In order to realize close-range measurement, a miniaturized bionic compound-eye system was developed and the design principles of the system structure and parameters were introduced. Besides, the calibration and three-dimensional measurement algorithms were investigated. First, the platform for calibration and measurement was built based on imaging characteristics of the compound-eye. Three kinds of camera calibration methods, including Zhang’s method, the direct linear transformation method and Tsai two-step method, were carried out to calibrate the central sub-eye. By comparing the experimental results, it was determined that Tsai two-step method with high precision and accuracy was suitable for the calibration of the compound-eye system presented. Then, to solve the problem that the edge sub-vision axis was not perpendicular to the image sensor, a new distortion model that effectively improved the edge sub-eye calibration accuracy was proposed. Finally, a multiple sub-eye detection model was established, and its impact on the compound-eye camera measurement accuracy were discussed, from which it was determined that three sub-eye condition had better accuracy and stability than the two-eye. Experimental results indicate that the relative error of the compound eye three-dimensional detection system is about 2% when the object distance ranges from 150～260 mm, and this system could achieve the instrument miniaturization and basic close-range measurement.