Abstract: During seismic exploration，the seismic survey design takes an essential part in the improvement of acquisition data.
The conventional survey design in the past can not meet the needs of complex seismic exploration，thus an optimal idea of offset
based on second derivative of target stratum energy is developed. In this article，at the base of illumination we created geological
model，then for the principle of highest efficiency and maximize in the target stratum energy，combining the detector energy
with energy rate using accumulation of energy and energy derivative，finally a new method of maximum offset was presented.
In this way，the experiment on complex moutainous area in Tarim shows a good result，therefore this design provides a new
method and means for the complex area.

Key words: survey design, seismic illumination, maximum offset, target stratum energy