In this paper, we propose a niching particle swarm optimization with a ring topology (NPSO-RT) to solve the energy efficient coverage (EEC) problem in ship engine room. Our algorithm uses a ring neighborhood topology, which does not require any niching parameters. Therefore, it is necessary to schedule the activities of the devices in a WSN to save the network’s limited energy. Simulation results are performed to verify the effectiveness of the NPSO-RT for solving the EEC problem in comparison with other algorithms and prolong the lifetime.