With the rapid development of cities and the accelerated construction of subway tunnels,there is an urgent demand for the detection of unfavorable geological bodies ahead of tunnel excavation.It is difficult for traditional electromagnetic methods to yield excellent detection results in an urban environment with high electromagnetic interference.Active-source surface wave exploration has gained increasing popularity in shallow superficial exploration and engineering geophysical prospecting in cities due to its strong anti-interference,convenient acquisition devices,and low construction cost.However,the traditional active-source reflection seismic method uses only a heavy hammer with limited excitation energy as a seismic source,and the collected signals are prone to be disturbed by urban activities.Meanwhile,the asphalt or cement pavement in urban areas is unfavorable for the placement of geophones and the excitation of seismic signals from a hammer.Given these,this study improved the geophones and seismic source devices at low costs,obtaining a more efficient and user-friendly surface wave acquisition device.As confirmed by practical engineering exploration,the improved device can collect surface-wave signals with strong energy and high signal-to-noise ratios,resulting in high-quality data,desirable inversion and imaging results,and high consistency between the geological defects and actual geological conditions.The improved acquisition device can be extensively promoted and referenced in active-source surface wave exploration in cities.