that packets will travel across the source node's radio range (known as the visible area). SLP-E then uses controlled walks on dynamic annular rings that depend on the location of the source node in the network with respect to the BS along with min-hop routing to send the packet in the inward direction to reach the BS, in contrast to the existing solutions where packets follow only min-hop (shortest path) or forward random walks in the inward direction to reach the BS. The controlled walks on the dynamic annular rings in the inward direction help to increase the randomness and diversity of the routing path, which subsequently results in the usage of different sets of nodes for a packet on its way to the BS. Thus, the improvement in network lifetime and the safety period. The utilization of only min-hop routing in the inward direction seen in the existing solutions may result in the usage of the same set of nodes, which may weaken the privacy level and affect NLT. This technique (SLP-E) places a strong emphasis on enhancing the dynamism of the routing path. Its primary goal is to ensure that data packets traverse various routes, often referred to as dynamic routes, when traveling towards the base station (BS). This strategic diversification of routing paths serves the purpose of preventing packets from repeatedly traversing the same route (visiting the same nodes) to the BS, which can lead to rapidly depleting energy resources within those particular nodes, ultimately leading to a shortened network lifetime (NLT). Consequently, as the routing path is more dynamic, it becomes considerably more challenging for potential adversaries to trace back the origin of a packet. Thus, the safety period of the network is significantly prolonged, too. The suggested method achieves consistent privacy, independent of the location of the source sensor in the network, while maximizing both the safety period and the network'slongevity. Analytical models are also developed to estimate the average delay the packets take to reach the BS. These models are then used to compare the delay that is obtained through simulations. The details of the proposed protocol are given in Section 4. Additionally, this work studies the impact of sensor node radio range on privacy level and network lifetime, which has not been investigated to date. The proposed solution (SLP-E) is suitable for deployment in a wide range of natural habitats for wildlife monitoring, particularly in areas where internet access is challenging. In this deployment, the sensor nodes communicate via multi-hop techniques, facilitating the exchange of information packets as they traverse multiple nodes to reach the central sink or base station (BS). In this specific context, it is essential to employ radio frequency identifier (RFID) technology to tag the animals under observation.